A Interesting Retreat

Last June Grace and I went with our church's youth group to a christian camp called WKYC. We went to this camp because our church's new preacher always goes to this camp and he wanted us all to go. It was a cool camp, smart rules, good food, awesome lessons, and nice people. We had a lot of fun!

A few weeks ago our church posted a bulletin that said WKYC was going to have a weekend retreat. I decided to go and so did a few of my friends that had gone to the camp too. Not as many people in our youth group went because some had gotten jobs or they had something going on that weekend.

On friday I carpooled with my friends to the retreat. When we got to the camp we saw hardly ten kids around the entire camp, apparently not as many people were coming to the retreat. Once everyone had arrived, there were only about forty teens.

Saturday started off fine, though one of the girls in our cabin said she had felt horrible Friday night and threw up. She felt fine by morning so we guessed it must have been a weird stomach bug.

We had a few lessons that morning and some free time. Since there was hardly anyone around, the free time was kinda boring. Before lunch they had us do something I had never done at a camp before, they had study time. What they made us do was just go to a empty part of the camp with our Bibles and just read or pray for thirty min. I accidently sat in the sun so I was burning up, and so I sat watching ants for most of it.

After prayer time we had more free time and that was fun because we found some playing cards. A bunch of people got together some outdoor games and those were also fun to watch. We had some amazing singing around a fire (why is singing always better at camp?) and then we went to bed.

Saturday night, I was dreaming about a stomachache, when I woke and puked over the side of the bed... "Great." I woke up my friend who was on the bed next to me, I told her I threw up and she said "Ok" and went back to sleep. The next day she told me that she thought I had said I had felt like throwing up. I woke one of our counselors and she was really nice she told me to go back to bed and she would clean it all up.

Sunday I felt better. We had a sermon that morning, And we were picked up by my friend's mom.
Over all it was a pretty fun retreat.

(Though next time I will check my temperature before we leave).

Modernized Capture The Flag

Yesterday was Labor Day. Grace and I went to our friends' house to play Capture The Flag. We played a bit differently than the traditional way... we used Air-Soft guns!

The rules were a bit different. Each team had to know where the opposing team's flag was, because it's very hard to look for a little flag while being shot at. In our version every player had a gun, and when a player was hit they were out until they ran back to touch their flag.

Our friend's house is perfect for this type of game. They live in the woods so there are a lot of trees. They have a large raised front and back porches.

We had two teams of three players each. My team's territory was the back yard. We had two handguns and a sniper rifle.

Grace's team had the front yard. They were armed with two handguns and a shotgun. The main advantage that Grace's team had was that they had two gas powered handguns.

What I learned from this game was... I can't aim. But most of all, I do not like being shot in the forehead with an Air-Soft shotgun. 


 Good thing I had goggles on.

Tutorial Time

This is now my second week of my new tutorial, SHINE! I am really enjoying it. I have never gone to a tutorial before so this has been a very new experience for me.

If you don't remember, I am taking Algebra I, Biology, and Spanish I.  My favorite class would have to be either Biology or Algebra. And that is really weird for me, because I have never really liked math or science. But my teachers at SHINE are very good at explaining things and I have very good school books.

The first week of math was not quite as fun as this week because I never took Pre Algebra.  I was going to this year but something about a new law made it so that this year I have to go ahead and start Algebra 1. So for my first class, I had no idea what my Algebra teacher was talking about.  Literally, I was sitting through the entire hour not understanding a single word. When I got home I told Mom and she had to go over the whole lesson with me. I finally caught on and I think I am going to like Algebra.

My second week is going much better.  SHINE is going to be great!

Birthdays And Drivers License

 This week has been a very important week for Grace, Monday was her sixteenth birthday! She was so excited!

Grace's birthday gifts were perfect for her because the two greatest  things in her life are; Music, and chocolate. So this is what she got for her birthday. Some things for her guitars, like a new cord for her electric guitar, and a holder for her classical guitar that lets her hang it up on the wall. She also got a piano and guitar book for all the songs in the movie "New Moon", and a iTunes gift card.

 Grace got a large chocolate bar for her birthday also, Mom did not want her to get too much. Later that day we saw some of our friends, and they all gave her bags of chocolate... So much for Mom's plan.

The day after Grace's birthday she and mom went to go take her Drivers License test. She passed it!!
We are all so happy! She drove all by herself to her job of teaching piano to a little boy we know.

One of the things Grace was excited about with getting her license is that a guy we know is always joking with Grace that he is 57 minutes older. Now Grace can say that she got her license two days before him. She can't wait to tell him.

Vacation Is Over Now School Starts.

Hello everyone! Vacation ended last week so we started school. I am now a freshman in highschool! (should I be exited or worried about that?)

