A week ago my family went to Mt. Lemmon just for the day after church. It is always a blast going up there and the fact that it feels 10x cooler than it is here makes it even more fun and easy to enjoy. There isnt much time left before I have to go back to school at ERAU so I am trying to spend as much quality time with my family that I can before I have to say goodbye again. On that note,  when I was headed up ERAU to start the school year before Zero Week, my entire family came with me. I really appreciated it and wasn’t embarrassed at all so if you are wondering if it is weird or uncomfortable at all to have your whole family take you to college, dont be because it is better than going alone. This year however, I only expect one or two of them to accompany me up there because this year I know what to expect and I’m 19 now.

Anyways, we went up to the mountain and we all felt as it progressivly got cooler the further we went up. We packed some food up with us and stopped at a recreation point where we had our lunch and just enjoyed the cool air. My siblings and I explored the rocks around us and at one point I almost slipped because the rock was so slippery because of the rain. The rain also caused lots of small streams and brooks to run down the mountain and we even saw a few waterfalls. I took the kids hiking and we explored the large rock formations around the campsite but we couldnt go too far away from the area because we didnt want to get lost. Sarah found some sort of cool rock and Michael scaled the highest rock he could find.  I took a few pictures of the kids while my parents waited at the campsite and drank the rest of the soda.  It was a lot of fun and I cant wait to go back up there again because it was so nice and cold! Hopefully some friends and I will go camping soon like we did last summer.

Sarah!

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Michael and James

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Originally uploaded by erauprescott

Being in the military gives some great side benefits. The major one that I am able to use is the ability to go on the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in town, where I can visit the BX (Base Exchange), Commissary and other buildings there. At the Commissary the prices for food are cheaper than the regular chains and there are no taxes, so it is ideal for me to take my Mom and friends there and to the BX for some quick and fun shopping. My Mom always takes forever when we go to the Commissary but it is ok because she is just checking out the food and I like to wait at the BX for her with my brother and we usually just lounge on the many sets of luxurious furniture there. So, because I have access to the base, I often take some of my friends. I took my friend Brandon and Katie there, and this time I took my friend Bobby and his cool cousin Aaron who is from Virginia. This time it was easier because I was used to going to much so we got on the Base with our access pass and visited the BX first. It is always cool going there, but it is even better when I go with friends. We checked out the whole store and lounged again on the couches before going to the Commissary and getting great deals on numerous amounts of junk food. I always get the most unhealthy stuff there because I cant get it anywhere else for that price. For instance, Oreos, my signiature treat, cost only $2.50 there for Double-stuffed or regular while at the regular store they cose $3.00 or higher. So I got a bunch of unhealthy food and we went home with the intention of playing Monopoly and beating each other. I have known Bobby for a while now, and I know that he is really competitive when it comes to basically anything. I am sort of that way because I do not like to lose, and his cousin Aaron seems to be the same way, which is fine because it just ups the ante for any activity that we do because we know that whenever that activity is over, we will still all be friends and nothing is taken personally, even though Bobby is suspiciously good at everything he does. Anyway, we have played water basketball at my house before and it usually gets intense because although I am lousy on a regular court, I am great in the water (or so I’d like to believe). We recuited my brother James to join us and it was him and Bobby vs. me and Aaron, and we of course won. Actually it is ambiguous as to who actually won because of some rule-changing, but the game was vicious and to our neighbor who was listening to game from her backyard, it sounded like we were trying to kill each other for the sake of an orange leather ball. Those games with friends are always fun because there are some players like Bobby who are actually good competition, but we all ended up with some scratches and a black eye in this case. Soon after we continued to hang out at my house awaiting the arrival of James’ party guests and resorted to play electronic Monopoly in my room with my sister Sarah. Despite what Bobby, Aaron or Sarah might say, I WON THAT GAME because after hours of playing and everything had been bought, I still had $11 million of my original #15 million and owned most of the property while the others were struggling to survive. I selfishly declared myself the winner even though the game was interrupted.

Despite my personal victory, I was crushed by the Bobby, Aaron and his sister Therese when we went back to their house and played numerous card games that I had never heard of. Ok, I am really really bad when it comes to card games, specifically Hearts. I dont usually play them but I will gladly do it if fun people also are playing so it worked perfectly. While performing a perfect bluff in poker, I managed to win the pot but we switched to other games and I was the biggest loser at each of them! Seriously every game I was massacred by the other three but it was fun anyways so I didn’t care. I’m one of those people who realizes that a game is a game although while playing that game I will do anything to win. It works better at strategy games when I am usually a cutthroat but when it comes to card-games I am more mellow. Is Monopoly a card game? It has cards, but I dont think that counts. Anyways, it is always a big blast when Bobby comes over and I am so glad I got to mee Aaron because he is just as cool as the rest of the Ways are.

The Vid description:

At my house before the ridiculous Basketball game, Bobby punctured his toe and I am filming for the sake of adding a video to the blog.

This Summer, I decided to make a few changes, not anything major regarding my personal life or anything that people usually tend to overestimate or dwell into, but a  few minor things that I think could benefit my summer and the way I spend it. I made a list awhile ago, which consisted of the following bullets:

1. Complete the Summer school courses so I dont have to do them next year:   CHECK! 

2. Go to Peppersauce Cave because it is an exciting adventure: CHECK!

3. Gorge on Watermelon Eegee’s all July because it only lasts for a month: CHECK!

4. Go visit my future roommate Josh in San Diego for kicks: CHECK!

5. Fry an egg in the 110 degree heat because it is ridiculous and fun to do: CHECK!

6. Get a membership to LA Fitness and get bigger for next year: CHECK! (for the most part)

7. Find something for all to enjoy, www.thebadradio.com : CHECK!

8. Either skydive, camping or roadtrip: UPCOMING…

9. Get selected for an internship: CHECK!

10. Summer Romance:  WORKING PROGRESS

SO, for the most part, I have completed my summer list and have had enough time to hang out with all of my friends and have had a great time already. I got a new phone too, and compiled a bunch of interesting ringtones to accessorize it because I never had any before hand. My favorite one is the Indiana Jones ringtone which has so far annoyed some of my friends but I love it. I also got to watch most of The Office and even got to catch up on The Middle, which I had never heard about before but have realized that it is hilarious. I have not gotten to go anywhere extravagant or outrageous but I am having the time of my life right here in Tucson with my friends. We had a hilarious BBQ and with Bad Radio we have been able to provide a voice of hilarity for friends and family all over the place. Waking up at 11:00am is the best way to spend the summer even though I feel that sometimes that I am being unproductive. Whatever, it is summer, and during the year I will have to get up at 5 am everyday for PT anyway, so why not live it up. I am excited to go back and see my friends because I miss them and even though it will be school, it will be nice to be in college again. Ah I just realized that it wont be as awesome to go swimming because it will be so darn cold! Ah also there wont be watermelon Eegee’s! I better save some in my freezer so I can have some in college and share some with Liesl because she likes Eegee’s too!

Our Bad Radio show has come out with its 6th episode so anyone reading this should listen to it at the link above. We had another guest, Alex, who helped our show and made it even more hilarious than it usually is. Hopefully we can finish our first season before I go back to college. So far, SUMMER = SUCCESS  

Schedule for next year!