Summer 2011. Game on.

It's here already....Summer 2011. Still blows my mind, but right now I'm sitting in the basement of a kamp family, watching the Thunder v. Mavs game and hanging out with some of favorite friends at K-West. A few of us came up to kamp early to get things ready, such as cleaning the cabins and stocking supplies. A handful of boys came up even earlier in the week to really get the ball rolling and open up kamp. Us girls were lucky to come in after a LOT had already been done. Tomorrow, more staff arrive for Klinics. This is when a few people get trained in specific sports, canoeing, kayaking, and boat driving. I finally get to be trained to be a boat driver this year...I'M SO EXCITED! It's going to be great because it is something new for me to do this summer. Being the 4th summer here, it's good to have a little bit of change. It'll be fun for sure. After a couple days of Klinics, the rest of the summer staff will arrive for Work Week. Basically a week of fun, bonding, learning about kamp, and lots of work. Hopefully, it won't get too hot yet. It hasn't been too bad yet. I actually wore sweatpants and long-sleeve shirt to breakfast this morning!

So for this summer I'm doing the same job that I did last summer. I'll be a KPD (Kamper Personnel Director...basically a really fancy title for not that fancy of a job). I'm excited about it this year because I'll be working with some of my favorite friends at kamp: Emily and Kyle!! I'm praying that, even though I'll be doing the same job again, that I will gain a new perspective on it. I don't want it to be the same old same old, but rather find joy in the new things and an energy to do it well! Also, this is the first summer that I officially feel old. Looking at the list of people coming in this week, most of them are freshman and sophomores. And I'm a college graduate. Strange. But cool too. Anyway, I have to head back to kamp now, but just be praying for safe travel and preparation, for personalities to mesh, and for the Lord to be IN THIS SUMMER. Game On, K-West. 2011. Let's go.

The hills are ALIVE!

Our trip to Salzburg, Austria, gave me the chance to live one of my life dreams and go on the Sound of Music tour! It was so much fun to see some of the sights of the movie. These were things that have been a part of my life since I was 7. A big thanks to Lauren and Lisa for appeasing me and going along with the day-long excursion. Here are a few pics from the day:

The Sound of Music cow that awaited us at the beginning of the tour. It was amazing to me that our tour was full even in December. There are so many people, especially in the English-speaking world (ironically the tour was only given in English), that are in love with this movie, even after so many years.

The iconic gazebo! Unfortunately, I found out that this one was only used for the outside filming. The inside, like where the dancing took place, was a set. The gazebo isn't open anymore due to an injury: an 80 year old woman fell and broke her hip trying to dance around like Liesl.

We drove an hour out into the lakes and mountains district to the town of Mondsee to visit the church where Maria and Captain VonTrapp were married in the movie. From the movie, I had always pictured it as being so big! In real life, it was a lot smaller than I expected, and a lot more...pink. But it was still very beautiful!

I had to go on an adventure to find the house. The tour couldn't take us there because the road leading up to it weren't fit for a bus, but they told us where to go to find it. I had to go! So, I hopped on the bus that afternoon, got off at Hellbrun Castle, and made my way up the road to the house. It took me awhile to find it, but it was totally worth it! Since I went out there by myself, I asked a sweet old Austrian couple that was walking by to take my picture. Granted, we communicated through broken English, but they didn't seem to understand why I wanted to have my picture taken in front of it. The lady asked, "Is this your future house?" Oh, how I wish! The gates were open, so I went in to explore the courtyard, too. I wish Abbey Schwada had been there to experience it with me!

Doooooooo!!!!! I wish I could sing like Julie Andrews! This was my moment of pretending to be her. I took this picture with my mom in mind, because she always said that, when she got to heaven, she wanted to strike this pose and sing as high as Julie Andrews in this scene!

Another part of the Do-Re-Mi sequence...pretending to be Julie Andrews.

Ice skating in the Christmas market in front of the Salzburg Museum.

Posing for another scene from the movie in front of the Mozart food bridge.

Nonnaberg Abbey where the real Maria Von Trapp was a nun and where the filmed parts of the movie as well. We couldn't make it up to the Abbey due to the weather and snow on the hill, but it was still fun to see it in the background.

The London Eye

The spindle and hub of the London Eye remind me of an airplane for some reason. The spindle holds the wheel structure and the hub rotates it around the spindle. The spindle is 23 meters tall, which is the same as the size of a church spire. The spindle and the hub together weigh 330 tons--over 20 times heavier than Big Ben!

(www.londoneye.com for Interesting Facts)

London from 100 meters up!

The view from the top of Parliament, Big Ben, and the Thames River.

This is the view from our capsule from below to another capsule. The capsules need to be able to rotate on their axis in order to move smoothly around the Eye. Otherwise, the people inside would fall over or have to stand on the ceiling!

