Hives

The past few weeks have been sweltering here in Fort Wayne, so we took advantage of this and went swimming at our friends' in-ground pool.

The water was perfect, they had a diving board and slide, and it was a blast. We were getting ready to leave, so I decided to go down the slide one last time. As I was pouring more water on the slide, I must have enraged a few hornets that nested underneath, because I felt a stabbing pain on my chest. Sure enough, I looked down and saw two angry hornets.

I felt fine all the way home, and since I'd never had a reaction to stings before, I wasn't worried. However, as we were eating dinner, my brother exclaimed, "What's wrong with your face?" I felt my forehead, where huge hives were swelling up. My mom also noticed several hives on my arms and legs. Seriously alarmed now, my mom called the doctor. He said to simply give my an antihistamine pill and the hives will be gone by tomorrow. However, the hives were maddeningly itchy, and they covered my entire body. I was extremely uncomfortable, not to mention my eyes were nearly swollen shut.

I laid down at 7:00, and when I awoke, all the hives had, thankfully, disappeared. I've certainly learned a lesson from this: hornets are no good.

Parks and Rec League Basketball

For the past three weeks, I played for Concordia High School's Parks and Rec League basketball team, and I am happy to say that dominated. We only lost three games, and even then the score was close (Except, of course, in the Homestead game. We lost by ten points, but bear in mind that Homestead has never lost a game in about four years. They play together year-round, and we've never come even close to beating them.)

I think I've noticeably improved my game, which is great, because next season I'll be playing for the varsity team at Holy Cross. Well, I can't wait for next basketball season!

Computer Problems

Please forgive me for failing to blog in several weeks. I have a perfectly valid excuse, however. Our computer crashed a few weeks ago, and for a long time we simply could not connect to the Internet. Thankfully, however, my amazing father fixed the computer, and now I can continue blogging to my heart's desire. I appreciate your patience!

Crown Point Visit

This weekend, we stayed with my grandparents in Crown Point for my mom's 2nd Grade Reunion (yes, it was a 2nd grade reunion).

On Saturday, we woke up to a breakfast of waffles and sausage. After saying goodbye to our grandparents, we drove to Lakes of the Four Seasons, the site of the reunion. My brothers and I played with our friends Lucy and Gina on the playground, and we nearly caught a frog lakeside.

Thunderclouds had been hanging in the sky, threatening to unleash a storm all day, and they finally did, just as we finished building canals and dams by the lake (we christened the city "Elusive Frog City" in homage to that tricky frog that we just couldn't catch).

Sitting under the pavilion wasn't much fun, so we headed to our hostess' house, where we watched Man Vs. Wild until the rain stopped. We then got out a few fishing poles, dug up some worms, and tried our luck at fishing. Surprisingly, we did catch quite a few fish - one of them David caught with a makeshift fishing pole: a crude, Huck Finn-style pole fashioned with a line tied to the end of a stick.

Soon, the mosquitoes came out by the hundreds (I counted 14 bites on my legs alone), so we sat around a bonfire, roasting hot dogs and attempting to evade the merciless mosquitoes.

After a fun day, we said goodbye to Lucy and Gina, and headed back to Grandma and Grandpa's house. We got back at around midnight, and we all fell asleep quickly and easily.

On Sunday morning, we visited my Aunt Marge, who lives a few doors down from my grandparents. The kids soon tired of the adults' talk, so we watched Tom and Jerry until my parents came home.

The rest of our time was mostly spent packing, and as soon as we had loaded the van with our suitcases, we waved adieu to Grandma and Grandpa. We stopped at Uncle Dave and Aunt Michelle's house, and watched Germany slaughter Australia in the World Cup. The kids headed downstairs to play, but after about ten minutes, we were back on the road, heading for my Grandma and Grandpa Speckhard's house.

We had an enjoyable time there, sitting on the swing talking to Cousin Sarah, talking and laughing with family at cocktails, watching Youtube videos, and watching the Eyewitness video about reptiles.

All too soon, we hit the road and arrived home at 1:00 AM.

Blackhawks Win Stanley Cup

For the first time since 1961 (the year that Barack Obama and Wayne Gretzky were born), the Chicago Blackhawks have won the Stanley Cup, defeating the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 in an intense, seesaw series, which ended last night in Philadelphia.

