We are off to school. We should get there this sunday if all goes as planned. Talk to you all when we arive. Jon and I are driving out. We leave...Now.

Jared's visit...Part two

I think my last post was a bit too detailed.
We then went to LaHonda. It was a lot of fun. We stopped at the light house on the way up. Totally not very exciting for me, since I had been there once, and that was like, too many times. We pull in, its foggy like normal, luckily we all had sweatshirts, and we get out and walk toward the light house. There is a really pathetic shop with trinkets and a very narrow walkway. We walk by the white house, which is very old. The original light does not even work, they have one attached to the outside. We are walking to get the awesome view of the ocean and we hear this fog horn. We were like, huh, and then we see, through an open window, sitting on a table so it faces outside is a tape player playing the repetitive fog horn noise. We laugh and walk on, see the water, say wow, and then go and get back in the car.
Then its more of Jonathan's crazy driving...and we go to 3 Amigos!!! yeah, the BEST Mexican restaurant ever, well, except for Rio Del Mar, oh and Taco Bell, and the 3 Amigos in Half Moon Bay, oh, and nevermind. Anyhow, its good food. BUT the best thing about Pescadaro is the artichoke, garlic bread, fresh out of the ovens...oh yeah! So we grab the bread from the Market, and then we pick up drinks from the General Store next door. We decide it is best to keep the food in the bag and eat it when we make it over a twisty road to David's house, we would hate to eat it then see it a second time. David's house was fun. We hung out in the basement (the part of my old house that is left for Gullmans and is not rented out.) Then we spent sometime with David, while he played WoW and while he sat around talking to us. We visited the pond, clubhouse, Pioneer market, Apple Jacks, and our old church Church in the Redwoods. We saw the pastors family and Dustin. I loved it. The others were probably bored because they had no memories from there, but it was fun all the same. Got home and Jonathan and Jared tried to fix the CD player in the car while Jen and I jumped on the giant trampoline in our front yard. We were all so into this, we missed movie night with the family (whoops) and then we all watched movies in my apartment. (I call it that, know when you see me say my apartment, know I mean Jonathan's, Julie's, and my apartment.)
Then Monday came.
We went camping.
I packed the moterhome, said goodbye to Jen (I wont see her for a year, since she will be in China), packed more in the moterhome, then we were off.
We went to a camp grounds near a river. It was hot. It was sunny. Grandma brought brownies. There was this little girl along with us, that I was really trying to pretend she was not annoying. I was tired.
Dad then decides right after lunch, that we need to go on a two mile walk, and then swim back in the river. Jared looks at me and says "I want to go, come with me?" "your coming RIGHT?" So, I get in my swimsuit, and get ready to go. Grab some sun screen and we start walking. It is fine for like the first five minutes. I should have turned around and ran screaming for my car, but Jared wants me to go...so I go. I am miserable. IT WAS SOOOOOOOO HOT. My skin felt like it was no longer part of me, my feet hurt badly, I had a headache, I thought I was going to die, Jared and Rebecca kept yelling at me to be quiet, I knew I was going to die, I had trouble breathing, I was so hot I am surprised I did not just explode. Seriously, it was mega hot, and no one had thought to bring water. No water, few clothes (bathingsuits), no sympathy, no love, no one to carry me, no mother to save me, no knight with a cold water bottle to ride up and whisk me away. I was stuck, in the middle of a horrible, hot, nasty, dry, dirt road. A mile behind me, and a mile in front of me. I could look down a cliff and SEE water, nice cold refreshing water, but I could not touch it. I was hurting so bad, I was almost in tears, except it was too dry for tears to form. Dehydration. So, We are walking, and walking...the group is growing farther and farther apart as the strong ones pull ahead and the weaklings fall behind. (I was ONLY last because I was making sure all the small children were making it, really, I was...sorta) Well, I decided enough was enough, I found a spot of shade and stood there. Suddenly we notice...the front of the pack...had turned around! WE HAD MISSED OUR TRAIL. I was so going to kill something if the heat did not kill me first! They walk past us, and we start following once more. We start down this narrow path with loose gravel