What do you call a seagull that lives on the bay?

A Bay-Gull (Bagel)!!

So this morning, I was sitting down at John Wayne Marina, enjoying some solitude and listening to a sermon from John Piper (I highly recommend subscribing to his desiringGod podcast on itunes). As I sat and listened I watched the seagulls meadering about and from time to time, attempting to get food. Now, the way they do this: they pick up a clam (or oyster, or pretty much anything in a shell) and fly up high and then drop that shell on the rocks along the shore, hoping to break it open to eat the meat inside. Unfortunately on this beach, the rocks that can be broken against are not close together. That means that the gulls must have excellent aim in order to truly crack open the shell on the rock. Today, I watched one (who looked younger than the others) try repeatedly with his target practice, never able to hit the rock and crack his breakfast open. After what must have been 5 tries, I watched him take his shell allllll the way up to the road and drop it! Success! The shell cracked on the road and he was finally able to chow down (I'm sure he was famished after the hard work to get his breakfast). All that to say, what a resourceful seagull he was, I named him Chet. He may, or may not, be appearing in my book (ha.ha.ha....someday I WILL write it!).

Doesn't feel like summer 'till you make a trip to the lake...

Yesterday, my mom and I made the trip out to Lake Sutherland and Lake Crescent to pick up my dad from his worship retreat. Afterwards, we had a nice picnic supper at Lake Crescent and soaked up a little sun. We even put our feet in the icy (and yes, I do mean ICY!) water. I love the lake, it is definitely one of my happy places....now, if only I had a jetski!

So beautiful and peaceful :)


My very white legs and feet were coooold in the water.

Longest Sand Spit in the U.S. is in my backyard!

Did you know that the Dungeness Spit is the longest sand spit in the U.S.?? I didn't! I've lived in Sequim since 4th grade (although I spent 6 years away and now am back) and I never knew this bit of trivia. Actually, apparently, Good Morning America will be doing a story on it upcoming as well. Well, how did I recently come to aquire this knowledge? For a while now, my dad and I have been looking for new challenges in the world of walking/hiking/running so last Friday we decided to walk to end of the Spit and back. Distance-wise, it is not that far (5 miles each way), however, walking on sand is an entirely different feel than walking on pavement or even dirt road. The walk was very enjoyable and we happened to go in the morning during low-tide and were able to see various seals, deer, sea anemones, dead jellyfish, and all kinds of other creatures. The lighthouse at the end is also very interesting, and is still functional, although mostly unneccesary these days with the high-tech equipment that most boats have. All in all, it was a very enjoyable trip and it's always nice to do a little exploring in your very own town!


This was taken heading down onto the Spit, it's too small to tell (taken with my camera phone) but there are two deer just waiting for us!


The lighthouse, we must be at the end! (actually, the lighthouse was originally built 1/16th mile away from the end of the Spit, but because the Spit is still growing, it is now 1/2 mile from the end, which is now a wildlife refuge).

Dad

If you are a member of the Lighthouse Association, you can sign up to spend a week at the lighthouse as a caretaker. Doesn't that sound fun??? I would love to do that...unfortunately the waiting list spans through 2011 already! Wow. Who knows where I will be by then?!

View from the top of the lighthouse. Wish I had a better camera!

NODM Half-Marathon

This post is exceedingly late in being written, however, a significant event happened in my life last month and I have yet to fully share it with you all. I walked/ran my first ever half-marathon! Now, as many of you are aware, I am not a runner by any means, never have been. However, over a year ago my dad decided it was time to change his lifestyle, in an effort to get off some medications and other things that were detrimental to his life, largely due in part to being overweight. He began walking 10,000 steps a day and significantly changing his eating habits. Because of his new life choices, he was able to drop 60 pounds and ultimately meet his goal weight - and get off those medications! In support of my dad, and also for my own health, I began walking with him when I moved back to Sequim last September. Together, we have stretched our walking distances farther than we ever imagined. We signed up fot the North Olympic Discovery Marathon (NODM) that took place on June 6th, and set that as our goal. Well that half-marathon has come and gone and it was an incredible experience. Of the 13.1 mile course, we were able to run about 4 of the miles (that's a big accomplishment for us! We had planned to just walk the whole thing...but got caught up in the adrenaline rush and ended up running some!). We finished in exactly 3 hours, which was an excellent time for us as walkers. Now, we are attempting to do another on August 8th in Port Gamble. This will be a challenge for sure, but definitely something we look forward to. So, what am I doing for my 25th birthday? Running/walking a half-marathon...suuuure, why not?

Yikes!

As I work towards my ultimate goal of being a first grade teacher, and having my own classroom of students, I come across many interesting theories and ideas about teaching. Today, I read this, and it definitely made me stop and think about what kind of teacher I want to be, and the impact that will have on my students and the atmosphere in my classroom...Author/teacher/psychologist Haim Ginnott says this, "As a teacher I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom."

ReNew VBS

Alright, I am aware that it has been a verrrry long time since I've updated this blog, but to make up for it, I shall today post an extensive amount of pictures from my most recent endeavor with the kiddos...VBS! Vacation Bible School, that is. VBS has been a hugely effort and time consuming project for me over the last couple months, especially since it was the first time I had ever planned something on this scale. After months of prep work, it all came down to reality last week. We ended up with about 30 kids (the perfect size for the amount of volunteers we had!) and the week went smoothly...for the most part. I will explain more in depth the these picture captions, but basically, our theme for the week was ReNew! Through study of the Parable of the Sower, we learned how to grow in our faith, have fun, and change the world all at the same time! Because of the "green" theme, virtually all of the materials we used were recycled or re-purposed. Either way, a picture is worth a thousand words, so I'll try and give you a bunch of them here and you can see what I've been up to for the last couple of months...check em out!

We headed into the sanctuary for singing!
Kia from local Nash's Produce came to teach us about eating natural foods instead of those foods filled with chemicals!
An important part of our mornings was tying on our workbelts to get ready for the day.
One day we made natural scupltures out of things we found in creation...wood, rocks, twigs, bark, etc...





Of course we had some yummy snacks....seeds trail mix (went with our theme!)
And what would VBS be without games?
It's harder to keep a seed on a spoon and run a relay race than you may realize!



Puppet show!
We even learned all about recycling...
We made recycled instruments
We painted a root system. "God's love takes root in you and me" and "We are nourished by God's love"



We had some kids from various places around the world with us.
We played our instruments during music time
We discussed our Bible story in small groups






I just realized that most of my captions are out of place and attached to the wrong pictures.....not going back in to change them because this is the longest post of all time....sorrrrrrrrry! But, anyway, you get the general idea, the pictures speak for themselves.

We wanted to do some community service, we had planned to repaint the skateboard park, but it rained!So instead, we donned our plastic bag head-coverings and headed out to pick up garbage at a local park.
My buddy Jonah in his paint shirt..it's just a smidge too big ;)

The last day we put on a presentation of The Parable of the Sower for our parents, sang them some songs, showed them what VBS was like, and ate a yummy lunch :)

THE END!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm so glad it's over, I'm so glad it went as well as it did. I'm still working on cleaning up...I've got fake flowers galore! Time to focus once again on my own schoolwork...just a few more quarter until I get to student-teach..can't wait!