As those of you who know me well, you know that I carry a camera with me wherever I go, and that I take a picture of everything (they do say after all that a picture is worth 1,000 words). I have been able to post on the first part of my summer, the first two trips I took with the FPCA youth group to New Orleans and Colorado. But, I got back from Colorado at the end of June, and there was still a whole lot of summer left (which means a lot of time to take pictures)! I figured the best way to catch up on the last few months of where I have been and what I have done is to share some of those pictures and provide captions when necessary.
In June and July, I don't spend a lot of time in Arlington (since I'm out on the road a lot with the youth). One of those weeks I was in town and spending time in the office, the FPCA preschool was having camp, a Texas themed camp. Because of the theme, they brought in a pony for the students to ride.
I may not be a preschool student, but I was under the weight limit for this particular pony, so I got to ride it.
In the small break I had between my trip to Colorado and the next trip to South Padre, my friend Stacy decided we needed to celebrate my half birthday. She and I rarely get to spend time together near my birthday (since we are both so tied up with Advent and Christmas festivities), so this year she decided to celebrate on my half-birthday. I love any excuse to hang out and have fun, so I was all for it. We started our time together by going out with her girls to one of those places where you can pick out a piece of pottery and paint it however you want. Cameron, Taylor, and I had a blast painting!
After we had gotten out our creative energy we went out to dinner with some good friends.
One thing I have quickly learned is that summer time in Texas means extremely hot temperatures (though it doesn't take a genius to figure that out). This summer has been exceptionally hot, as we had the 2nd longest streak in history of number of consecutive days over 100 degrees. I have learned though it is still possible to run and race - I just have to be smart about when I run, how much liquid I drink, and how far I run.
One of the races I did was a 4th of July 8k (5 miler). It was definitely a warm day, but it was still a fun race. Nick ran in too, and we both finished 3rd in our respective age groups.
As soon as the race awards ceremony over, we headed back to Arlington to be there for the 4th of July Parade. One of the FPCA youth was marching. Well, unfortunately we didn't park at the right end of the parade. But, fortunately for us, this kind gentleman driving this super cool WWII jeep was willing to drive us to the right area of the parade.
Another part of my summer has involved going to Rangers games. Part of the fun of going to Rangers games is getting seats in different areas of the stadium and seeing different aspects of the game. One night, we got to sit behind the bullpen. I quickly learned that some of the pitchers get a little bored as they are waiting to go into the game. N. Felize during this game spent several innings through sun flower seeds at other players...
One of my favorite holidays in July (no it's not July 4th), is Cow Appreciation Day at Chick fil A (dress like a cow, get free food).
This year I made the decision that if I was going to dress up, I might as well go for lunch and dinner. So first I got together with a crew that was going to the Chick-fil-a in South Arlington for lunch.
We had to finish up our spots and our outfits.
That evening I went to the Chick-fil-A in North Arlington for dinner. They were temporarily closed due to a power outage! Thankfully, it was only a short wait before they re-opened. I would have been a very sad cow if they hadn't re-opened.
Another holiday in July was Emma's birthday! Michelle, Nick, and I had the honor of taking her out for her birthday (and she had no clue what we were going to be doing). We started at dinner with her dad and boyfriend,
and then wisked her away to a Rangers game (which turned out to be a very, very abonormal night at Rangers staidum - if you are curious about that, let me know).
After all that fun in Arlington, it was time to leave for another trip with the FPCA youth. This time with the FPCA senior high students. Once again we were going with a trip with Youth Conference Ministries - this one was called Fun in the Son and was to South Padre Island in Texas.
We had a charter bus, which was a nice break from having to drive 15 passenger buses. The US women's soccer had a World Cup game while we were driving down. Unfortunately we couldn't watch the game while we driving down. We did do our best to follow the game on our phones (and we were excited when they won in penalty kicks).
There are so many things I love about Fun in the Son (being able to worship with the senior high students, watch God move in their lives, etc), and an added bonus is being able to get up in the morning and walk/run on the beach as the sun is rising).
We had an AWESOME morning speaker - a chalk artist named Ben Glenn. He is self proclaimed ADD, and has learned to use that to the glory of God. He takes his added energy and channels it in amazing ways. Each day he would create a chalk drawing on a Martha Stewart bed sheet, and then use that drawing as a way to teach everyone at FITS about Christ.
And have it become this?
Tuesday's rec activity was basketball.
Wednesday was a free day, so we had the afternoon free to do whatever we want. We decided to rent some kayakas and go parasailing.
I have soooo many parasailing pictures I could put up, so I just picked this one picture of Taylor and I about to go up.
Wednesday evening we also got to go out to dinner (which was a welcome break from camp food!). This is our group after dinner.
I don't feel like I need to say much about this picture except to say that this vehicle was parked in our hotel parking lot....
