Team: Team

The past three days I have been out of touch with the real world, no cell service or wi-fi in Celina, OH with eight of my best friends.  I have been looking forward to this vacation all summer and it definitely lived up to my expectations. These friends always teach me a lot about myself and life.

Our trip definitely got off to a slow start.  Michael woke up late, we couldn't figure out how to put air in the tires, and 10 minutes into the drive we found ourselves in a traffic jam.  It didn't matter though, we had all the time in the world.  No plans. All we needed was to be together.

This was the best of  many car pictures... Ryan has not yet mastered this skill

We quickly took over the lake house, ready to start our adventures.  The boys set out to get the fishing supplies and ran into a little friend.  A baby owl named Earl, I was  concerned it was injured and Michael was convinced he brain dead but he turned out to be okay.   I didn't mention anything, but I was a little concerned because in more than one book that I've read owl's have symbolized death. Well luckily none of us died, and I'm not sure it symbolized anything except a play toy for the boys for a few hours.

                         

We then headed out to get some lunch,  CBY (Celina's Best Yogurt), and food for the next few days.  This is when I realized my friends appreciate the pictures I take, they don't usually like to cooperate in posing for them. They can smile, I promise, but just are choosing not to in most of these pictures.  The yogurt was great, but unfortunately we discovered that Ryan's rubix cube was not indestructible.  Shopping was an interesting experience, we divided up into three groups and each group would make a meal.  Surprisingly all the food was delicious, although I was concerned for a little bit.  Ben, Clayton, and Tyler made my favorite meal that night, barbecue chicken pizza! 

That night Ry, Can, Al and I took out the paddle boat which as you will see added some excitement to the trip.  Alex almost dumped Can and I in the lake.. we weren't too happy.  Then we watched the lightening storm.  We had some interesting weather while we were there, but that lightening storm over the lake was incredible.  God's beauty that can be found in nature never ceases to surprise me.

Saturday was also a great day.  The highlight being Hannah, Michael, and I flipping the paddle boat in the middle of the contaminated lake.  So funny...kind of.  We also tie-dyed, went to the lighthouse and nature preserve that I've been dying to go to, and went out to dinner.  Lucky for us it was trivia night.  We were probably the youngest team by about 40 years, but we did indeed get 2nd place receiving a coupon for a free pizza.  I was pretty impressed by our knowledge. My friends and I might not agree on a lot of things; like movies, games, nature, crafts, or pretty much anything, but we do have fun.  I'm so thankful that my friends love each other so much, they're willing to do things to make other people happy even if they don't want to, and yet are still so comfortable to share their opinions even it's not what everyone wants to hear.  

     

Sunday we did some fishing, attempted to play games, and went out on the dang paddle boat again.  The boat went down at the dock, Hannah got out safely, Can and Alex got drenched, and I was soaked from the waist down (R.I.P. Alex's TOMS).   Oh goodness that paddle boat... it brought many laughs.  We also tried to take a group picture, a mighty task that turned out kind of well.

I am so thankful and blessed to have these friends. Now we are all preparing to go our separate ways, which makes me sadt, but I'm thankful to know that whenever I come home I will have awesome friends to come back to.  This weekend I thought to myself often.. "Is this real life?", and I know that it was. We lived our lives together, loving each other, going on new adventures.  God is good.