22. Oh, Monopoly, How I Despise You

I failed. You may recall that on my packing list from this summer, one of the items was to "complete a monopoly game with Zeke." Well, I played a monopoly game with him this past weekend, but we didn't really complete it - he allowed me to forfeit. I probably would have won, but after nearly 2 hours, it was just too much. We had pretty equal numbers of properties/houses/hotels, and I felt like we just kept switching money. Eventually, I suppose one of us would have gotten out of luck, but then you have the fun of selling off houses and mortgaging properties, and that just takes a ridiculous amount of time. So I forfeited. But I'm still counting it, so there.

Thank you, my brother, for allowing me to be lame. Someday, perhaps I will discover the same love for monopoly that you have. Or, more likely, someday . . . you will be a Realtor.

10. Alida's Dream

Hey kid,
I did it. So there. :)

Becky, the best friend one

18. Ecuador Scrapbook

It's done! Well, mostly. I finished it Friday afternoon before I left. :) Stop by and ask Mum if you'd like to see it.

33. and 34. ish

So, some of the things that have happened this summer weren't on the list, and weren't very pleasant. However, I decided to add them to The List, even if they weren't things I particularly wanted to have happen, so that my memories would remain intact and organized numerically. You see, for the first time in my life (and both occurring in the past week), I:

33. Ran out of gas
and
34. Got a flat tire

Fun, huh?

23. The Great Cookie Dough Escapade

Hurray for tupperware, big chest freezers, and strong biceps! I have been making cookie dough off and on for this past week- so far, I have . . . actually, no idea how many dozen balls of cookie dough I have frozen. But it's a lot, and I am more than grateful that I'll be gone, and not subjected to eating any of them. 'Cause I know just what goes into those innocent looking spheres, and since that includes chocolate and a lot of sugar and good stuff like that, my waistline is going to be grateful to be three hours away. Just saying.

No pictures, because I'm lazy like that.

28. Touch a . . .

Sigh.

I did not touch a cow.

Or so Nathan informed me.

I did touch a bull, however.

It counts.

Trust me.

It does.

Even if my hand was in contact with the bull's head for all of .4672 seconds.

And even if I didn't let Mark take a picture of me doing it.

It still counts.

It was a once in a lifetime experience.

(Mostly, that means that I don't really want to do it again.)

Oh - and cows smell and drool. For the record.

29. Photos are Horrid

I had my picture taken with Alida!

Unfortunately, I looked awful. So, although it did count. . . .Yeah.

So rather than trouble you with that, Alida and I managed to think up an old photo that had both of us in it. Yay!

Don't laugh.

8. Cartwheeling with Style!

This is me. I did a cartwheel. Over the equator in Quito, Ecuador. I went from the Northern Hemisphere to the Southern Hemisphere on my hands. It was thrilling.

(It took Andy like 10 tries to get this shot. My hands were tired.)

Cartwheels. They rock my socks.

31. MS&T

As a Truman Bulldog, I felt that it was my duty to check out our technical counterpart, MS&T, and draw comparisons accordingly. Also, I recently realized that I've lived in Rolla for 5 years, and never been anywhere on campus except Havener Center and Leech Theatre. This afternoon, when the rain let up, a kind and gracious MS&T student gave me a tour of the campus. For being populated by a bunch of engineer students and professors, it was surprisingly beautiful. :) My favorite building was definitely the Mechanical Engineering building.

I really enjoyed it.
I'm glad I'm going to Truman.
That's all.

-Rebekah

16. Floating Away on a Cloud

Completed one more item! Our family float trip this past Monday was a smashing success. Kudos to Mrs. Hickle for being the great mastermind behind it - I love her mass amounts.

Basically, the trip consisted of:
Nathan and David tipping their canoe.
Nathan and David trying to maintain control of the bag of Sour Patch Kids.
Nathan and David tipping Abby and Sarah for unknown reasons.
Nathan and David trying to sleep on our trampoline afterward.
Nathan and David both serving the volleyball very close to the vicinity of my head.

Do you see a recurring theme? Nathan declared it the worst float trip he'd ever been on. I must admit that the weather was a bit chilly, and the water even chillier - and guess what? He confirmed that it was cold all four times he was tipped. I asked, just to be sure.

w00t for fun times, and being squished into the back seat of a van with three boys. I can't really imagine much more fun. OH! And I found a heart-shaped rock, as did Esther Nail. She basically rocks my socks. As does Abby. "Aflack!"

The *cough* Packing List *cough*

Well.
I have been packing. Literally.
Unfortunately, I have also been failing miserably at my other sort of packing. As in, my packing list.

