Johanna Speaks

I have been playing a lot of pickleball with Ezra, Nicholas, and some friends! We usually meet on Saturday mornings and Tuesday evenings. At first, I could barely hit the ball and get it over the net—that's how bad I am at it! And my serves were terrible! I kept hitting the ball outside of the lines. Plus, I had no idea what the rules were. But now I know how to keep the ball inside the lines when serving, and I know the rules and whose turn it is to serve. 

My serves have been getting a lot better than before because I have been doing some tight serves, where the ball doesn't simply go over the net slowly but is a fast and kind of tight ball to hit for the receiving person. But I want to practice a lot more and try doing more complex hits or different serves. 

We played last night! Nicholas usually comes, but sadly, he was too busy with his work this time. So it was Ezra, French Jonathan, me, Caleb Mintz, and Zach Mintz. The Mintzes go to our church, and they are good friends with our family in general. And French Jonathan (aka French Frie) also usually comes, and he is a pro at pickleball! He will always spin the ball when he plays, so when it lands, it goes in a completely different way, so it throws you off a lot. And he's super good at doing fastballs, too. So basically, he's known for a lot of ball spins to everybody. And Caleb Mintz is known for always spiking the ball like crazy! He always spikes it on any chance he gets, and that's how he basically takes people out. 

Nicholas, Zach Mintz, Ezra, and I aren't exactly known for anything because we do a whole bunch of different things. But I'm known for missing the balls a lot.😂 But honestly, everybody else is incredibly good at pickleball. 

It's a lot of fun to play! I am always looking forward to playing every week. And sometimes, I will be practicing on our garage door. 

My mom signed me up for choir about a week ago, and I am super excited about it! I can't wait! My mom also wants me to do chamber choir because the timing is really good for our bible study, which starts at 5:00 on Tuesdays. But if I want to be in the chamber choir, then I need to audition for it!!👀I am terrified because you have to sing in front of everybody. Then, after that, Mrs.Dummer will choose who will be in the chamber choir, probably a week later or something. I've done it before when I tried out for solos when I was in the Juinor choir but this time I feel like it's going to be a lot worse because I haven't sung in front of people in like two years!

I also get to be in the senior choir, which is for people 13 years old and up. I'm guessing the highest age is 18 or something. So I get to be in that one. And during this semester, I will be turning 14 years old since my birthday is in November, and the choir performance is in December. 

My friends, the Garza girls, will also be doing choir, which is amazing because I will be able to see them every Tuesday! And Abbygail will be trying out for the chamber choir, too. 😊 I am really happy she is because it just makes me a tiny bit less terrified. And Annie might be doing it. I really hope she does!

I will definitely write another blog post about how the first day of Grace Notes Choir went! I also forgot to mention that the choir will be starting on September 3rd. 

Bye!

So last Friday, our family went camping in Chester! Chester is up in the mountains about an hour and a half away from our house, maybe longer, depending on who's driving.

So my mom, Sophie, and I went to Chester in the white car together, and my dad and Ezra went

in the van. The white car has AC, but the van doesn't. So they just put the windows down to feel cool air even though it's super hot. At least in Chester, it only gets to the 90s. 

When we got to Chester, we stopped at a beautiful green park and had lunch with Nicholas, Caleb, Risa, Simeon, Ezra, Dad, Mom, Sophie, and me. We didn't go straight to the campground because it hadn't opened yet for people to come in. It opens at 2:00 PM, I think. So we had lunch, talked, and then went to the campground to set up our stuff. The rest of our family wasn't coming until way later that day.

There were about four people next to us on a different campsite. But I am so glad I didn't bring Ria with us because guess how many dogs the people had? Four yapping dogs! And by yapping dogs, I mean super small dogs, like a pug's size. 

Noelle and Cameron arrived around 4:00 or 5:00 in the afternoon. By then, we had already swam a bit and were chilling in the hammocks we had set up. Then my mom made us some Italian sodas! She had bought everything for them and brought them with her. The Italian sodas tasted good! Then we had some dinner. I have forgotten what we had for dinner; sorry. 

We had almost the whole family with us except Gideon and Jonathan. Gideon was supposed to come that day all the way from the State of Alabama, but his flight was canceled. They said it would arrive early the next morning. And Jonathan, my oldest brother, said he would probably be here at 11:30 PM because I think he was busy with work. 

Julia (Jonathan's girlfriend ) also came at around 6:00 PM and had dinner with us. We all played Bang! together. Bang! is a really fun card game. I won't explain everything because that would be super hard. But you can go look up the rules on Google. If I tried to explain it, nobody would understand me. 😂

We played about two games of that. For somebody to win, each game would take about an hour or more. So we stopped playing at about 10:30 PM. The campground has a quiet time that starts at 10:00 PM. That means everybody in the campground has to be quiet because other people are probably sleeping. 

I took a video and pics of us playing Bang! at night. 

Here they are:

Nick is looking super sus! 

We all have cowboy hats, too!😁

The next morning, we heard that Gideon's flight had been canceled again, so he would probably get there tomorrow or late at night. The next day, we were going to go back home, so we really hoped we would be able to see Gideon!

Jonathan came late at night and slept in a hammock. So now we had everybody there except my brother Gideon. 

That morning, my sister Noelle made a delicious breakfast! It was cooked potatoes, eggs, tomatoes, zucchini, onions, and chopped bacon! It tasted super good! After that, we got out some kayaks and kayaked a bit. Then Noelle had a huge raft, so we put it in the water and went on it. But first, we had some lunch. 

The lunch was what Nick had made. I forgot what it was called, but it tasted super good! It had chicken and cheese inside a corn tortilla. Then, after that, we went on the raft. We were on it for about three hours! And by then, it was almost 4:00 in the afternoon. 

