Despite the long mileage, everyone arrived at the host church by 1:30
pm, we are all such strong riders. The highlight of today was biking
by the Worlds Largest Ball of Twine! By far the little town's main
attraction and source of income. We were all able to add some twine to
it ourselves-it was the most exciting thing (besides us crazy Bike &
Builders of course) for a good hundred miles at least. Our hosts were
very generous and friendly, I've enjoyed talking to community members
of all the towns we stop in. Meeting people and both sharing with and
listening to them has been one of my favorite parts of this trip. One
particular woman, Eve, took a particular liking to me and showed me
the secret room where the bean bags and another couch were hidden.
Also the next morning she handed me some banana chocolate chip cookies
for me to do what I wanted with. I love people!!! I also trying
talking a couple high schoolers from the community into doing B&B once
they are old enough. They looked at me like I'm crazy and said there
is no way. After explaining the awesomeness that is Bike & Build and
directing them to the website, I can only hope they may change their
mind. This trip is proving to be the most incredible experience of my
life thus far. This day was Thursday which meant mail!! Thank yous to
the Meyer family for the shot blocks- they are great! Also to my
roommates/friends for you letters, cards, goodies and especially the
origami whale and dog :). Thank you Aunt Dianne and Uncle Don for the
card and gift card, to my Grandma Dykehouse for the kind words and
cash, and to Art and Elsie Terpstra for their encouraging card. Mail
day may be my favorite day of the week- the energy I get from friends
and family is imeasursable and I can't thank you enough. If you are
thinking about mailing me something, cards are always appreciated, as
are homemade goodies and any snack food, gift cards are also great.
Just a couple suggestions to those of you who are wondering what is
best to send :) Anything fun and small is a good choice too. OR you
can also comment on my blog to say hi- I love reading comments from
people!
peace and love-Kristen
Sent from my iPod
Hi Kristen
ReplyDeleteJust got in from the Conference Grounds. Had supper with David and Donelle and the girls and then campfire and smores. A beautiful full moon led us home. Millions of fire flies are out tonight. Cherries are ripe for picking and still was able to buy fresh strawberries today. Worked on the vacation book again today-up to page 58. Such fun remembering the various hikes.
So very glad you are having the time of your life and that the mail drop was a good one. You enjoy reading our notes to you but oh how we love to read what you have to report too. I check my email 2-3 times a day just to catch up on your comings and goings. Looks like you have a few more big days and then Denver, CO, a day off and a mail drop. Yeah!
Back to the Grounds tomorrow to pick up our trailer and move it back into storage for a few weeks, work on the Chicken BBQ there from 4-7, and then head to Baldwin Oaks for a campfire with our old camping club friends. Rain is predicted. How's the temps your way? Well take care! Love ya!
So...were you able to climb on top of the World's Large Ball of Twine? Have you had your fill of grain field scenery yet? Hey, we saw the picture of you holding your bike above your head in the grain field. I guess this means you are officially hard-core Bike and Build now. Lots of things going on in Grand Haven this weekend. Ryan, Dad and Kevin just left for the beach to see the sand sculpture contest. The art fair is also going on this weekend. I'm busy working this morning (my weekend to work), but taking a little break to leave a comment for my dear athletic daughter :) Marissa's open house is this afternoon and then we are off to the Rosema reunion in Allendale this evening. Can't wait to hear about your adventures once you get to the Rocky Mountains. Love you!!
ReplyDeleteHi Kristen...
ReplyDeleteSorry but I have no idea where I am in the mail thing this week. I think I sent you a letter, but if I didn't I'm really sorry! I can't even remember what day of the week it is! The westchester bus was the last bus to arrive on POP property yesterday. Most of my girls where on Westchester #2 (the younger bus) so I met them when they were doing their temperature checks and lice screenings. They are very sweet and very cute. According to our area head (age group boss :) ) we have the mellow bunk which is fine with me! We spent saturday unpacking their bus bags-full of last minute items and stuffed animals and getting to know each other. I got to see all of my girls from last year. They are all inter B's now and part of Upper camp! I walked up to bunk 22 which has 5 of my last years girls and i heard someone saying "Seriously! I'm not lying! Kelly Siegersma is TOTALLY standing right outside our door!!!" It made my day :) Last nights activity was the counselor welcome show. Ski's part went so-so but all my girls told me it went well so I'm good with that.
Sorry I'm posting in short segments because I actually have been posting for the last few days but the posts haven't been getting through and then I get frustrated and give up. So I figured that if I wrote short posts it might be less frustrating if I lost all of my beautiful writing lol!
ReplyDeleteToday ALL of the girls were up and awake by 7:30. Wake up bell is 7:45. By the time the bell rang most had been up for over an hour and a half, but they stayed pretty quite so I was impressed. We had our beds made, uniforms on, hair combed and most of our cleanup chores done before my inter A's of last year would have even been awake!
Waterfront worked as one today instead of splitting off because we had to do the swim test for all of camp. We got in to help the littlest ones and I also got in with my last year's campers to swim and have fun with them. Tomorrow we will branch off into our SSBC (Ski, sail, boating and canoeing)groups. We don't have WATAF (waterfront activities that are fun) or SSFS (Swim, ski, fun, sun) which is when the large group of subs, seniors and peakers (13,14, 15 yr olds) descend on the waterfront. I like that one the best because you can relax and have fun with the girls instead of trying ot get the little kids to get into the lake when they don't want to. Dinner was steak tonight and it was delicious! We also had a chicken pesto sandwich for lunch. YUM! it was really good. Evening activity was elections where the camp voted for the leaders of the blue and the white teams for the summer. Al of the peakers are
ReplyDeleteSo I just spread the Bike and build word a little further :) My friends from Missouri and Austrailia came over to chat and I told them all about B&B. We looked at the website, watched the Bodies in Motion video and the Pepsi commercial!
ReplyDeleteSorry that I had to stop in the middle of the last sentance!
All the peakers are on main lawn right now trying to figure out who will Peak blue and who will Peak white (in this sentence think of the word "Peak" to mean graduate) It is important because it is their last summer! So far it just involves alot of crying and hugging. I want to go back to my bunk and sleep because I'm predicting another early morning tomorrow, but I had two homesick girls tonight and I don't want to be responsible for them if they start crying again! I'll go back as soon as I'm caught up on your blog and I've done my internship homework. It's not due till wednesday, but I want to make sure that I do it early in case I don't have time to get to a computer any time soon. I should probably get going, but I'll talk to you soon!
Kristen!!
ReplyDeleteIt's so awesome to hear how great you are doing - it's amazing to see how God is at work in your life! Ry and I are headed out to the rocky mountains on Saturday too (just in a car instead of a bike!). We're so bummed because we will be in the Jackson area for four weeks, but we'll be out on the trail when you are actually in town. We hope you have an awesome time on your day off in Jackson! Make sure to visit the Mangy Moose store - it's crazy! We will continue to pray for you, and hope you feel the love as we pass within miles of each other in the next couple weeks. We will only have Internet access if we can find a library somewhere, so this might be the last time we can comment or communicate too. Praying for you and can't wait to see you when you return (actually, when we return - we'll be back around the 15th of August). We love you!! -karina (and ry!)