and climb down a steep incline. I barely made it to the water. Then the water was too cold. But I got in anyways, I am standing there swishing the water between my fingers...enjoying it, when Rebecca takes my hand...she tries to pull me in. Somehow I am knocked in, I don't remember if this was the time Jared shoved me in, or another time...but I got wet, very wet. This "river" we were to swim down...was a creek! With lots and lots of Rocks. We start down, I am in wet flip flops, I do not own sandals! I am slipping and sliding, man, I am not stable on regular ground, but this, this was IMPOSSIBLE, wet slimy rocks covered in who-knows-what walking and slipping out of my wet, black flipflops...for what!? Two miles...three? The "river" went indirectly back to camp. I knew I was going to die. I was not so sure at first, but when I took my first tumble on the rocks, I knew it was all over. I am on shore, trying to get around a shallow part, when all the sudden my feet are above me, my shoulder hits first, pain runs through it, then my hip hits, more pain, and my knee hits some...MORE pain. Normal people, when walking by a creek on rocks would expect to fall on rocks. Well, I did that and then some, I found a plant to go under me as well. Not a soft, squishy, nice plant, no a dry, hard, dead-looking plant! This "wonderful" plant scraches my shoulder leaving bloody marks (the bruises show up later) and same on my hip, my knee just hit the rocks. Jared tells me to wash my wounds...in what...the creek...So eww. Later down this wonderful trip, which I had been spending a lot of it in pain and trying not to think about what was swimming with me, we decide to rest at a spot so the guys and gals who wanted could jump off the cliff on the side into a deep spot in the creek. That is when Terrorlynn (that's how it was pronounced...I found it fitting) found out that I really did not like river critters. So she gets as many fish as she can find and has them swimming all around me. I tell her to stop and let the fish be. So, later she taps me on the shoulder and says "look what just swam up to you" I turn around and there is this crawdad...I scream, and she laughs, "its dead" she tells me. Grrr...a little while later, she does it again...this time with a live one which is bigger...I am like, what...am I sitting on their doorstep? A bit later Jared tells me he watched her wander up and down the creek looking for one and she purposely let it loose behind me and told me it had "swam there"...Grrrrr...and I am suppose to like this kid after that?! When we finally made it back, I had a headache, and still felt like I was dying or dead. The girls change in the camper first...so I walk in, and Terrorlynn walks in and sits on my sisters bed...picks up a book, and starts reading. I am like...GIRL, YOUR SOAKING WET. She says "so?" So, I tell her to get up and not get any more beds wet "We have to sleep on that bed you just decided to soak with your wet swimsuit!" She looks at me with this lost look, so I pull out a change of clothes, help her get out of her wet swimsuit, help her remember to take her wet swimsuit outside and not to just leave it on the bed. I change...the guys move in...while they are in there...I wander in and out putting food away. Jared changed in the bathroom, I was related to the rest, so like, who cared. Robert pretended to care, until I reminded him who sometimes still helps him with baths...me. Soon everyone is changed and we sit down to read. My headache gets worse and worse. Soon I cant even see. I ask people to get me headache medicine...to no response...and there is nothing like pain to motivate you to get mean or to get meds. I get it myself and then go lay down on a cot. Heat always does me in, and this was going to be the worst one in a while. I get up, grab food, lay down and try to eat. I am hurting so bad I am crying. I don't know if I hurt my neck when falling, or if the heat got me, but the pain was incredibly bad. I went around from person to person getting neck and back rubs to help the pain some...everyone else was tired too, so that did not work well. I grabbed a bunch of ice packs from the freezer...and laid down to go to bed. More pain...more pain...I hear others eating Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream...Julie walks over to my window and gives me a bite. I hear them settling down. More pain...more pain...more pain...sleep.
I wake up the next morning...with a slight headache hangover, but otherwise...alright. My mom is making hot chocolate, which I carry out for her and wake up all the boys. It must have been at least 7 am...and they were not too happy about waking up. Poor boys. *evil Grin*