Thursday night after our very last worship service of the week, we went with several other churches to one of the two local movie theaters on the island to watch the midnight opening show of Harry Potter (we had rented out the theater). Good times
I got home from an epic week at Padre Island, though tired, especially after a super late night at Harry Potter the night before only to find my house had been decorated!
I didn't have too much time to enjoy the decorations though, because I only had about 12 hours before I head to leave for the airport. There were two important events happening over the weekend of July 17 that I didn't want to miss - Rebecca's last Sunday at WPC in Durham and my Dad's birthday celebration. Because of my travel schedule in the summer I rarely get to be with my dad for either Father's Day or his birthday, and this year I had the chance, so I jumped on the opportunity to go. Plus, after being a church member for many years, and then serving as the youth director for 3 years, Rebecca was celebrating her last Sunday. I really wanted to be there with her as the church honored her for me years of service.
I quickly had to die my hair back from pink to blonde, re-pack a few things, and get ready to go to NC. Before I knew it my hair was (mostly) blonde again and I was on a plane.
The very first night I was there, I went to the Hope Valley Country Club with my parents and some of their friends to celebrate my dad's dinner. Turns out I had come in just in time for the annual lobster dinner.
I can't ever remembering eating lobster before, so I really enjoyed the experience of having an excuse to play with my food!
It was also great to be in NC on a relatively cool evening, where we could eat dinner outside. I spent some time just walking around enjoying the grounds of HVCC, trying to take some pictures of the sun setting.
The next morning, I had the opportunity to worship at Westminster Presbyterian Church and be a part of the worship service as Rebecca was honored for her years of service to the church.
She gave the benediction,
and then their was a reception in the Fellowship Hall afterwards where the youth (among others, presented her with gifts).
There are a lot of things I miss about NC, but one of them is the Duke Cross Country Trail. It's one of my favorite places to walk/run in the world. So every morning while I was there I either went for a jog or walk on the trail.
I would have loved to have spent weeks in NC to catch up with people, but I was thankful for the few days I did have. I got to spend one day at the pool goofing off with my Danku girls. We took scores of pictures (I won't post all of them - just one).
After a fun day relaxing at the pool, we headed down to downtown D-town for dinner. (I love that downtown Durham is now a place where people hang out).
After a little less than a week in NC, I flew back to TX, just in time with the Sizzling Summer Half Marathon. Why would anyone plan a half-marathon in Arlington, TX during July? I don't think the person who planned it really thought through a lot of the details because it was probably the most unorganized run I have ever done. But, it was still fun.
Nicole did her first ever race, a 10k - though the 10k turn around wasn't actually marked, so she ended up running a lot more than the 6.2 miles she signed up to do.
A fair amount of people from The Runner Training Team came for either the 10k or the half.
The race was delayed, so we took a few pictures at the start of the race as we waited for it to start.
And then finally, it was race time...
All done!
That same weekend, it was Freshman Kidnap (there really is something fun about waking up new freshman early on a Sunday morning, taking them out to breakfast, and then taking them to church).
I was spoiled in August with having guests come to visit. First came Tully, who came in for his cousin's wedding. He had a little bit of free time on either end of his visit. So one morning we decided to go take a tour of the Dallas Cowboy Stadium (it's only a mile from my church, but I had never done a tour). There was a soccer game the next day, so we didn't have field access, but we still had a ton of fun touring the stadium.
I got to see Tully a few days later. His aunt lives about 45 minutes from me, so I was able to get together with him at her house to celebrate his birthday. It was wonderful to spend time with a friend from NC and have the chance to catch up.
In case you haven't figured it out, I love to run. I love to go out on training runs, I love to run in races, I just love to run. My roommate loves triathalons. While in the past I haven't been as keen on tris, I agreed to do one with her this summer. It was a sprint one - only a 250 meter swim, an 8 mile bike, and 2 mile run. It was an all women's tri, and after not having done one in two years it seemed like a good one to try it out again.
I had forgotten that when you do a tri that they write numbers on you in a permanent marker. So, when I went to a wedding those numbers could still be seen on my arms and calf. Thankfully it was a wedding where I didn't know too many people and the people I did know, I knew extremely well.
My best friend Becca had come in to be the Maid of Honor in a wedding (one of the bridesmaids from her wedding was getting married).
And then, Becca stayed through Wednesday! We had a blast, as we did those goofy things you do when one of your best friends comes to visit....
I have always missed being in NC on Rally Day. We used to cook a whole pig at WPC, and so to have Rally Day without a pig just seemed wrong. This year, we had a mechanical bull at FPCA in Arlington - it was the first year Rally Day seemed more complete.
After the excitement of the mechanical bull, several of the youth sponsors went to play whirlyball (think bumper cars, meets lacrosse, meets basketball). I had read about the game, but I had wanted to play it and check it out before I took the youth group. I highly recommend it - go play.
So that's my summer in pictures. Now maybe I'll remember to blog more regularly.
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