The Hawks were hoping to repeat their Game 5 dominance, in which they steamrolled the Flyers 7-3. However, the Flyers had other ideas, and the game was tied 2-2 at the end of the second period.

When we scored, midway through the third period, our hope was renewed. We were mere minutes away from winning the Stanley Cup. It was so close, we could smell it. However, the Flyers, being the resilient team that they are, took advantage of our lazy defense and scored with four minutes remaining in regulation to tie the game, 3-3.

Game 3 had gone to overtime as well, but the Flyers had come out on top. Needless to say, we were very worried that Philly would win, causing a Game 7 in Chicago. I don't think I could've taken the anxiety and stress of a Game 7, so I could hardly watch the overtime, fearing a Philadelphia win.

However, we didn't have to fear for long. Four minutes had barely elapsed in the extra period when Patrick Kane received the wide-open pass from across the ice, wove his way around a defender, and fired the puck at Michael Leighton from a bad angle.

The game-winning goal was a bit anti-climatic, because nobody realized the puck had gone in. . . except Patrick Kane. He took off down the ice, dancing with joy and shedding equipment as he went, and we were still staring at the TV screen, not daring to believe that he had actually scored. Soon, the other Hawks came barreling toward the celebrating Kane and Niemi, and the the number 4 ticked onto the scoreboard. We realized that the Chicago Blackhawks were the NHL champions and began jumping around the family room, slapping high-fives and yelling at the top of our lungs.

The replay of was shown, and the puck just barely slipped through the pads of Michael Leighton and into the goal, where it was stuck in the pad of the net.

Jonathan Toews was soon presented the Conn Smythe Trophy, the award given to the MVP of the playoffs (This decision, however, was somewhat controversial. Most people agree that Patrick Kane deserves the Trophy, since he had more goals than Toews and, more importantly, he scored the Stanley Cup-winning goal. Others think that Antti Niemi should've won it, since he was phenomenal throughout the playoffs.)

Then, the moment that we'd all been waiting for arrived. The Stanley Cup was brought onto the ice by two gloved, reverent Hall of Fame hockey players. It was gently, respectfully set on a table, where the NHL Commissioner presented it to Jonathan Toews. After pausing for pictures, Toews performed the most coveted, dreamed-of act in hockey. He hoisted the Stanley Cup. The ultimate goal of every hockey player on the planet.



After whooping with glee along with his teammates and kissing the gleaming cup, he handed it to Marian Hossa, who had played in three consecutive Stanley Cup Finals with three different teams, to no avail. . . until now. The cup was passed to each team member by age, and chills went up and down my spine as they celebrated with the most storied trophy in sports.

I later pointed out to my dad that this is my first championship. I have never witnessed the Packers win a Super Bowl. I have never witnessed the Cubs win a World Series (I don't think anyone currently alive has). Now, I have witnessed the Hawks break the Stanley Cup drought.

Is this the beginning of a Chicago dynasty? We have all the ingredients. We've locked in Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa, and Duncan Keith for a few years. We have the momentum. With luck, next year we can win the Blackhawk's fifth Stanley Cup of all time.

GO BLACKHAWKS!

End of 2009-2010 School Year

Strangely, our last day of school was on a Monday. This caused many raised eyebrows, but since it was the last day of school, nobody really cared.

I got up early on Monday, determined to end the year right. In fact, I got up even before my dad, and I was ready to go at 7:40, while my dad, Benjamin, and Luke were still eating breakfast.

Once I finally got to Holy Cross (yes, I was early), my class and I started cleaning out our desks and lockers, the dreaded task that faces students once a year.

After our book bags were stuffed to their absolute limit with books, notebooks, pencil cases, and papers, Mr. Albertin put in a Three Stooges, one of his favorite shows.

Next, we headed across the street to Lions Park, where we played on the playground, tennis courts, basketball court, and baseball field for two hours. All of us were growing a bit bored (Jessica even claimed that she would rather be doing schoolwork than stay at Lions Park), so we walked back to Holy Cross for the cookout.

The cookout tradition started about five years ago, and it's always a great way to end the year. The whole school eats hot dogs, chips, and a dessert outside on the playground or in the field. This year, we went over to the preschool playground, and lunch was followed by an epic, intense pine cone war. We all went back inside scathed and scarred, but it was a really fun time.

