Happy Halloween! :-D

So, I've been totally slacking on this thing. Sorry about that.  Working 2 jobs has kept me crazy busy!  In honor of today being Halloween, I'm just going to post some pictures from this past weekend of festivities in Athens: Halloween weekend is what Athens/OU is known best for.  I worked a super fun climbing competition on Friday (everyone wore their costumes of course) and did the usual people watching and taking pictures on Saturday.  Unlike most people around here, I don't drink crazy amounts of alcohol on Halloween weekend. 

Finally got a haircut on Friday!  And since I donated to Locks of Love, I didn't even have to pay for it!  Still tipped the awesome hairstylist of course.  :-)  I love my shorter hair! 

 

This is my favorite pic from the weekend: my friend Tyler (dressed as Deadpool) and me (dressed as Black Widow) posing in fighting stance at the climbing competition.

 

I found more Avengers! :-D

 

 

Ray was supposed to be Hawkeye... He kinda' slacked on his costume.  :-p

 

Pac Man! :-D

 

Ray with his little brother Dan (far left, as Indiana Jones) and his brother's friend Vince (middle, as Jesus)

 

posing with a pretty awesome toy soldier

 

 

 

 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!  :-D

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Favorite Season is here! :-D

It's FALL!  My favorite season: football, leaves changing into gorgeous colors, not sweating 24/7, apple everything and pumpkin everything... the list could go on and on. What's not to love?!  :-)  This past weekend, we went to visit my fiance's family and picked a ton of apples (probably a couple hundred).  It was so much fun!

I'm taking one last undergrad class this semester (exercise physiology) and working a lot of hours with Outdoor Pursuits.  Our challenge course has actually been super busy, which has been awesome!  Not only do I love my job but I really need the hours: I need to keep making a bunch of money to save up for the wedding, race registrations, grad school application fees, and needing to get pretty much all my re-certifications done at once in the early spring of 2014. Yikes!  :-/

I also got a second job!  I'll be starting next Friday (the 27th) as the enrichment coordinator for a program called Kids on Campus at a local middle school.  I'll be planning and doing a variety of hands on activities with 12-15 year-olds in an after-school program.  I was offered the job on the spot at my interview last week!  I am super excited to start!  And I'm also excited to have a way to make a decent amount of money in the winter when Outdoor Pursuits hours are nearly impossible to get.

Now, even though I'm too short on cash to get signed up for any major races this fall, I really need to get back into training!  Maybe I'll use this time to do other things I don't normally get to do as much (because I burn all my energy running, biking and swimming), like climbing, hiking, and martial arts. If anyone has any other suggestions, let me know!  :-)

Happy fall y'all!  :-)

Post-Camp Summer Adventures

    I'm starting to feel better adapting back to life outside of camp.  Although it could just be that I'm distracting myself really well by staying busy!
    The day after I left camp, Ray and I headed to Medina for a week with his family.

drying off Pumpkin after he got caught outside in the rain

    On Friday, we went to the Medina County Fair.  There, we met with our wedding photographer (who is also a good friend of Ray's family) and finalized the time/day for our engagement pictures.  I also saw my first demolition derby: that was a....strange experience.  I don't really understand the point of destroying cars that they put so much time and energy into, and it just looked painful.  Ray's mom said "It's a redneck thing": I guess that I will never truly be a redneck.  Haha.
    On Saturday, Ray and I went to the most elegant wedding I have ever been to.  The ceremony was a Catholic mass in a gigantic ornately decorated church and the reception was in a gorgeous restaurant/banquet hall called The Tangier.  And the bride's dad owned the place so the food and drinks were of the highest possible quality.  There was great music and plenty of dancing.  Ray and I were told by one of the photographers that we were the "most interesting couple" there. I guess that's a compliment..

Best wedding dinner ever!  And the martini glass is full of mashed potatoes: there was a mashed potato bar!

