| My summer:
At the end of May/beginning of June, I went on a canoe trip with some friends from Hy-Vee. We went to Salem, Missouri, which is in the southeast portion of the state. We camped out and canoed on the Current River. It rained on us for most of the canoeing. We started out in sunlight, but we canoed right into some rain. We stopped at various places along the river to look around, eat, etc. We found a cool cliff to climb onto and jump off into the river. We kept canoeing into the rain, but it wasn't too bad. I think it added to the fun.
Kenny, James Gregory, Zach Terry, Seth Cooke, Kenny's brother Derek, James Gregory's cousin Jeremy, and I all went to Truman Lake for James Gregory's birthday. We filmed a lot of our adventures with Kenny's digital cam corder, and it made for a good movie. We explored a cliff and its hillside and went swimming and tubing. We also had a fun time at this restaurant in Warsaw called Dianthra's. They have huge portions of food, and it was really good. James left his phone number on a napkin for the waitress (who was only 16, by the way... oh, James), and she texted him later that night. Yikes. We had a lot of fun, and Kenny made a copy of the movie for each of us when we got back.
A couple weekends ago Kenny, Zach, and I went to Kenny's aunt's house in Rogersville, Missouri, which is about 30 minutes from Branson. We were going to go canoeing, but the rivers were dried up, so we went to Silver Dollar City on Friday, White Water on Saturday and Sunday morning/afternoon, and Celebration City on Sunday afternoon/evening. There was also a car show on the strip at midnight on Saturday night, so we watched that. I'm not much into cars, but it wasn't too bad. There were people lined up on both sides of the street all the way down the strip to watch it. Before it started we were walking down the road looking around, and when we were on our way back to the spot where we were going to watch the show (in front of IHOP where we were parked because we ate there that night), we decided to run there. Everyone saw us running and started cheering. It was funny. I guess you could say we put on our own show before the car show. We had a lot of fun at the parks. Kenny came up with a good idea at Celebration City to sneak is digital cam corder onto the rollercoasters and film us riding them. Unfortunately, he was only able to film one ride before his camera's battery died. We also played some games there (such as throwing a football through a tire or knocking things down with a ball). I'm usually not one to spend a bunch of money trying to win a game, but something came over me that day. There was this one game where you had to bounce a ball off a slanted board and have it land in the box below. This was extremely difficult, and none of us were able to win. The prize was a giant stuffed gorilla, and the three gorillas that were there seemed to be taunting us. We just had to win, but we never did. There was another game we played where there were rows of little stuffed clowns lined up, and you had two throws to knock down two of them. The prize was a big stuffed snake. Kenny and Zach won the game within each of their first couple of tries. Thus, they each had a snake, so I, of course, wanted a snake. It was only $2 per play, so I wasn't worried about money. I played it about five times or so, and I couldn't win. I would hit the first time and miss the second, or I would miss the first time, which defeated the purpose of the second throw because you had to hit both times to win. I think the girl working the game started to feel sorry for me because the next time I played, I hit the first time and missed the second, but she gave me a third ball for free. Good, a chance at redemption, free of charge. I threw the free ball, and, of course, I missed. It was truly a sad sight. I don't know how I could miss so many times. If you saw the game, you would agree that it doesn't look very hard to win. However, the girl gave me another ball for free, and this time I hit. I finally had my snake. It was really nice of that girl to give me two extra throws for free. Speaking of that girl, we noticed that her and two of the other girls working there all had accents. We asked one of them where they were from, and she said Ukraine. They were in the United States on some student program or something. They said they were 19 years old, and they worked at Celebration City every summer. Perhaps we will see them again if we go back next year.
Once again, I worked a lot this summer at good ol' Hy-Vee. I'll only be working Fridays and Saturdays this semester, so it will be nice not working as much.
Another thing I had planned for the summer was to run a lot. That, unfortunately, didn't happen. I ran some here and there, and I even went to the community center to work out once. I just didn't run as much as I wanted to, but hopefully I can change that soon. A week from this Saturday is the 10th annual Cass County Cross Country Invitational. It's Belton's home meet at Mad Dog Hill (on Richards Gebaur base), and they have an open race that anyone can run in. This being the 10th time the meet has been run, Coach Conner wants as many alumni as possible to show up. I am going to run in the open race, and I think Coach Conner wants to go out to eat after the meet with all the alumni who show up, so that should be fun.
I've been to four Royals games so far this season, and they have won all four games. I have a perfect record so far this year, compared to last year where they lost every game I went to. The first game I went to this year was with Drew, Brandon Peoples, and Drew's friend Edgar. It was Edgar's first Royals game. We sat in the first row in right field, near the foul pole. A foul ball landed past us but bounced right back toward Edgar, and he got it. The Royals won the game, and we officially named Edgar the Royals' good luck charm. The Royals also got 12+ hits, which meant that we could redeem our ticket at a Krispy Kreme for a free dozen donuts. Brandon and I stopped by Krispy Kreme in Independence on the way home (I rode with him to the game) to get our free dozen donuts. There were a bunch of people there to redeem their tickets, but it didn't take long because they have a huge assembly line of donuts. Krispy Kreme donuts are so good right after they are made. I ate six on the way home. My family ate the rest by the next day. I opened the box to see if there were any left, and there was only a small piece of a donut left. Yes, I ate it. Edgar went with us on our next Royals game adventure (by the way, on Thursdays this summer college students who showed their college ID's at the ticket window could sit in the outfield seats for $6 instead of the usual $12, which was awesome). The Royals won again, and Edgar further proved that he was the Royals' good luck charm. Last Friday I went to the double header with my church group. We sat in left field, and our youth leader got the tickets for $9 each. That was $9 for both games because you only have to buy one ticket to go to both games of a double header. It was also Buck Night, which means all hot dogs, small drinks, and peanuts are $1 each. That applied to both games. I had a hot dog, a bag of peanuts, and three small Pepsis. Since it was Friday, there were fireworks after the game, and it was a great show, as usual. The Royals won both games, and they got 12+ hits in the first game, so I am going to get my free donuts sometime soon. Drew was at the game with some of his friends from school, including, you guessed it, Mr. Royals Good Luck Charm himself, Edgar. Honestly, this guy needs to go to every Royals game, home and away. Way to go, Edgar! I think the Royals have a bright future ahead of them. They have a lot of young talent, and I think they are going in the right direction. Remember this name: Mark Teahen. Go Royals!
I am excited for the upcoming football season. Although the Chiefs haven't looked very good in their first couple of preseason games, I think they will be fine by the time the season starts. Their first game is at home against the Bengals on September 10th. That's only 17 days away! Go Chiefs (and Packers)! Speaking of the Packers, I am going to Lambeau Field with my dad to see them play again this year. You may recall that I went there with my dad in 2004. I had a lot of fun, and I expect to again this year.
Overall I had a good summer and had a lot of fun. |