At last, we headed to the church for perhaps the most anticipated yet unexciting event of the school year. The end-of-year chapel service.

After the short chapel service, we sat through the award ceremonies.

Not only are you bored out of your mind, but your hands grow numb from clapping, and towards the end of the ceremony, the award-winners hardly get any applause at all.

For me, the only exciting occurrence was when I won three awards, Honor Roll, National Physical Fitness Award, and Spelling Bee Recognition. The most unexpected award I won was the National Physical Fitness Award. I didn't think I did exceptionally well in PE. Apparently Mr. Schroeder, my PE teacher, thought so.

Finally, after our librarian handed out awards for AR winners (a third grade student broke the school AR points record with 1,500 points), we were released.

I had previously invited my friend Meron to participate in our end-of-school year tradition of going to Atz's, a delicious ice cream shop near Holy Cross. We said goodbye to friends, and then headed to Atz's.

Several other friends join us for this ice cream tradition, including Parker, Joseph, Madison, and their families. It's a fun but somewhat hectic time (for the moms).

I ordered a plain old chocolate shake (Not just any shake, though. An Atz's shake, which is two huge glasses filled to the brim with rich, thick chocolaty goodness.) Ben had a peanut butter sundae, Meron had a cherry sundae, Luke got vanilla ice cream smothered in whipped cream, and Jacob and David shared an Oreo split.

As always, we had an excellent end-of-year celebration.

It's summer!

Camp Lutherhaven

One of the most exciting and enjoyable experiences of sixth grade is our Camp Lutherhaven trip. I started packing last Tuesday night, and after much anticipation, we took off after chapel on Wednesday.

The bus ride to Albion was long and hot. Thankfully, the trip was only about an hour long, so we didn't have to suffer for very long. Finally, we pulled into Camp Lutherhaven and unloaded our bags.

As soon as we were settled into our cabins (I was in Cabin 6) and applied gallons of bug spray to our already itchy bodies, we ate a quick sack lunch around the fire, and then divided into groups of three and set off on a scavenger hunt organized by the counselors. The real goal of the hunt was to help us grow accustomed to the whereabouts of camp. My group - not unlike any of the other groups - was tired, hungry, and a bit uninterested, so we were not very successful.

After we were somewhat comfortable navigating around the camp, my homeroom teacher, Mr. Albertin, insisted that we all take part in a baseball game. We grudgingly headed to the baseball field, but the game turned out to be quite fun. My team won, and I hit a few out of the park (this was super easy, because Mr. Albertin would throw us slow, underhanded pitches).

After baseball, we split into three large groups (I was Group 3) and went to our assigned activity. Our first endeavor was archery, a challenging but addicting pastime. I am very proud to say that I actually hit the target several times (something that most of my group couldn't do) and even thwacked an arrow right down the center of the target. Archery was probably my favorite activity of Lutherhaven.

We switched activities a few times and then assembled for lunch. We did more or less the same thing for the rest of the day, going from one station to the next, until dinner and devotions time. After our pizza dinner and devotions by the fire, it was a mad dash for the showers.

The showers were a nightmare. There were only 8 showers that we were allowed to use, so if you didn't reach the bathroom first, you either had to call a shower or wait. . . for a long time. Waiting wasn't half as bad as the actual showers. The water was lukewarm, and it smelled like eggs. Not to mention the bugs flying around the stall.

After showers, we got about half an hour of free time, which most of us spent down at the playground. I enjoyed playing tether ball immensely, and I dominated most of my class (I suggested to my dad that we install a tether ball pole in our backyard).

By 10:30, I was really tired, but unfortunately, my cabin mates were not. Lily, Katrina, Nicole, Timerah, and Lisa forced me to get in countless group photos and help them make human pyramids. Finally, after the boys in the cabin beside us started banging on our walls, our chaperon, Mrs. English, told us to get in bed.

Since it was so hot, I slept on top of my seeping bag, which also provided some extra padding on the thin, uncomfortable mattress. Nevertheless, I got a good night's sleep. It would've been even better had I been able to sleep in. Yes, we had to get up at 7:00 sharp, even though we were at camp.

After our delicious breakfast, Group 3 went to the orienteering station, where we located certain items throughout the camp using a compass and a bearing. It was really fun and interesting, but my partner, Jack, and I got lost in the woods and couldn't find the seventh item.