Help! I am an over-committed list-maker of the worst kind! I need some sort of anonymous support group to assist.

But that's what friends are for, right? Below, I've listed the items that I think friends could definitely help me accomplish. Send me an e-mail if you think you can. :) I won't get it until we get home from Ecuador (August 3rd), but from then until move-in at Truman, I have 2.5 weeks. So let me know!!

3. Take on the Shed as a project - make it a great hang out spot for teens, that Abby and Zeke can use for entertaining through out their highschool years. Decorate, and fix it up. . . still working on brainstorming exact ideas.
5. Visit Elephant Rocks and Johnson's Shut-Ins, possibly with several other homeschool families (can't you just see the caravan of 15 passenger vans?)
8. Learn how to do a cartwheel
13. Make memorizing Scripture a habit
15. Have many, many Board Game Nights, Bonfires, Movie Nights (co-ed in the shed!), Outside Game Days, Volleyball at the Park Nights, etc.
18. Finish some of the many family photo projects we have
20. Fly a kite successfully (yeah, I've never done this) - Alida and Sonja
22. Complete a game of Monopoly with Zeke - Zeke (go figure)
23. Make and freeze tubs of cookie dough, for my family to use, and to bless others with (Zeke said, "We'll have to ration them. . .")
24. Learn how to drive a stick-shift
25. Shoot a gun (maybe - I haven't decided if I'll actually go through with this one or not)
26. Dissect the fetal pig that I still have left from senior year Anatomy
27. Scientifically determine whether cookie dough ice cream has chunks of plain, or chocolate chip cookie dough in it, preferably with friends
28. Touch a cow - the ante has been upped. I now have to kiss a cow!
29. Have my picture taken with Alida

An Update!

Okay, so rather than actually eliminating things on my list, I seem to keep adding them. :) I'm going to have a busy August!

Adding,
32. Watch Napolean Dynamite with Ashley R. And if you have never seen this classic, you need to come too. Just saying.

30. Collecting Eggs

A new item was added, and subsequently completed, for my packing list yesterday. I, Rebekah Hall, collected eggs. From real chickens. All by myself. And I didn't get pecked or clawed or scared one little bit. Okay, well I was a little scared when one of the chicken flew suddenly down from it's little box onto the floor. But I didn't scream or anything like that. :) It was an exhilarating experience, and something that I would not object to doing again.

4. Let's Take a Hike!

Well folks, another item has been checked off of my Packing List! This Saturday, a small group of us took a hike out to Bray's Lake, over grown woods, ticks, and all. Although the lake itself isn't terribly scenic, I thought it was pretty, and had a fantastic time with my friends. And playing volleyball, grilling hot dogs, and having a game of Balderdash afterwards was rather fun too. Thanks everyone, for helping me knock another thing off my list. ;)

19. Go to a concert

This Wednesday, I completed #19 on my packing list - I went to a "real" concert! Although Zephan and Colin were not able to join us, Andy and several of our friends went up to St. Louis to hear Flatfoot 56, a Celtic punk band. It was a pretty terrible venue, and the other bands playing weren't that impressive either. But that's okay - it's the memory that counts. . . Thanks Andy, for putting up with the little sister and always trying to help me be cool. It's not worked yet, but keep trying!



Funny story - the little guy wearing a kilt and jumping in this photo plays bagpipes and mandolin for the band. And he's incredibly young-looking and short. The three other guys are brothers, and the guy on the far left is tall. Like really tall. Like he kept walking by me and standing behind me and it scared me every time.

17. To the Zoo!

Several weeks ago - and I mean several - some friends and I journeyed to St. Louis for the morning to visit the animals at the zoo. After that, we headed down to Park Hills to watch Andy play baseball. Although he didn't actually get to play while we were there (which was a major disappointment), I think we all managed to have a good time anyways. At least I did. Good friends make everything more fun. :D I, naturally, did not think to bring a camera. Mark, however, did, and here are some of his pictures.

Nathan and a . . . glowing green orb thing.

Ashley and I found them and fell in love.

Apparently, he did too.

"Hey Zephan! Pose with. . . "
Sidenote: When going to the Zoo, never

neglect to pack a Zephan. You will not regret it.

This was about the most we saw of Andy. He kept score.

Here he is with the team. wOOt.

This picture about sums up our baseball experience for the afternoon.

As they say, a picture says a thousand words.

However, I am pleased to say that, on a whole, the trip was enjoyable! And I knocked something off of my Packing List, always a plus. Thank you to my dear friends, who made it such a fun day!

