I went camping this weekend. Friday night was freezing- I could see my breath! The water at the campsite had some kind of poisonous bacteria in it so we couldn't use any of it for drinking and cooking unless we boiled it first. I ended up playing lots of cards with Kim, Sarah, and Sarah's brother. Some of Sarah's Vietnamese relatives came along, so it was very strange since I had no idea who they were and most definetely don't speak Vietnamese. They even brought along 2 Buddhist monks, which I thought was awesome! I took some pictures of them in their bright orange dress. It rained several times on and off so we couldn't do much outside. I was miserable that night because it was so cold. I had 3 shirts on, pants, and my sleeping bag and was inside a tent but I was still cold.

On Saturday it was very warm so we went down to the lake for a hike on the bluffs. The trail was flooded but we decided to take it anyway (which was a bad idea since I'm not supposed to be doing strenuous activity). To avoid the flooded parts we had to climb on several boulders and a couple of us fell into the water. Luckily I did not. The monks were amazing, however! They scaled the boulders about 15-20 feet high and they were so quick! They had started some time before us, but soon caught up and passed us! I took a picture of one of them, Roth (he said it was Muni or something, but Roth is easier), being really high up. He was my favorite monk, which sounds pretty funny. Seriously though, these guys amazed me! Somehow Roth knew that I wanted a picture of him, so he kept asking me to take his picture so I have several now. After we followed the lake for about a mile, the trail went up and back the way we came for about 1 1/2 miles. It was especially tough climbing up since I'm still not quite used to my heart beating normal, but I think it was good that I did it because I need the exercise. About halfway through that part Kim's knees started to bother her so both of us decided that we were done hiking for the day after this trail. When we got back we happened upon Susie Suwalski (I'm not sure how to spell the last name) who's in the orchestra at Elgin. That was pretty weird. When we got back to the campsite we took naps (which was beautiful since I hadn't slept well the night before) and then played cards some more. It started raining and thundering, and then in the middle it began hailing. It was in the 70s, so that was really crazy! After the weather cleared we went to the lake to go kayaking and canoeing, but everything was closed. We had only 1 kayak so we took turns using it. Dinner was very amusing because the monks were playing some music and it was Jingle Bells in English and Vietnamese. There was a little boy at the next campsite over who kept coming over to play with us. We kept throwing pennies into the grass and he'd find them and be so amazed because he didn't know where they came from. That was pretty fun. That night after lots of yummy smores (and Sarah and Kim trying to fatten me up) it was cold again so this time I added a coat to my layers and wrapped a towel around me. I actually got a nice sleep.

Yesterday we had a big breakfast. This time the monks were playing ghetto music intermingled with Vietnamese, which was a strange mix. It surprised me when the first song they played was one from the cd Neal made! I was so proud of myself for knowing it. After breakfast we packed up and went to the dells so the monks could ride on the ducks. The jokes were horribly corny and we worse than John's! We traveled home after that, and ironically it was the only day we didn't see rain!