Peniel Ranch: Part One (July 15th-17th)

Day One:

Today was basically travelling, but we were in a caravan with Grandpa & Grandma Olson and a family from our church, the Roberts. Their oldest daughter, Mallen is one of my best friends, so it was really awesome getting to spend the whole day with their family and ours! On the way to the ranch, we made a couple stops including Snoqualmie Falls, The Soap Lake, and the Grand Coulee Dam. I took lots of pictures, and Andrew, (he's my oldest brother right now in Indonesia), gave me the job of doing the slide show of the ranch when we got back. Talk about responsibility! We did finally arrive at the ranch, only to find that the Hough's and Miller's had beat us! :( Oh, well. It wasn't long before the rest of the church showed up, and we had dinner. Dad and Mom decided to do something each evening, and this evening's program was a sharing time where each person had to share a blessing or testimony. It was kind of fun to see people up front that never really do that sort of stuff at home, and I got to take pictures of it all! Let's just say that it was amusing... :D. I was the second to last person, and being up front is not my thing. I was shaking up there the entire time! (hopefully no one noticed). We ended the day with a game of volleyball and fell into bed exhausted. Better go.
Our Evening Thing:


Mom

Day Two:

This morning I woke up bright and early so that I could take a quick shower and do my Bible Bee Sword Study somewhat in peace. It was so refreshing to go outside in the morning and breath in the fresh air. When I get up early, I always feel groggy at first, but after the first five minutes, or after a cool shower, I'm glad I did. Breakfast was served at 8:00 and it was really good (as were all their meals we found from experience!).
Following breakfast, we did a Bible bee hour,

Margaret Doing Bible Bee

Sarah getting quizzed by Mr. Hough



and went down to the river until lunch. It was awesome to be able to swim in freezing water, and kayak up and down the river with friends. Also amusing watching some of the boys dare each other into dunking themselves into the river. Ah, good times. :P





Me kayaking with David

The boys, goofing off. (Jacob Miller, Killian Krause, and my own brother, Maxwell Eddy)

I didn't use sunscreen that day, so I got a horrific burn on my arm from the first day that hurt for the rest of the trip. (let this be a warning to all who ignore sunscreen). I had to put aloe and an ice pack to keep it cool. After dinner, for our evening thing, we watched "God of Wonders", a creation DVD on how God created the earth and why we should be thankful for it. If you've never watched it, I highly recommend it, PK approved! (Pastor's Kid approved :). Once the movie finished, volleyball was played, but I was so sore, I couldn't play. :( So instead I watched, which, I must say, is more entertaining than playing the actual game in the first place. :) However, even with my arm hurting, I could still play apples to apples, which was more hilarious playing than watching. :D


Having way to much fun playing apples to apples (can you tell it's past our bed times? :)

It was so fun! Better go.

Day Three:

Today started with a thunder storm and hail that was so wet that standing out in it for merely five seconds it would drench you to the skin, you know how I know, I tried it, and was shivering for the rest of the morning. When breakfast was over, we had the Bible bee hour, and stayed inside playing Ping-Pong, Pool, Piano, and chess. My younger brother Maxwell is really good at chess, and he basically obliterated all his opponents today. Yay, Max!!


Playing pool, a major attraction for the teens.

The sun did eventually come out again, unlike in western Washington, and we enjoyed some playtime outside,

Mr. Asa & Dad relaxing in the sunshine. :)

and we went down to the river after a little bit, me being very careful about getting my poor blistered arm in the sun. (believe me, I now use lots of sunscreen.) One of the people in charge of the ranch said that we could ride ponies that afternoon, so of course I looked forward to that with great anticipation. When we did eventually get around to riding ponies, it was interesting to me to ride on one, because I've only ever ridden on regular horses, so it was quite an experience to say the least.

Me and Cadence



Ronan

 Dinner came at last, and quickly following it, we had a prayer meeting and Grandpa Olson shared on how we should stand up for what is right and maybe by this change the world. He showed several examples of one person who changed history because of what they had done. It was really neat, and I'll not forget that message for quite awhile. The day finished again with volley ball games, and a couple rounds of apples to apples. It was another long, fun filled day, better go.