The Packing List

*Update - I've decided to call this my "Packing List" . . . it's all the things I want to pack into my life before moving. :)

Okay, show of hands: who has heard of a "bucket list?" You know - all those things you want to do before you "kick the bucket." It's a lovely idea (eww, no it isn't! Who likes thinking about death?), but since I have no intention of kicking the bucket anytime soon, I thought I would modify it to fit where I am in life. This is my "What I want to/need to/really ought to do Before I Move Out in August" list. (Yup, still working on the name. . . suggestions are welcome)

I started thinking about this last week, when it came to mind that I have never gone on a backpacking trip with Dad. When we went camping as a family (back in the "pre-6 kids" days), Dad would always talk about how, when we were old enough, he would take us backpacking. Generally, he addressed himself to Andy, but I always envisioned myself tagging along as well. After all, with both Dad and Andy along, I'd hardly have to carry anything! ;) So, now that I am "old enough," it's something I'd really like to do. But I know it won't happen if I don't do it before I leave! So this is at the top of my list. Well actually, second on the list.

But yes, this got me thinking and wondering whether there were any other things I need to try or do before moving! I don't want to have regrets, and always wish I'd done this or that while I was still under my parents' roof. I also imagine there are things every kid should do or learn before they move out . . .

So your job is to give me suggestions!
they can be general, "every kid should do this", kind of things. . .
they can be things that you've always wanted to do with me, that might be hard to manage after I move away . . .
they can be goofy, "oh, I've always wanted to see Becky try to do this! " type of things . . .
they can be fun things that are unique to Rolla, Missouri, or my friends here in Rolla. . .
they can be specific to me (Becky, I really think this is an area of life you need to work on, or a skill you need to learn as a young lady, from your parents, before you move out on your own.).

If it's something terribly personal (such as, "Becky - you need to learn to learn to brush your teeth before you move out, because you have terrible breath!"), or something that should stay a secret (such as, "You definitely need to smash a pie in Colin's face before you move!), then you can e-mail me - beckyboo27@embarqmail.com Otherwise, go ahead and comment on this list, anytime you think of something new!

Here is what I have so far. . .

2. Backpacking trip with Dad (and Andy if he's available)
3. Take on the Shed as a project - make it a great hang out spot for teens, that Abby and Zeke can use for entertaining through out their high school years. Decorate, and fix it up. . . still working on brainstorming exact ideas.
4. Take an day hike/picnic to Bray's Lake, in the woods behind our house, with a group of teens and/or kids - spend some time exploring and getting lost
5. Visit Elephant Rocks and Johnson's Shut-Ins, possibly with several other home school families (can't you just see the caravan of 15 passenger vans?)
6. Make it to North Dakota (we'll see. . .)
7. Figure out Finances for the coming years, with Mum's help
8. Learn how to do a cartwheel
9. Complete the Growing Kids God's Way parenting video series with Mum and Dad
10. Write a devotion book - Alida
11. Figure out lesson plans for Libeth's schooling next year
12. (These two aren't "musts" - just trips I'd like to take this summer!) Visit Colorado with Andy, to see our good friend Hannah - Go with Andy, Abby, Zeke, and a van-full of teens to St. Paul for a week (road trip!!)
13. Make memorizing Scripture a habit
14. Have a Girls' Shopping Day with Abby
15. Have many, many Gym Nights, Bonfires, Movie Nights (co-ed in the shed!), Volleyball at the Park Nights, etc.
16. Go on a Float trip with family and/or friends
17. Go to the Zoo in St. Louis with friends
18. Finish an Ecuador Scrapbook
19. Go to a concert with Andy, Zephan, Colin, or any other of my musical inspirations
20. Fly a kite successfully (yeah, I've never done this) - Alida and Sonja
21. Read "So Much More" - Candi
22. Complete a game of Monopoly with Zeke - Zeke (go figure)
23. Make and freeze tubs of cookie dough, for my family to use, and to bless others with (Zeke said, "We'll have to ration them. . .")
24. Learn how to drive a stick-shift
25. Shoot a gun (maybe - I haven't decided if I'll actually go through with this one or not)
26. Dissect the fetal pig that I still have left from senior year Anatomy
27. Scientifically determine whether cookie dough ice cream has chunks of plain, or chocolate chip cookie dough in it, preferably with friends
28. Touch a cow - the ante has been upped. I now have to kiss a cow!
29. Have my picture taken with Alida
30. Collect eggs on my own
31. Take a tour of the MS&T campus
32. Watch Napolean Dynamite with Ashley and "the guys"
33. Run out of Gas
34. Get a flat tire

I'll look forward to your ideas, and keep you posted when I accomplish any of this things! (Or maybe I should say if I accomplish any of these things. . . )


Becky Boo

Photo, compliments of Mark