      Sunday, I went with Ray and his mom on a road trip to Charlottesville, Virginia to pick up Ray's little brother Daniel from his internship.  We stayed overnight and arrived back in Medina on Monday night.  The mountains we drove through were breathtaking.  I've determined that my new dream is to live by the Blue Ridge Mountains, have a vineyard, and have amazing places nearby to go on plenty of outdoorsy adventures.  It's so beautiful there!  And in the brochures I looked at there are advertisements for marathons, half marathons, triathlons, kayaking competitions, climbing and caving excursions galore!  I would fit right in!  

beautiful view of the Blue Ridge Mountains from the road

     On Tuesday, Daniel, Ray and I took a trip to Cedar Point and had a blast!  We rode amazing rides (including my two favorite roller coasters, the Magnum and Millenium Force).    In the line for Millenium Force, there was a DJ.  They played Gangnum Style, and one of the guys in line near us started dancing, so I joined.  Everyone was watching, laughing, and clapping.  I actually had fun waiting in that line!  Other than one small patch of rain (lasting about 20 minutes) the weather was perfect!
      Yesterday, we went to a Cleveland Indians game that Ray's mom won tickets to. The Indians lost (and I don't really follow baseball that much), but we still had a great time!  The guys sitting in front of us were hilarious too!

sitting between Ray and his brother Daniel at the Indian's game

      Tonight, Ray and I are finally getting our engagement pictures done.  On Saturday, we're heading to Cincinnati/Lawrenceburg to see my family (after stopping to visit my good friend Brad who I haven't seen in forever).  

Ray and I in front of the rental truck on our way back from Virginia

Culture Shock

    My fourth summer at Camp Otterbein is over.  And it was one heck of a summer!  I went on amazing adventures exploring caves, rappelling, kayaking, seeing new parts of Ohio and Kentucky, off-roading in a 15 passenger van, and so much more.  I touched the lives of children/adolescents/preteens and helped them grow spiritually (especially during the last week with campers when I was a counselor).  I made new friends and rekindled/strengthened existing friendships.  Staff closing (where we clean up camp and then do a fun surprise activity each evening) was magical as usual. 

a night in Columbus with Camp Otterbein staff

    Going back to the outside world gives me a feeling that can best be described as culture shock: it feels similar to when I've come home from my travels to foreign countries.  Except this involves more tears: I already really miss everyone.  I was living in a place where I was fed, given a shelter, and everyone lived with a sense of community and the duty to just do the right thing at all times.  The outside world is full of greed, corruption, judgmental people, and just plain rude people: all the things we avoid at camp.

     There are also wonderful things in the outside world: my fiance, family, the ability to eat more food (I don't get nearly enough at camp to keep up with my freakish metabolism), time to breathe.  I also signed up for every available shift at the challenge course for the months of August and September, so there's that to look forward to.  We're visiting Ray's family and then my family over the next couple of weeks too.  I'll talk about all of the things we're doing in Medina in my next post.  :-) 

   

Summer 2013...the saga continues

    The week of July 7-12 was pretty crazy!  There were terrible storms almost every day (especially at night) and we had lots of trees fall in various places around camp.  Sleeping alone in a tent (since it was all guys that week), I spent the first few nights laying awake filled with anxiety, hoping and praying a tree wouldn't come tumbling down on me.  The waterfront director slept in the tent the last 2 nights to keep me company and because she really wanted the chance to sleep in a tent.

goofing around in a flooded creek at our low ropes course

      Storms and nasty mud EVERYWHERE aside, the week was absolutely amazing!  The 6 campers were really fun and extremely mature for their age.  And the counselors (including an awesome volunteer counselor from Ohio Christian University I didn't even know I'd have) did a great job!

