Updates!

There's so much to talk about! Where do I even begin? I mean, today is Harry Potter's birthday, it's the beginning of Shark Week (which I'm too scared to watch), and I'm back from my vacation. Plus, someone won a Hell hat! Where to begin?

I'll start out with the winner of the Hell hat giveaway! And that person is...... Vaughn! I'm so sorry to all of you who really wanted one and didn't win. Next time I'm in Hell, I'll pick up a couple more hats and do another giveaway.

I'm back from vacation, and it's bitter sweet. It's always hard to end a vacation. Today I looked at the backseat of my car and saw the remnants of a good time - beach towels, a road map of Michigan, a frisbee, and sand. 

Not only was it wonderful family bonding time (and it was), but for the last day, a few friends came up to enjoy the beauty of Ludington with my sister and me.  They scared everyone on the beach by doing the dead man's float all the way down the river that feeds into Lake Michigan. Or at least, they tried to scare everyone but people are too desensitized these days to be upset by dead bodies floating past them.

People don't even care.

Anyway, like I said, I'm back from my trip. I'm much tanner than I was before the trip, but no one seems to notice that. However, about ten people asked me today about the bruises on my upper arm, as pictured below (the flash made them look lighter than they are).

Smiling through the pain

Here's what happened. On Monday, my aunt, uncle, sister, and I floated down the river leading out to Lake Michigan. The current was really slow that day and the wind was practically pushing us backwards. At one point, when the river was really shallow, my uncle and I got off our rafts and started pulling the others down the river (all the rafts were tied together). Then, unexpectedly, the river got a lot deeper and was THICK with seaweed. Really really really gross seaweed - it looked and felt like snakes. I started screaming and threw myself on my sister because her raft was closest. It wasn't easy to get on her raft because of the depth of the water so I guess in my thrashing about I bumped my arm and got marked up.

Wow that story is lame.

Here's what really happened. A cougar was chasing me through the woods and I used a snake hanging from a tree to pull myself up and to safety. Unfortunately I bumped my arm on the way up. Yeah, that's what really happened.

As much as I'm sad about vacation being over, and July in general (which was a really fun month for me), I take comfort in knowing there's still another month of summer left. Lots more time to swim, play frisbee, deepen my sunburn, and enjoy summer magic. What are your plans for the last month of summer?

I'll leave you with one more picture from my trip (more to come later). A melted Reeses peanut butter cup that I cooled off in my vent till it took a somewhat more edible form. Ahhhh...summer.

How I roll.