We had some extra time today since it's so cold here in Salzburg, so I wanted to post some much-overdue pictures from the London Eye. This is a must-do activity in London. It's

135 meters high. On a clear day, you can see for 25 miles around the city. It takes 30 minutes to make a full revolution, or 26 cm per second. That's twice as fast as a turtle sprinting! This way, it's easy for the passengers to step on and off. They don't have to stop the Eye for people to get on or off. If the Eye were completely full, it would carry 800 passengers at once! Wow!

We rode the Eye at night. It was so cool to see the city all lit up! I put up these pictures per request of my students at Robinson Elementary, especially Colby. (

What's up, Pope?

Hello, Rome! I was blown away by the history, art, and architecture that this city holds. I loved exploring it's streets, although I quickly realized how much I missed having my family there for special trips like this. It was weird not sharing this with them. This is also the first BIG traveling that I've done with just myself and some friends. It's weird not having the security of my family right by me. Despite some stressful travel moments and confusion, we still ended up making the most of our two and a half days in Rome and got to see some incredible things. I wasn't able to put up all of the pictures that I wanted to, but here are some highlights from our trip:

Things we experienced-- it makes me tired and so thrilled just thinking about it all!

• Vatican City
• listening to the pope give his Sunday blessing from his apartment
• St. Peter's Basillica
• climbing to the top of the dome of the Basillica
• Vatican museum
• Sistene Chapel
• Trevvi Fountain
• Spanish Steps
• The Colloseum
• Palatine Hill
• Roman Forum
• Piazza Novano and the Fountain of the Four Winds
• Pantheon

Standing in Vatican City outside St. Peter's Basillica. Absolutely breath-taking!

What's up, Pope? Yeah, I got to hear you speak...in Italian and English! Thanks for making an English shout out!

Preparing to climb the Spanish steps with Lauren.

The Trevvi Fountain! So surreal to actually be here. It's something that you see in movies and hear about a lot, and there it was! It was just sitting in the middle of a neighborhood. I think my favorite part of seeing all of these famous things is realizing that they are normal to the people that live there. It's just something that's there...something real. It's no longer a story; seeing these wonders in their context really puts things into perspective.

Seeing the Colloseum and the Vatican were the highlights of the trip. I could have wandered around here for hours! I love to imagine what it would have been like to experience the Colloseum in action. It's crazy to think that those things really happened! It was also amazing to see the level of architecture and skill that went into designing this building that was made so long ago!

Pictures from Dublin!

Dublin was absolutely wonderful! I wish I had time to tell you all about it, but I wanted to share a few pictures.

Lisa and I at Trinity College in Dublin. We got to see the Book of Kells here. It's a beautifully ornate copy of the Gospels that was written in 900 AD. Crazy! Notice the snow on the ground...that was the day BEFORE it really fell. It was so cold and icy!

Apparently, this means "Dublin" in their language. Ths was in the main shoping area of the city, O'Connell Street. It was already beautifully decorated for Christmas!

After our day in Dublin, we went out to the cute seaside town of Howth. It was nice to get out of the city and be in the countryside. We even met some new friends...a seal and three walrus just hanging out in the harbor! So cool to see them in the wild. They didn't even mind that there were tons of people staring at them.

More of Howth. So cool to see boats above the snow!

Malahide Castle...so cool to see this in the Irish countryside!

A visit to Parliament!

We had a half day at school today so we could go into town to visit the British Parliament. So cool! I wish I had the time to really talk about it, but I wanted to share a few pictures.

Such an incredible building. I really enjoyed Parliament!

An original part of the Westminster Palace AKA Parliament. I think it's the only part left since a fire. This is probably the oldest roof I will ever stand under....900 years old. It's also probably the oldest building I'll ever stand in...over 1000 years old!

Another amusing British sign in the public "toilet".

After Parliament, we went to the Natural History Museum. This picture is for Mrs. Evan's class! I wanted to show them a comparison of am Emperor penguin against an ostrich. Honestly, I thought it would be bigger! Hope you enjoyed finishing Mr. Popper's Penguins. You may be getting something special from Parliament soon. : )

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Today is the day that I DEFINITELY miss everything back home. It's so weird that they don't really know anything about Thanksgiving, nor do they care about it much! I wasn't really expecting anyone to say anything about it, but I got a pleasant surprise when I got to school. One of my students ran up to me as I walked up to the building and shouted "Happy Thanksgiving!" I was so exciting that I almost cried! I hadn't told them anything about it yet. She explained that her dad works at the US Embassy in London and he had the day off of work for it. Right after I talked with her, the caretaker of the school walked by and said "Happy Thanksgiving" as well. It made my day!
After school, we all went into Kingston for a Thanksgiving dinner. It wasn't everything that we would be used to home, but it was still really good! If I couldn't be at home, this was a good alternative.

First course: butternut squash soup!

Second course: turkey with stuffing inside, potatoes, cranberry sauce, parsnips, and brussel sprouts.

Dessert: apple pie and whipped cream. Yum!

Sweet Dr. Talbert, he's leaving us tomorrow! It's been so great to have him with us...he's absolutely hilarious! Dr. Nesmith will be arriving soon. We're definitely going to miss him, but we'll see him again soon!