Summer Days

I haven't posted much, because there's not that much going on really. I have been spending most afternoons and evenings on campus with Daniel at his camp. I like watching his rehearsals and then we hang out in between. He has way more meals on his swipe card than he'll need, so he has been swiping me in. Then in the evenings we either go to the Ritchie Center for some recreation time, or we go back to Newman and a bunch of the campers practice performing in front of their peers. The campers are actually getting to know me. Some of them are really nice (mostly the girls) and some of them are really awkward (mostly the boys). As part of Daniel's job, he has to try to include the antisocial kids and get them to join the group. Sometimes that means sitting with them at dinner. It makes for a very boring and uncomfortable conversation.

In the mornings, I have been taking care of things at the house and getting ready for Europe. We made all of our train reservations for the entire trip. On top of our $1264 youth global passes, we spent $746 on reservations. A big part of that $746 is a $300 sleeper car. That's almost $2000 just on trains before we have even left the US. Crazy. But at least I can relax knowing that everything is taken care of and we won't be stranded in a city unable to get to the next.

Yesterday my Aunt Shirley and Uncle George came to town. My grandma's cousin Jane died last week and they were here for her memorial service. It was also a chance for them to come see our house. They came over at 10am and got the tour of the house before we all went to the service. I was surprised that there were less than 30 people there. I never met her in my life, only talked to her on the phone once. But my mom really wanted me to go and I could tell that Eric, Jane's brother whom we have met several times, was glad we were there. It was only 30 minutes long. She was pretty old and very sick, so I didn't think it was as tragic as it could have been. What made it somewhat sad for me is that this lady is someone my grandma babysat for as a teenager. That is very scary. And I also learned that she had breast cancer, her mother had breast cancer (her mother is my great-grandma's sister), and my grandma had the very early stages of breast cancer. I never thought that it ran in our family, but it appears it does. Very distantly, but it still does. Daniel also took the whole morning off work to come to the service with me. That was really nice. It's been hard having him at camp. Even though I spend hours with him every day, we can never be alone. We can't hold hands, kiss, or anything because he's working and that would be inappropriate. But it's only for a few more days. And it has been fun too. He's learning a lot about running a camp and teaching kids.

Other than that, I've been keeping up with the house. I'm starting to realize how much work it is to keep a house clean. I have done a pretty through clean about twice a week so far. I've done it so often because people have been coming over. I don't think I'll clean it that often during the school year. The shed is still sitting in our front driveway. Daniel has called them every day to find out when they will come back and move it. It's been there for over a week now. I have been playing the piano a lot too, even though it needs to be tuned. I think watching all the kids perform has renewed my love of playing.

On Sunday, the camp is over and Daniel comes home. Then late Monday night Nicole and Mike fly in. On Tuesday morning we'll drive up to Estes Park. That Friday night we'll drive back to Denver and then on Saturday morning they fly out. Monday my parents will drive down to Denver, pick us up, and drive back to Phoenix. Wednesday at 11am, we leave for Europe! It's a crazy two weeks, and I am sooooo excited!