One million firsts...

There once was a girl named Sarah who never experienced anything in her life.

Or at least this is what my Wisconsin friends seem to think.

The phrase that I have spoken most often since my arrival has been, "I've never....... before!"

Wednesday was a day full of firsts. Bob Lenz invited all of the interns up to his cottage on lake Poigen for the day, which was awesome for 2 reasons. 1, we got to go up to his cottage for the day, and 2, it meant that we did NOT have to go into the office and move boxes and stuff envelopes and answer phones. A good day indeed!

So we got up there bright and early, and it was a coooold day. It was like, 65 with no direct sun - no rain, but no sun. So the Lenz family was all up there, including Bob and his wife Carol, my friend Joyel, Lois, Bob's sister, and all of Bob's kids and most of their spouses/significant others. LOTS of people. The made salmon for lunch that was AMAZING - it didn't even taste like a fish.

But I got to drive a JET SKI! Okay, so that was pretty much the most amazing thing ever. I'm getting one for my creek. I had it up to 50 mph. It wouldn't go any faster. It felt like flying over water. I just laughed the whole time. Then Jeramie got on it, and I got off, and he came back in and thought that 25mph was totally cool. This is particularly amusing if you know him, because he's this big heavy metal fan, loves to mosh and head-bang, and he was going HALF as fast as me. *shrug*

Okay, so then we went tubing. They've got a couple of boats up there, and this one multi-person tube. So Joy and Alissa went on it first, because they didn't want to go too fast. Then Cole and I went, because we DID want to go fast. But when Cole and I got on, we noticed that it wasn't quite as full of air as it had been *no weight comments please*

So we're flying around on the water, and we are most certainly losing air. And they're taking pictures on the boat, so I pretty much have a pictorial play-by-play of what happened. Cole and I started to get squashed together since there was no air. And then it was like we were rocks, skipping over the water on our stomachs, and it was pretty painful. And then we kind of popped up in the air on a wave, and when we came back down, Cole was gone, and I got sucked under the water and got stuck in the folds of the deflated tube. So there's this amazing picture of me coming out of the tube, and Cole is waaay off in the background, and it looks like I'm sitting in a nest, and my mouth is open, gasping for air, and I look like a hungry baby birdie. It is truly an awesome shot.

THEN we played KOOB, in which you take sticks and throw them at bigger sticks and try to knock the sticks down. And when you hit the sticks down you throw the sticks past a big stick and try to stack them in a pile so that you can knock the pile down with another stick. And the team who knocks over their sticks and the big stick first wins.

Heck of a lot easier when you're watching. And no, we did not make that game up. Pastor Jacob has played it too.

Then we made Pudgy Pies, which are just another wonder of the midwestern world. They were quite delicious. Bonfire.

THEN: I did my very first Sparkler. And my second, fourth, and tenth. I think because everyone was so amused at how excited I was by them... they just kept handing me more. I've got pictures. I look somewhat scared in the first one, and somewhat possessed in the later ones. But its all good.

And that was my day at the cottage. Oh, well, we also went out onto the lake and Bob caught a big nasty fish and cut it up and it was really gross. But you see why I did not include that in my list of awesomeness. On that list, however, could go the fact that I talked to Bob for a while, just one on one, and it was really neat. He's a very fun guy, and I got to share with him, and he got to share with me, and we were both really good at sharing. Our kindergarten teachers would have been super proud.

Yesterday was Friday, and while it isn't the same thing, it was also fun and awesome... Tammy and I went and played tennis - I haven't played since I hurt my arm, and I haven't played AGAINST anyone in at least a year. So it was great. She was all, "Oh, I haven't played in 3 years", and then she serves, and the woman totally burned a hole in the pavement on the court. Ouch. We are both super competitive, so our match was a long and hard fought one. We played for over 2 hours, and we only finished 1 set! We went to deuce about 5 or 6 games, and since we were playing adds, it was taking ages. There was one time where we returned to deuce 9 times before the game ended! (she did win, by the way... but oh, it was close)

And today I'm super sore from that and all of the moving that has been taking place. But I'm not as sore as I will be!

And I am also going to bed at a ridiculously early hour - Tiffany, my spiritual mentor and friend here is preaching in the morning at church (GASP - I MUST NOT BE GOING TO A LUTHERAN CHURCH! A WOMAN PREACHING!) She's amazing though. Were all preachers as passionate and gifted as her...

Okay, so that be it for tonight. Happy 4th of July everyone. :)