Well, I am tired...no more story time for now. I am working and packing for school...and being lazyish. For now, I want sleep. Goodnight.

Jared's visit...Part one

Pre-Jared's visit, Dad and the boys were telling of all the mean tricks they would play on Jared. Like fill his room with grasshoppers, throw him overboard while sailing, and such stuff.
When it actually came time to discuss what we would do, my dad and Jonathan decided they were in charge of it. So I sat between them, with the calendar in my lap, vetoing ideas. My dad made sure that everyday was FILLED. It was declared that the ten days that Jared was visiting, everyone should have a completely free schedule. We all took off work, Rebecca still had a swim meet to attend that Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. So we did not get to see her much that weekend. I reserved Saturday and Sunday for a time with Jen, before she went to China for a year, and time to go visit David and the town where I grew up. They decided what we would do until the next Sunday, and Jared was returning on Monday. We were going camping for three days and spending three days on the 33' sailing yacht. Sunday was still up in the air, but we figured we would need a day of rest after being on vacation for a whole week!
Friday I head to work at 9am, counting down the hours till Jared comes. Right before five Jared calls the office, of course I am taking mail to the mail box and miss it. So he calls again. He tells me that he wont make it till the next morning or next evening. So...I get depressed and wander around my house... Julie and her friend Lisa were hanging around the house and were trying to get me to go shopping with them. I was too tired, so we started Phantom of the Opera. We were about half way through when we received the call to dinner. I eat dinner...and we are trying to figure out what to do, since we were going to drop Lisa off at her house on the way to pick Jared up. Leave it too him to ruin plans. The idea is thrown out that Julie and I should spend the night at Lisa's house and then drive to the airport that next morning from there. I am trying to figure out what to do with Jen, who I said I would meet sometime between 8am and 12 so she could hang with Jared and I. It was also my job to get two of my brothers to a birthday party the next day, and I was going to drop them off after picking up Jen, but having Jared come a day late threw that off... Then...Jared calls again. He made his flight and would be there at the time he said he would be. Go figure. So, Lisa, Julie, and I jump in the car. Julie got to drive both ways. Julie has something to return to a store that is not near us but near Lisa. But...It closes at 9. We fly down hwy 17 to El Camino Real, where Julie goes speeding around cars. She weaves in and out of traffic trying to make it to the store on time. We do, and she is allowed to return one of the two items. Then we head to Lisa's house, spend a few minutes, then head to the airport. We found parking close! and headed in to meet Jared. It felt like an eternity till I saw him. We then wander around till we get to the Frontier counter and we ask her about his bag. She is new, and does not know what to do, so we chat with her about flights, lost luggage, etc. When she figures it out, she gets it all squared away and will have his luggage delivered to us sometime the next day. We headed up hwy 17 toward home and stopped at BK for food for Jared. I ate some of his french fries. :-D We get home, find beds...sleep.
The next morning I am woken up with the commands that I am to go wake up Jared. They let me sleep in until almost 8, so I could not complain too totally much. *rolls eyes* I struggle to get up and make it inside...usually I am doing good to just make it to the table and stuff food in my mouth...but with everyone waiting...I headed back to Jared's room. I enter the room...followed by the two cats that live there (Jared had closed the door...leaving the two cats in our house with the only way to get out being the dog door...which they as cats would never do...and inside the closed door where Jared dwelled was the cat food, water, beds, and cat door. The cats disliked him from that moment on.) and the dog also followed me. It is the dog's job to wake everyone up. She had just woken me, my sisters, and everyone else up. I sit on the bed and shake him...talk to him...and generally just do annoying things like telling Chudley (the dog) to give him a kiss. Through the open door, I am being watched by the four small children as they pretend to have a reason to be standing in the laundry room which is in the hall right outside his room. He finally gets up (fully dressed except for the shoes...as usual) and pretends to get ready to meet everyone. Which of course could only happen in the kitchen. Which is a pantry away from his room. I, of course, do my wonderful job of introducing everyone. "This is my MoM and this is my dad, and those are my siblings" I say this as I make my way through them, heading towards the breakfast table. We had a breakfast, just like the ones we always have on weekends...lots of pancakes, eggs, etc. I just remember the fruit, that's what I ate. I am so not a breakfast food person. Well...I was sort of out of it...and of course, since these were my friends I had to arrange picking up Jen. Which I could not figure out for some unknown reason. I did, eventually, after I walked Jared around some, left a note in the office about Jared's luggage. I of course took so long writing the note that they arrived so I told them, but we always leave notes for each other, since none of us have very good memories (my coworkers being 30+ years old...) This would also be the last time I got to see my blue sweatshirt, which went missing sometime during this day. *sigh* it was the best sweatshirt ever, it was 2X and fuzzy on the inside...and said APTOS on the front...I miss it. Anyways, Rebecca took the car to swim meet so I got in the white van (15 passenger van, with one seat missing making it legal for me to drive, 15 or more people in a van a special license is needed) I drive all the way up to Boulder Creek, where we meet up with Jen. We then head back down, taking a detour to return her borrowed car to a "neighbor" (the way it is used in the country) and we make it back to Santa Cruz. We go to the boardwalk, then next door to the boardwalk, and drop off my two brothers, Roger and Robert, at the bowling alley. Due to no parking spaces, there is a guard that sits at the entrance and you have to state which party you are with to get parking at the bowling alley. Since Julie, Jen, Jared, or I (wow, I hung with the J names) had no desire to sit in a bowling alley for two hours and listen to too loud music and watch little people run around and act like brats, we took off out the back door and headed to the wharf (next to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, a very popular place in Santa Cruz. Random fact, my other friend Jen said that if you worked at the boardwalk you were not allowed to have visible tattoos, which by looking at the people who hang there, it was a strange rule...back to the wharf now...) We wander down towards the end and get two fish and chips and two bread bowls to split, so everyone could have a bit of everything. I got yelled at for feeding the birds by the other three people sitting at my table...those party poopers. I got some to the birds anyways. They made fun of one because it had a few feathers sticking straight up on its head. Then we headed back...stopped on the beach...hopped across some VERY hot sand, hit the VERY cold water, jumped back to the very hot sand...and bounced all the way to the side walk. We strolled in, picked up the boys, refused some chocolate cake and headed out to the car. Then...drive home, hang out, go to church. Church was funny. We have a new pastor from Florida, and he is trying really hard to fit in, really he is. He dressed down to slacks and a nice shirt with rolled up sleeves. But when the worship leader wears flipflops to lead... I guess it might be important for the pastor to dress nicer than the others there. We wear jeans and T-shirts, I am usually in work clothes. It is so laid back, shorts, flip flops, T-shirt, and a hoodie sweatshirt are normal. We get in the van...I realize I did not hit the library, so Jen and I jump out and race in. I got five more books (of which I ended up reading none) and then we raced out and jumped in the van. Got home, ate, then the teenagers (sorta) headed out to watch movies before bed. THEN SLEEP!
Speaking of which, this post is like...mega long, so I will leave you to read part 1...more coming...hopefully.