I am going to go to a tutorial this year for some of my schoolwork. At the tutorial I will be taking; Algebra1, Biology, and Spanish. At home I will learn; US History, English, German and my favorite subject Literature! Along with school I will have P.E. and Luke, Grace, and I are taking a ballroom dance class.

The start of the school year was very interesting. The last Friday of summer Luke, Grace, and I went to a fair with Luke's girlfriend Brittany, A fair as you all probably know is not a very clean place; Saturday morning I woke up with pinkeye. Yay. The first few days of school I had to keep putting drops of medicine in my eye. Good thing I am used to contacts or I would have had a problem with that.

Yesterday, Grace and I were invited to go fishing with some friends at a very big pond. No one caught any thing and is was very hot so we went to a small building next to the pond, to get some water. While we were standing there chatting I heard some very high pitched meows.  We looked over and this tiny stray kitten, about two weeks old, is standing there wobbling on its legs yelling at us.  I picked it up because it was so tiny and cute I couldn't leave it.  I took it home and guilted mom into my taking care of it.

So now I have a adorable little black kitten.

I hope that is not bad luck?

A City In Our House

This morning Mom told me to build a city for Jack made out of Lincoln Logs. He played with the city for a long time. Here are a few pictures.

He played with it for a long time.

Reading and Broken Toes

My Mom recently found out about a summer reading program at our library. You log the amount of time that you read each day and then you get prizes for certain amounts of time read, and when you finish a book.

 I love to read anyway, and now I get prizes for reading? Yay! Grace, Bekah, Ben, and I joined the program. Mom also joined up Jack and Sam but all they do is get read to.

Most of the prizes are nice things like ice cream at McDonalds, or a lime-ade at Sonic. But some of the prizes I could do without, like a t-shirt I won that says "Make a Splash! Read!" in big colorful letters on it.

I guess I now have a new night shirt.    

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Last Friday was our P.E. banquet, I was having a very fun time until around 10:00 pm.

At 10:00 p.m. we played a game called "Bulldog". For those who don't know the rules here they are; One person called the bulldog stands in the middle of the room while everyone else stands at the wall. When the bulldog says go, everyone runs to the other side of the room and the bulldog has to capture someone by grabbing them and picking them up off the ground. The captured person is now on the team of the bulldog and has to help capture other people. The last person left free becomes the new bulldog.

All was fine until the second game of bulldog. A boy named Jordan was the bulldog, he started running for me so I switched directions and tripped over someone, the person I tripped on, fell on me and Oww! it broke my toe.

Spring Gardening

Recently I started thinking that I need to work on the garden I started last year. So I weeded it, and watered the few plants that had come back. Mom and I decided to go shopping for some more plants.

Here are the plants we bought: Bleeding heart, Coleus, Impatiens, Begonias, And a perennial that did not have a tag but it looked pretty.

This is me planting.

Here is some of the new plants.

This is one of the plants from last year. I really did not expect this Japanese fern to come back, I was very surprised when it did.

Here is my completed garden.

I am very happy that we have a cat this year; our cat Linus likes to sit with me in my garden, and he keeps away all the rabbits that love to chew on my plants.

This is linked to the Flexible Homeschooler's Family Garden 101.

Spring Is Here

Spring has come very fast this year, I have been outside all day these last few days. I just cannot stay inside. Here are some of the things that spring has brought.


Blue sky, during winter it is always covered with clouds.

The bradford pear tree's are blooming, even though I am allergic to these trees they are very pretty in spring.

My little garden that I planted last year is growing back.

And the flowers are all coming back too. Spring is the nicest time of year.

The Film Festival

If you remember, my brother Luke and his friend Brittany entered a video in the Full Moon Film Festival. Well, on Saturday at 4:00 PM, Grace, Luke, and I went to the festival to see who won. We went first to pick up some of our friends who needed a ride to it. The boys we picked up played Burr and Hamilton in the video.

When we got there we met Brittany. We all sat down and after a little wait it began. First there was a speech and then they showed some of the videos. When "Hamilton vs Burr" came on it was very annoying because it just had to be our video that paused for no reason, and they had to go up to the stage and turn it back on. But everyone laughed at the jokes and the humorous  ending scene.

Here is Hamilton Vs Burr.


Hamilton vs. Burr from Luke Tipton on Vimeo.


Once all the videos were done there was another speech and then the prizes for things like best Actor and best Comedy. Luke and Brittany were awarded best mockumentery. After all those awards were given out Luke and Brittany were awarded third place over all!
I am so glad they got prizes. After the festival ended we went out to Sonic to celebrate.

Eye Doctor

About a year ago I had perfect sight. Suddenly I started noticing I couldn't see things until they were right in my face. Mom was shocked when I completely failed the eye test. It was almost funny; I could not see a single letter.

I have now worn glasses for a year.

