Summer "Funcation"

Laughter, craziness, last minute planning....all of those words would help you to better understand why this summer was the most amazing summer I have ever had. Let me start from the beginning...

My friends and I really wanted to do something memorable to commemorate my last year in public school. After weeks of browsing vacation destinations on the web, talking over all the options, and checking each of our budgets, we decided to do something very unique. We decided to take a month long road trip with stops at well known tourist attractions, amusements parks, and cities. Of course, when we looked further into it, we found that none of us really had the money to finance this trip. Between the money it would take to fuel our car, staying at hotels each night, and the price to get into the amusement parks and tourist attractions, we were looking at a couple thousand dollars. With that, our dream died.

Disappointment doesn't begin to cover how we felt. We REALLY wanted to do this! About a week after each of us had given up, I got a call from a family friend. He said he could lend us his RV for the month, along with gas money (did I mention he is a really RICH family friends?),  but if it got damaged we would be held responsible. I immediately said yes and called all my friends.

So, a couple weeks later we were waving goodbye on our great adventure. We started out here in Indiana. Our first stop was in Sandusky. Ohio. The amusement park there, Cedar Point, has the more roller coasters (17!) than any other amusement parks. As a group, we decided to stay there for a few days so that we could really experience the whole park.

Then we headed to King's Island. We rode the world's longest wooden roller coaster, The Beast. Well, most of us, which leads me to the story of the one big mishap of the trip. We were stopped at a gas station to gas up and get dinner. One of my friends had just finished warming up one of the little "Cup of Soup" things and she bumped into someone behind her. She started to apologize and backed up quickly, but while she was backing up she tripped over her own feet and fell backwards. Trying to save herself from the steaming hot bowl of soup in her hands she quickly put her hand down to catch herself. She ended up with a broken wrist and a burn on her hand from the soup. What are the odds?! So, long story short, she wasn't able to go to the amusement park the next day with us, but still insisted that we go and have fun.

We filled up the rest of our trip with trips to Michigan Adventure, Six Flags Illinois, Disney World, Astroland, Hershey Park, a trip to the Big Apple, and Washington D.C. By the time we got home, most of us were a few dollars away from being broke, sleep deprived, or about to scream from the close quarters of 5 girls in one RV...or a combination of all three! But, I have got to say, this summer was the most memorable summer I think I will ever have.


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Did you believe me? Well if you did, you are really gullible. I mean, 16 year olds driving an RV on their own for a MONTH? Please tell me you didn't believe it. Well...it wasn't my idea. This (I'm being serious now) was Mrs. Potato Head's idea of an assignment! Pretty fun and easy assignment! If you are reading this...comment and tell Mrs. Potato Head that she needs to give me an A+ ;)

Introduction to the Extraordinary

As this is my first post to my blog, I will begin with an introduction.

Yeah, that would be me, Lulu. As you can probably tell I am a deep thinker. A philosopher. Or you may just wonder if I have gone crazy. Well...that's probably true. However, I do not accept the blame. All my craziness is inherited :)

That leads me to my family. My family is many things. First and foremost we are Christians with a deep faith in God. On other levels we are a family that loves a good time.

We love playing games, having weiner roasts, sitting in our new hot tub and many other things of course :)

It all starts with Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head.

Mrs. Potato Head is an amazing cook. She is also really good at anything artistic...something I did not inherit. However, I inherited most everything else from her. People say we talk, look, laugh, and act exactly alike. And, unfortunately, I received all her math skills...which equal ZERO!

Mr. Potato Head is a computer geek with a love of landscaping. A lot of people say I inherited his sense of humor which I will try to deny at any cost :)

Then comes Buzz...the big brother (21). This picture is a few years old...he has a beard now. Big brother Buzz specialized in torturing his siblings by tickling, poking, tackling, or pretty much anything else. Oh well...we still love him. He no longer lives at home so we have a LITTLE bit of peace and quiet :)

Next in line is...ME (16)! Since I already have a stunningly beautiful picture of myself at the top I will just move on.

Now we have Woody, my adorable little brother (14). Woody has Down Syndrome and none of us can imagine our lives without him. It would certainly be less exciting! He loves playing Talking Tom, listening and dancing to music, and helping me make "pup-cakes" or cupcakes :)

Then comes the baby of the family, Jessie, the rootin' tootin' cowgirl (13). She loves riding horses, exploring the great outdoors, and collecting lots of plastic horses or other animals.

Drum roll please...it's the Queen Mum herself, my grandma. She has been living with us for a couple years now and is a true blessing to my family. She likes skunking Mr. Potato head at scrabble, reading, and patiently playing Uno with Woody.

Last, but not least, we have the pets of our family. Slink is our faithful and funny looking weimerdoodle and His Royal Highness is our lazy cat. Slink is definitely the favorite. Us kids share food with him when Mr. and Mrs. Potato head aren't looking...shhh. Don't tell!

So there you are! That is my family. We aren't perfect, that is for sure, but we have a lot of good times together. I think this quote really sums my family up in a short sentence...

Families are like fudge-mostly sweet with a few nuts.