Andrew (the WA counselor for July 7-12) instructing kayaking

      Two of the highlights of the week were our trips offsite: we went kayaking on Lake Logan (the Hocking River was too high/fast/flooded) and rock climbing/repelling/caving!  The sky was beautiful somewhat clear and blue (finally!) for the kayaking trip and we had a good, relaxing time paddling and swimming.  The rock climbing trip was just plain epic!  We started off climbing at an area I've been to a lot.  Then we got lowered into a cave!  I was so excited!  I even got to use some of the knowledge I gained at the caving camp from a few weeks ago.  And of course it was fun doing my cave lizard impression again.  One of the boys also did a really good Gollum impression.  Haha!  After exploring/hanging out in the cool cave for a little while, we went repelling down a 150 foot cliff in an area called Big Springs!  This cliff was beside a gorgeous waterfall by the way.

with Jeremiah, the awesome volunteer counselor, at the bottom of the repelling site

     It was one of those weeks that I felt sadness instead of relief when the kids left.  They were such an amazing group!  

a beautiful heron on Lake Logan

     This past week, there were no storms or rain until Friday (when we were down in the lodge and main camp and the kids would be leaving soon).   It was very hot and humid, but I was very happy to have dry feet and no crazy storms to worry about!

Emmy (one of the counselors) proud of starting a great fire

     The week started off rough on Sunday: a huge tree had fallen over the weekend (suprise surprise), blocking our way up to The Meadow (our living area).  So we had to wait for people to clear it before we could move our luggage, water, and food up.  The kids were also way younger than I thought they would be.  I was told I had high schoolers, but the kids that showed up were 9-12 year-olds. I had to completely change my plans.  I also tend to enjoy older middle/high school kids way more because they are more independent, more mature, and you can do more awesome high adventure activities with them.

Adam (the counselor I had for WA for 2 weeks: July 14-19 & June 30-July 3). He's hilarious!

      In spite of the rough start, the week ended up being great!  The counselors were super fun and we had another awesome volunteer from OCU.  The kids were pretty cool too. 

with Travis, the other awesome volunteer counselor from OCU, at the end of the week

      My favorite part of the week was the rapelling trip (with a 40 foot repel).  At first I was nervous because I've never taken anyone under the age of 14 repelling, but they did great!  I was so proud of them!  The leaders in training (a group of older high schoolers at camp for the past 2 weeks) joined us too.  I was back-up belaying and spent almost half the time waiting/relaxing with the 2 high school girls talking.  After the trip, our camp director (who has been leading the rock climbing/repelling trips) treated us to ice cream! 

       This upcoming week was originally supposed to be Extreme Wilderness Adventures, where we were going to be traveling to West Virginia for rafting, repelling, climbing, hiking, camping out, and other exciting things.  Sadly, not enough people signed up so it got cancelled.  Now I will be counseling 8th graders.  I haven't been a counselor (without also having a bunch of other responsibilities) since 2011, so I'm both excited and nervous.  It will be our last week with campers, so I'm going to make it a great week!

beautiful Big Springs

Awesome summer so far!

  So far this summer has been amazing!  I'm spending my fourth summer working at Camp Otterbein in Logan, Ohio.  Although I actually spent 2 of the weeks at other places/with another camp.

goofing around with a projector screen I found at Camp Otterbein

    The first week, we had what's called a user group at Camp Otterbein.  A church brought in their own counselors, planned their own programming, etc. and we were all just there to help out. It was a fun week with an awesome group!  The best part was helping to lead high ropes.  One of the high school girls was having a really hard due to her fear of heights.  While sitting on the platform, she asked me to pray with her, so I did.  Then she did one of the elements and later on went down the zipline.  It was awesome seeing this sweet girl overcome her fears!  I also really enjoyed having the opportunity to have an extra week getting to know my fellow Camp Otterbein staff members even better. 

with one of my fellow Camp Otterbein staff members,Grace, when we were both at Camp Wesley

   The second week was especially awesome.  I was assigned to help with a caving camp as the female counselor.  We met at a church in the Dayton area and then drove down to southern Kentucky for a week of camping and exploring caves in the area.  I can definitely say I've conquered claustrophobia!  Lol.  I had been in touristy caves before, but this was an entirely new experience: crawling, climbing (my favorite part), rolling through some passages, and even a bit of wading through water/swimming.  There was one cave with an "art room" where people make sculptures out of the clay/mud.  The people were amazing and I made some really cool new friends. I was invited to return and plan on joining every year I can (even as a volunteer when the day comes that I no longer work for camp).  I can't wait until next year!  P.S.  Did I mention I drove a 15 passenger van down a creek to get to one of the caves?  Now THAT'S off-roading!  Ha!  I also managed to get even better bruises than I've ever gotten from Taekwondo or MMA. 