This Thursday, Grace woke me up saying, "Hey Sarah, Mom says you need to get up 'cause you're going to leave soon." My first thought was, "Umm... where am I going?"

I got out of bed and went into the kitchen looking for both breakfast and for Grace. I was told that I was going to the eye doctor at 9:00 a.m. to get contacts!

After a few test the eye doctor put contacts in my eyes. I was told to take them out and put them back in. I did fine taking them out, but I took about fifteen minutes putting them back in. The doctor was very patient though, and I finally got them back in.

I really like contacts, they are so much easier than glasses. Another great thing about getting contacts is I now have a great excuse for inviting friends over to see them!

Filming With Friends

Recently Luke found out about Full Moon Film Festival. He and his friend Brittany decided to make a short and enter it in the contest. The short is about the famous duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr.

They got a bunch of friends together and gave them all different parts. Luke and Brittany arranged to shoot on some friends land. The shoot started at 10:00 a.m. and lasted until dark.

I was assigned the role of staff photographer. I took a lot of pictures of the shoot. Here are a few:

This is most of the crew.

This is Luke filming.

Rehearsing.  

I like the pink script paper.

I had a lot of fun being the photographer, I hope in any future shorts that Luke makes, I will have that job again. The whole shoot day would have been perfect, had not the weather been freezing. 

Birthdays, Hover boards, And Haircuts.

Last Monday one of our friends was having a party after P.E. The entire P.E. group was invited. Mom told Luke, Grace, and I that we could only go if we finished our school in time for P.E. (after P.E. every one was planning to drive straight to the party).

So that morning along with regular school I had a math test, a narration on the book, Once and Future King, and some science questions had to be answered. After breakfast I started work; a few hours later I was finished.  I was amazed/happy that I got only two questions wrong in my math test.

Mom mentioned that my hair needed a trim, I was really bored with my hair so I asked mom if I could get a "bob."

Tada! My new hair.

At P.E., when my friend Olivia came in, I went over to her wondering if she would like my haircut.  These were her exact words, "You got your hair cut!?! You are going to regret it! It looks cute."

One of the kids that goes to P.E. brought a science project to show everyone; it was a hover board, I got to ride it! It only lifted a few inches off the ground but it was really fun.

 At the party we had pizza and played games, it was really fun. it started snowing really hard so we all had to go home, but it was a really fun day.

M&M's

One of my friend's family recently received a bunch of boxes full of M&M's.  They couldn't eat all that candy so they shared; last P.E. they were handing out boxes. Each box contains 36 large bags full of M&M's. We were very happy.

Mom was keeping the box in one of the bottom cabinets. Sam likes the, "Mim nims" as he calls them, and he is allowed two every now and then; but apparently that is not enough. One day he came up to my Mom looking guilty, with chocolate smeared all over his face. He had discovered how to open the M&M bags.
Mom understood that the miserable look on his face meant, "Mom my stomach hurts, please help me, I can not stop, and also forgive me." The M&M's have been moved to a higher shelf.

A few nights ago, around 8:00,  Grace and I asked Mom if it would be okay to have some M&M's and watch a movie.  Luke who was working on school that night, also wanted M&M's.  Mom told Grace and me that a movie was okay with her and she would let us all have some candy.  When Luke asked, "How much is some?" Mom said she would trust us to get a reasonable amount.  Luke responded, "Okay" and walked off toward the cabinet then he returned grinning, with a huge bag for each of us.

Mom said "Ummm, no."

(Sigh).

Old Games

Our family has made up lots of different games through the years, here are a few:

A game we made up at our old house was called, "Possum Hunting." It was one of the stupidest games we ever thought up.  We invented it with some friends. Our old house had a very large yard in one of those old neighborhoods where trees and possums are everywhere. We and our friends would stand on the back porch at night and slowly walk down near the wooded end of the back yard. Eventually someone would think they saw something and scream, "I SEE A POSSUM!!!!" and all of us would run screaming back to the porch. We would do this about a million times.

Another game was invented by my little sister, it was called "Baby Run Away." In this game all the players acted like toddlers while one player was the mom. The mom had to put all the babies to bed and then would get a phone call. When the "mom" walked out of the room and pretended to have a conversation  all the babies would hide. Then the mom would come back and look for the babies. She had to tag them before they got back to their beds. We loved this game and we played it with friends all the time.

Our old house did not have any stairs so the game, "Mountain Climber" was invented at the house we live in now. "Mountain Climber" had very simple rules; everyone pretended that the staircase was a mountain. We would climb until one of us pretended to fall. We always had a belt to throw to the fallen player; they would grab the belt and someone would climb down to help and of course would also fall in the process. It was a very popular wrestling/falling/screaming game.

