The Last Long Ride

Perhaps the only truly annoying thing about doing school during summer is that time is going by way too quickly. It's already halfway through July. July!? I'm still stuck back in June somewhere. It has been an enjoyable summer at least, even though it is slipping quickly away (as in, full load college starts in 4 weeks). This weekend was no exception. Though it began a bit sad. We did in fact sell Holly, so we drove her up to Rochester to meet the man coming in on the train to get her. Since our car saga continues to be long and messy and broken, we actually had to rent a vehicle for the weekend (a nice big SUV...my knees didn't touch the person I sat next to), so Mom and the kids drove that. I accompanied dad in Holly for the last long ride. We had a good time together, Holly and I. Windows down, curled up in her comfy seat. Listening to that sonorous diesel engine. It rumbles to a start when you turn the key in the ignition. Purrs when resting or driving at a steady pace. Then roars to life when the turbo kicks in and you go from 0-60 in a remarkably short time for a 26 year old car.

Yep. I loved her. We went through a lot together. Adventures. Tears. Laughter. She was the first car I learned to drive.

But I'm pretty sure the man we sold her to appreciates her. He was very excited. So I only got a little despondent as he drove her around the corner, the sun blinking off her hood one last time.

*sigh*

Okay. Got that out of my system. She is just a car. An especially sweet one though...

Then we drove just a few miles north to spend the afternoon at the beach (Lake Ontario). Despite the fact that I missed the "pack your swimsuit" vibe, it was amazingly fun since I haven't been anywhere with sand and water in over a year. We sculptured sand heads first, which many people stopped to take pictures of. Then I waded into the water and watched over Misha and Sanna while they swam. I practically got soaked anyway, because those little lake waves are irresistibly fun to jump over. And there are some enthusiastic splashers in my family. But sunshine helps things dry fast.

We didn't get back until past 11, so I was practically falling asleep in church. Afterwards we went up to the Hinterberger's for lunch, which included a really good "thingamabob" salad thrown together by Dr. H...so good that I guess it makes up for all the times he tickled me (it didn't take any of them very long to discover my weakness... :P). We were only going to stay until three or four but ended up not leaving until past eight. Mikaela had to work that afternoon, which was sad, but we managed to survive without her smile anyway. It was another beautiful day, so we mostly just did things outside, like play multiple hiding games, pick blueberries (for the Slacks, who dropped in), and visit the "shaggy cows" which are now my favorite kind of cow, replacing angus. Mostly because as calves they are super cute. They look like a cross between a typical cow-calf (cutest baby animal in my opinion) and a lamb (the other cutest baby animal in my opinion). So you get the best of both worlds in one animal. Josiah and I thought we might be able to put it on the internet as a freak genetically modified cow/sheep. I'm sure we could get millions of people to believe us. It could even be called a "laugh." (lamb + calf for those who may not get it. But I think everyone who reads my blog is pretty smart...I may be biased though--I'm partial towards anyone who actually reads about my life. Why they want to I still haven't figured out.)

Once again, it was a late night. Since it was compounding on about 8 other late nights, I felt like I never really woke up on Monday, I was so tired. When I went down in the basement at 7:30 and flipped open my computer, I discovered that Blackboard was down due to technical difficulties. Since they have over 60,000 students, it's really amazing that the website doesn't collapse more than the once a month it usually does. So since I had nothing to do, I jumped on the ship going back up to the H's to pick blueberries for us this time. Rather a good day for Blackboard to fail, because otherwise I may not have bolstered up the insouciance to go.