Classes...

I made it through all my summer classes. I finished one off two weeks after school ended. I then got home and started my two online courses. Then I started Chemistry. I finished Home, school, and community with an A. I got an A in Romans. I finished off Chem II and Applications of Technology with B's. I somehow managed to get a 182 (A) on the final out of 200. It does not really matter what I did in Chem II because the grade does not transfer.

Between classes and Jared's visit, there was nothing much to do but work. Go to doctors appointments...get acupuncture, which is not bad if you do not mind needles. I went to the school of acupuncture and a junior apprentice stuck 25 needles in different parts of my body. Two in each ear, three in the forehead, four in each hand/wrist, four in each foot/ankle, and two behind my ears in my neck. She was going to do my first one with the small needles. I told her, I do not mind needles so whatever. She used the larger ones...and I did not even flinch. She used the small ones on my forehead and I could not feel them at all. She only forgot one needle, one of the ones in my neck, but she was going to rub my neck to see if I was still tense and bumped it. I also watched movies with my sisters.

then Jared flew in...

Problems...

This summer I received a phone call asking me to remove three posts from my blog. I did not know that I was not allowed to share my experiences from observing in schools. Due to the school I wrote about calling the Dean of Edu. at LU and she calling me and "asking" me to remove the posts, I have been nervous about writing more. I know it is silly, but I do not like it when I make mistakes that can get me in big trouble...without even knowing I was making a mistake. How are we suppose to know unspoken rules? When you take education classes that have observation, they should tell us at the beginning before they send us to the classroom. I usually do not post school stuff on my blog...That's not the reason for it. I use it to get information to family and friends who I do not get to talk to much or I put up things that I want people to know. I mainly posted these because I had to do 20 hours of observation, but I was not given any assignment to complete, I just had to clock the hours. So I wrote about it.