Very recently, Grace and I made up a fun "game." Here is how it is played:

1. I walk into a room.
2. I ask Grace a question.
3. Grace replies sarcastically and in annoyance I lightly slap her arm.
4. Grace says in a whiny voice, "Sarah you hit me" but I reply, "No, I only patted you." 
5. Grace starts walking toward the door saying in the whiny voice that she is, "Going to tell Mom."
6. I run in front of her blocking the door saying, "If you don't tell mom ummm... I will give you... some candy." 
7. Grace holds out her hand and we continue acting childish and wrestle a bit till I run to Mom accusing Grace of a bunch of things like hitting, kicking, calling names.  Grace runs out behind also accusing me of things,
8. All of this is done in a silly childish way. It is very fun.
9. Mom usually laughs and then tells to go do something. 
10. Game over.

Sam's Sick

Sam the two year old is sick. I think he got it at church on Sunday. One of my friends little sister did not come to Sunday morning service because she was throwing up, and that night my friend couldn't come because she had a fever.

Well the next day this little guy was sick. His nose was running and his eyes looked weird.













But that did not stop him from trying to play and cuddle with everyone. Mom kept checking his blood to make sure it was not getting too low, and was trying to stop him from touching everyone else.

He continued to be sick that entire day. That night Luke had a wrestling match with all the little boys, Sam was included, Mom Grace, and I were watching them playing and I guessed that all of them would be sick tomorrow, after watching Sam rolling around with them.

School Again

I hate it when you start a book and the next day school starts. I really can not concentrate on my school when that happens. If only the books I am usually reading could be considered school.

Well, our family started school again last week and I had just started "Breaking Dawn". None of us were very happy. Mom made a completely new schedule for school, and now we start school on Tuesday and do our tests on Monday instead of Friday. When Mom told us this, the first question was: "Will we still have a weekend?" Mom's answer was yes - if you know that you are ready for Monday. The new schedule is working fine so far.

I don't like my math book. I never liked math. Luke and Grace thought fractions were hard and decimals were easy, while I think fractions are okay and decimals are really hard. I think my math book was translated from Swahili; the explanations are so hard to understand. Mom usually tells me after reading the lesson and frowning for a second, "Okay don't do it the way they do it, this is how I learned." And then she shows me a easier, less complicated way.

History is my favorite subject. I argue a lot with Rebekah about history, because she says she just cannot concentrate on it. To me, it's like reading an exciting story: good guys, bad guys, legends, beautiful city's, and adventure.

I am reading the book "Public Enemies"- it is very good. Another book I am reading for school is "Once And Future King". It is interesting, but not my favorite book in the world.

By the way, I did finish "Breaking Dawn". It made me get behind in school. I had to make it up by missing Sunday night dodge ball with my church and Monday P.E. with my friends. Bummer.

Don't check out a really great book the day before school starts. It doesn't help your grades.

Snow Day

Yesterday it snowed. It was not a lot of snow, but it was enough for everyone to get excited. Usually when it snows we all go play in our yard, and when we come inside there is hot coco and a fire.

This snow day Luke, Grace, and I were invited to go to a friends house to go sledding. This family has a big house with lots of land. A lot of other teens we know were also invited.

To sled (they don't have any hills) we tied a rope to the back of a four wheeler and tied the other end of the rope to a sled. We took turns getting on the sled and holding on while another person got on the four wheeler and drove fast around a field. It was really fun. I only fell off the sled once, it did not hurt very much at all. The sledding and even falling off the sled was fun.

Some of the kids that came brought Air Soft guns. After we were all done on the sled most of the kids had a battle. I did not want to get shot and I really can not aim so I did not join in.

We were driven home by our friends. When we got home we ate dinner and were ready to relax when Mom said, "Okay time to catch up on the school work you missed today"

Ah well.

Our Christmas And New Years

We had a very enjoyable Christmas. Our Aunt Amy and our Uncle Gytis came from Washington for Christmas. Mom, Grace, Bekah, and I went to the mall with Aunt Amy, we also ate lunch at the mall. After we finished eating we started wandering around. Bekah asked Mom if she could buy anything, when Bekah said that I realized that I had left my purse at the table where we had eaten. I ran back through the crowd and grabbed it before it could be stolen; though it probably looked like I had stolen it to the people sitting at other tables.

We spent Christmas Eve playing the card game, "Puss In Boots" with our aunt and uncle. It was really fun.

I got a lot of nice things for Christmas. Mom ordered some of the gifts online and three did not come in time for Christmas. Two of the gifts arrived a few days afterward. Mom also ordered a present for me, it has not arrived yet. The really annoying thing is that Mom will not tell me what it is.

I had a really nice last two days of 2009. I was invited to go see "The Princess&The Frog" with my friend and her family on Wednesday. On Thursday two of the gifts that did not arrive in time for Christmas came in the mail, they turned out to be "Up" and "Harry Potter 6". They were very good.

I hope everyone has a amazing 2010!