in front of the Great Saltpetre Cave, right by our campsite

   On the third week, I worked as a lifeguard at Camp Wesley in Bellefontaine (another camp in the West Ohio Conference).  It was a little stressful since I'd planned on being at Camp Otterbein to make preparations for my program starting the following week and since being a lifeguard at Camp Wesley involves a lot of kitchen work, but I still managed to have a great time.  The staff there is super friendly, I enjoyed getting to know the other lifeguards, and some of the kids there that week were really fun to hang out with.  There's also the fact that I really enjoy lifeguarding: observing people, soaking up sun while sitting right beside or in the water, breathing fresh air, having the satisfaction of knowing I could potentially save a life, and just feeling important. 

beautiful view of the lake at Camp Wesley

   The following weekend, I went to Cincinnati/Lawrenceburg, Indiana to visit my mom and attend a good friend's wedding.  It was a beautiful and really fun wedding!  I could write a whole post just about the weekend.  My mom recently moved to a condo in a beautiful part of southeastern Indiana (very close to the Ohio border) also and this was my first time finally seeing it.  I just wish the weekend would've been longer!

the beautiful bride Kayla and me: I can't believe my little is married!

This past week, I was finally back at Camp Otterbein for the first week of Wilderness Adventures (the program I'm in charge of).  It ended up being a pretty good week, but I'm really glad it was only a partial week.  I was an emotional mess on Sunday (partly from feeling less than prepared after being unexpectedly at a different camp, partly from my TBS little and good friend getting married, partly from some health issues my mom is having).  The week was successful: the kids seemed to have a great time and I had 3 wonderful and helpful counselors up there!  The kids were the youngest age group I'll have all summer so it was a huge test of patience, but they were a really fun group.  The best part was a trip to Old Man's Cave for some hiking!

at Old Man's Cave with 2 of the counselors Nathanael and Adam.  Sadly, Grace, the other counselor had to leave for a real world job interview.

 I'm super excited for what the rest of the summer has to offer!  :-)

Mom and me in front of her new condo

Ray and me on the back deck.  I love the view of Lawrenceburg from Mom's condo!

Memorial Day

    I meant to post this yesterday, but didn't get a chance.....

    First of all, I'd like to thank the brave men and women who have sacrificed so much for our freedom.  Without them, things would be much different for us Americans, and not in a good way.
 
    Memorial Day this year was great!  Ray and I went to Medina to spend the weekend with his family.  For the holiday yesterday, we started the day going to a pancake breakfast for the boy scout troop Ray and his brother Dan grew up in.  There was a setback when Ray's mom hit her head during a fall on the way into the church and it wasn't very clear how the day would go.  If you're going to get hurt, though, the best place to do it is at a boy scout gathering.  Everyone around was First Aid/CPR trained.  For once I wasn't the first responder and actually felt quite unhelpful.  Luckily she was okay, with no signs of anything serious (just a nice sized bump).  An off-duty paramedic was there and evaluated her, we kept an eye on her all day, and she's still ok today.  She did call off of work (she had a noon shift) just to be safe: on the bright side, we now got to spend the whole day with her! 
    
     After finishing of lots of delicious pancakes and making sure Ray's mom would be okay, we headed outside to watch Medina's Memorial Day parade.  What we were able to see was pretty cool: scouts, marching bands, antique cars and fire trucks, the current (and very impressive) fire trucks.  Medina has YELLOW fire trucks by the way: pretty awesome looking. 

    Later on, we went to a cookout with the boy scout families.  There was delicious food: burgers of course, several tasty side dishes to choose from and festive desserts.  After eating, I braved the 55 degree weather and jumped in the lake with a couple of the crazy kids also braving the cold.  Meh, I've swam in colder during triathlons.  Wearing my wetsuit would've been smart though and I could've stayed in the water for longer.  Haha.  Not swimming on Memorial Day was not an option.  :-)

    All in all, Memorial Day 2013 was a success.  Thank you again servicemen and women.

    'MURICA!