I walked to the bathroom, and on my way back, a van was behind me, so I moved out of the way. When it passed me, I looked at the guy driving, and it was Gideon!! He was just smiling at me. I walked with him back to the campsite. 

So now we had everybody with us. This also included our friend James too who came to visit for the day all the way from our neighborhood! We all hung out on the hammocks and chairs, and Gideon told us about his flights and other interesting stories. By then, it was dinner time. And we also played even more Bang!

Then, after dinner, we sat back in our chairs and talked. Then Caleb and Risa (my sister-in-law) said they had to go home, so right before they left, we all took a family picture and had the water in the background. 

Then Nicholas, Cameron (my brother-in-law), and I started playing some music Nick had picked. And James was our music stand.🤣

After that, we all sat by the fire, roasted marshmallows, and talked some more. Then we were all tired, so we went to bed. The next day, we started cleaning up our campsite because we were going back home that day. After everything was packed up, we went to church in Chester. It was Sunday. 

After church we went to a coffee shop nearby and had some coffee and ate a bit of lunch, which was leftovers from the past few days. Then we said goodbye to Gideon and Simeon and drove back home. 

I couldn't wait to see our dog Ria again! She was super happy to see us when we were finally made it home. 

Here are some pics and vids:

I'm so happy and excited to go camping in two weeks! We will stay at Lake Almanor from July 19th to July 21st. 

Lake Almanor is by the town of Chester in the California mountains. It's about an hour and a half drive from where we live. We go there every year because the water is super nice and cold and the area is much cooler than where we live down in the valley. 

I can't wait to go swimming, thrift store shopping, play our instruments around the fire, and be together as a family! And by being together as a family, I mean Sophie, Ezra, Simeon, Gideon (who is flying from Tennessee), Nicholas, Noelle, Cameron, Caleb, Risa, Jonathan, Julia, Mom, Dad, and Me. So yeah, I mean all the family is coming!! It's going to be amazing.

I won't be able to bring my dog Ria with me.😞 It would be difficult to have her with me while we go camping, visit stores, and see new people. I want her to get that socializing part, but it will be difficult because she goes crazy over dogs and anything that moves fast. I can't take her to thrift stores, and she's still terrified of my brother Ezra. There are probably many more reasons why I can't take her, sadly. But maybe next year I can take her. I will miss her, though. 

My friends will take care of Ria for me while we go camping. I think I already explained that and provided all the details in my other blog post. I just need my friends to come over sometime to learn how to feed, crate, and put the leash on her/harness. And to play with her. 

During the camping trip, Nicholas, Cameron, Risa, and I want to play our instruments around the fire at night and have everybody sing along. We just need to get good folk music. But I think we have that covered because Risa ( my sister-in-law) knows a lot of songs already. Hopefully, everything will go great for that!

So, last Saturday, we had the Fourth of July fireworks at the lake club! A ton of people came to watch them! And that day, around 5:00 in the afternoon, my friends ( the Garza girls ) came over, and we got to hang out together! They were also going to stay the night that night and watch the fireworks with us!! Then, the next morning, my parents would drop them off at the park and ride. 

Here's what we did from 5:00 PM to 11:00 PM. 

When the Garza girls came, Ria was in her crate in the house because it was very hot ( 117 Fahrenheit ), so I opened it and let her out. At first, she wouldn't come out all the way, but she did after a few minutes. Surprisingly, she was fine with the girls, which was amazing! She would let them pet her, too! After petting Ria, my mom said that it was time for dinner.

 The dinner was hot dogs and chips. She also showed us how to make Italian soda because she had bought everything for it. I thought it would taste gross because it has half-and-half cream with soda water. But it tasted pretty good when I had tasted it. But it was weird at the same time. But after taking more and more sips, it tasted good. My mom also put whipping cream on top! 

After dinner, we talked and went outside for a bit. Annie got Ria a pup cup ( whipping cream in a cup ) because Ria had never had one before. And Ria liked it!  She kept sniffing and looking for more food afterward. We made her "speak," too, which is always super cute to see Ria do because her bark is so high-pitched, and sometimes she can't even bark!😂 And she lunges forward when she tries to bark! Which is scary if you are right in front of her.

After that, we started getting ready to go. We all got into our swimsuits and put a shirt over them for afterward. We wanted to bring our rollerblades, but my mom said, "You guys probably won't want to rollerblade in this heat. So don't take them down." So when we got down to the lake club, it was, I think, already 7:30 PM or something. So we swam for a bit and then got out. We didn't have anything to do, and we still wanted to go rollerblading. So my mom said she would go back to get them if we wanted to do it. We went back with her to get them, then got them, drove back down to the lake club, and started rollerblading in the tennis courts. We did that for about an hour, and it was getting pretty dark, so we headed to where our parents were and started looking for a spot to enjoy the fireworks. We found a spot right next to the water with a full sky view! It was perfect! Our parents were somewhere else because they had already found a spot. My friends and I just wanted an even better spot! 😊 We stuck our feet in the water and waited and talked until the fireworks would go off! And finally, they did! 

The fireworks were amazing!! The ending was the best, as always! 

Here are the videos and pics of the fireworks I got on camera! 

After the fireworks, we went home, blew up the air mattresses, got blankets and pillows, and headed to bed. We probably fell asleep by 11:30 p.m. 

The next morning, we woke up at 6:30 and went outside, hung out with Ria, and had breakfast. Then we got ready, and I left to go to church early for music practice while the other girls and Sophie stayed home. My parents dropped the girls off at the Park-and-Ride on their way to their church because the Garza girl's church starts earlier than ours. 

Our community does the fireworks the weekend after the 4th of July because it's cheaper. 

I loved everything about last Saturday.