After orienteering, we got to canoe and kayak around Lake Muncie. Everyone wanted to kayak, but first we had to prove that we could listen to instruction and honor boating safety rules in a canoe. Unfortunately, I was partnered with Bryce and Jacob, who share the role of class clown and all-around goof. I would've passed our counselor's inspection easily if I had been with anybody else.

Bryce decided to play bumper boats with the other boys, Jacob flung seaweed at Lisa, and both of them drenched me by scooping up water with their paddles and tossing it backwards. By the end of our time, I was soaked, tired, and mad. However, my mood quickly improved when we went exploring through the woods.

The vast woods that surround Camp Lutherhaven are filled with paths, and one could literally spend hours trekking deep into the dark, lively forest. There is even a small marsh, where we caught a frog (Jack's entire foot was submerged in the green slime during the attempt). If you journey even farther into the maze of intertwining paths, you will find the enormous tree house built by the counselors a few years ago.

The gigantic tree house is actually four real sheds, supported by trees and connected with wooden bridges, about ten feet apart. There is a small fire pit, a slide, and a fireman's pole, and we spent quite a while in this amazing tree house.

After our forest adventure, we headed to the main fire pit for our cookout dinner. The hamburgers were superb, grilled to perfection by Zach, a counselor with wild dreadlocks (who is also, ironically, a vegetarian). The hot dogs, on the other hand, weren't as good, because we had to roast them ourselves over the fire (we either burned or barely singed our hot dogs).

After we finished dinner, we had devotions around the fire, and the race to the showers began once more.

When everyone was finished showering, most of us played a game of pickup basketball on the basketball court. Of course, the game was really fun, but C.J. managed to bump and bruise us all with his merciless physical play.

After our game (My team lost, but we demanded a rematch. The game is still unfinished), we said goodnight and headed to our cabins. Once again, my cabin mates kept me up until 11:45. I finally drifted off at about midnight, but was woken abruptly by the annoying, blaring noise of a fire alarm, which was coming from a few doors down. We didn't panic, because we knew that Cabin 4 had been experiencing difficulties with their fire alarm. Disgruntled and sleepy, we tried to get a few more precious hours of sleep before 7:00.

We woke up a bit grouchier than the previous morning, and our dispositions didn't improve when we found out that we were playing an early game of Predators and Prey, a continuation of yesterday's lesson.

Predators and Prey is a really fun game (but it's much more fun when played during the afternoon, and not immediately after you get up). The class split into two groups, one group of predators, and one group of prey. The object of the game is simple: the predators try to find and catch the prey. My group was prey first, so we got a few minutes' head start to hide. I decided to hide in the playground, beneath the giant tire half buried in sand. Luckily, I was never caught; in fact, I was never even found, and I got pretty bored just sitting underneath the tire for 15 minutes, listening to Predators chasing Prey around the camp.

At last, the bell sounded, which meant that the groups would switch from Predator to Prey. After the new Prey disappeared into their hiding places, we leaped down from the fire pit, madly sprinting around the camp, searching for Prey. Bryce and I scoured the woods, wandering aimlessly along random paths until we finally discovered Nathan relaxing in the tree house. Startled and amazed, we caught him unawares and proudly took him back to the fire pit. Next, I spotted Lily peering out from the eaves of the forest, and after 15 long, hard minutes of giving chase, I finally caught her.

In the end, Group 1 emerged victorious, but nobody really cared, since brunch was about to be served.

The delectable brunch consisted of pancakes, French toast, mixed fruit, sausage, and eggs. Needless to say, everyone was nourished and energized for our next project: service hour, the joy of Camp Lutherhaven.

Group 3 was appointed the delightful task of moving couches and chairs upstairs to make room for more tables in the cafeteria. After our grueling task was done, we headed to the devotions center to rake leaves from underneath the benches and place new mulch. We worked hard for a whole hour, and our reward was punch, Popsicles, and granola bars.

After the service project was over, we had a few minutes of free time, which I spent in the game room, beating Lily at Foosball.

Finally, we ended our Camp Lutherhaven trip with a closing devotion.

The trip home was uneventful for the most part, and everyone spent most of their time itching bug bites or singing a favorite song from devotions.

Camp Lutherhaven was (deep breath) sweltering, itchy, interesting, tiring, exciting, and sweaty, but most of all, it was unforgettable.