The Griffith-Coyne Family Reunion

Attention: The following post has lots of pictures. :D

Last Thursday, which was July 26th, we returned from an excursion into the Harsh and Terrifying Wilderness of...North Texas. After Sondays camp (which was awesome, by the way (and yes, I am using the term as it should be)) ended the Friday previous, Mom picked us up in Stephenville and we drove a few more hours to Sherman--the town where her parents live--for the Griffith-Coyne Family Reunion. We stayed with Meme and Pappy (my grandparents) until Sunday, at which point we relocated thirty minutes northeast to my aunt's ranch outside of Denison.

But I get ahead of myself. On Saturday, Brett and Vanya took us out on Lake Texoma to wakeboard and tube. Now, this was my (and my brothers') first time to wakeboard, but we all got up fairly easily.

Clay, cruising along. He never would wipe out--each time, he
would let go of the rope and slowly sink into the water before
he had the opportunity to crash.

Gearing up!

And, there goes Ethan. He, unlike Clay, had plenty of
wipeouts. Take this one, for example:

Brett, our uncle/instructor. He taught us well!

...And then proceeded to show us how it was
really done. (He did several jumps, too, but the
only pictures I got of them are blurry.)

Then, we switched from the board to the tube.
The color is somewhat washed-out on this picture,
but my brothers' faces are pretty hilarious.

Our wonderful pilot, Vanya.

Here, we are returning to the boat ramp.
 This, as they say, is "how we roll."

Now, back to the ranch. Aunt Vanya and her husband, Brett, have two kids: Zoey, 6, and Willow, 11 months. The ranch has a pool, a pond, horses, cows, a big firepit, a separate house called "The Party Barn"--pretty much everything you might want. (Aside from surfing the internet on your smartphone. The cell coverage out there isn't the best. But that isn't that important, is it? :D)

Gracie and Zoey in the pool. I believe they were sitting on the
board in the background until Ethan (rather, a sea monster) came
up from underneath them and capsized their ship.

Gracie climbing up the waterfall, aiming for the spring
at the top.

After church on Sunday, we returned to the lake. This time, though, Vanya had a lot to get done to prepare for the reunion, so her place on the boat was filled by one of my other uncles, Jay--who, despite a recent heart attack, showed us his own skills on a wakeboard:

Ethan, tubing by himself. With Brett driving, it was a lot tougher
to stay on the tube. I went after Ethan, and the bumping was so bad that I
eventually let go because I didn't want to bite my tongue in half. (Plus, my
arms were getting really tired.)

After we finished tubing, we were able to convince Brett
to show us how to surf in Texas. So, he filled special sacks
in the boat with ~2500lbs of water to create a bigger wake.
Then he hopped in the water with his surfboard and a rope, we
pulled him up like you do a wakeboarder (except the rope was much
shorter), and, once he got his balance, he threw the rope back into
the boat.

Monday evening, Haley (Jay's daughter) took Zoey and Gracie horseback riding.

Zoey is in the back on Twister, while Haley is riding Lena
with Gracie.

Zoey and Gracie then switched mounts. Because
Twister is gentler than Lena, Gracie rode him by herself.

Gracie's silhouette 

Zoey, looking into the sun. I like this picture. :]

Clay also rode, but the light was acting up and I couldn't get a decent picture of him. :P

The next morning, Ethan, Clay and I did a few jobs around the ranch to help prepare it for those coming in the afternoon. I had to get Vanya and Ethan to help me string lights around the fire pit. During the process, I was zapped by a loose wire, and we broke a couple strands, but in the end they looked quite nice. Perseverance and teamwork pay off! 

That afternoon, the Coynes arrived on the scene. The newcomers were Patsy, my mom's aunt, her daughter Leanne, Leanne's son Kieran, Patsy's son David, his wife, Lori, and their children: Maddie, Austin and Jordan. Now, if you're thoroughly confused, have some pictures.

From left to right: Clay, Kieran, and Jordan on the paddleboat.

Zoey and Ethan, having a deep, intellectual conversation
on the dock.

Gracie! The picture was originally too dark to see her face, so I
had to lighten it a bit. The result isn't the best quality, but I
think her expression makes up for it. :D

Willow in the pool, with Vanya pushing her. Sadly, this is
the only picture I got of her face.

Meme, loading her flyswatter with bubbles to flick at us kids.

The pool seemed to never empty. 

The next day, we went on an expedition to the river. The party consisted of Vanya, Brett, David and Lori and their kids, Kieran, Hope (another one of my cousins), me, and my brothers. If you cross the river, you'll be in Oklahoma. 

For transportation, Ethan and I rode the Gator (and nearly got lost), the girls and Clay were in Vanya's pink Jeep, and the rest rode with Brett in the Polaris. 

The Jeep in question. And yes, it does have zebra-print seats.

On the way to Oklahoma!

We made it!
(From left to right: Clay, Hope, Lori, Maddie, Vanya)

While we were crossing, Brett took David, Austin and Kieran
through the Hills, a natural sort of roller-coaster.

Austin, Ethan and Kieran are covering Clay in...well, in clay. I call this one
"The Initiation of a New Member into the Brotherhood of the Painted People."

The girls coming back from their own trip to the Hills.

And, at long last, it was our turn. Gosh, it was crazy! I think we
almost died 27 times. But it was fun nonetheless. :)

When we got back, Clay had finished covering himself.
He even went so far as to do his hair.

This...is a log. But, it is a very cool log.

Now, a few final pictures to wrap things up.

David and Lori on the paddleboat

This is Emily, my mom's uncle's son's daughter.
Or something like that.

Now, I must bid you adieu to prepare for my next adventure: the Florida Sea Base. TTFN!

Le Mot Juste

Hello again!

Well, today's post was going to be a movie review; however, I decided to change directions when I came across this quote from CS Lewis:

"Don't use words too big for the subject. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite."

In her book The Lively Art of Writing, "Grandmother Payne" (as we affectionately called her in my Composition II class) brings up the point of finding "Le Mot Juste": or, "the perfect word." This is the word that embodies exactly what you are trying to say. For instance, you wouldn't use the word "majestic" to describe a sparrow--you'd save it for something like an eagle.

Like Lewis says in the above quote, if you call a sparrow majestic, then what can an eagle be? Awe-inspiring? Well, another way of saying "awe-inspiring" is saying "awesome," but virtually anything nowadays is awesome, or amazing, or epic (I myself am guilty of this). Which brings me to an interesting point: the word awesome has been so overused that it now carries no more weight than the word nice (on which I could write an entirely different post). "Hey, how was your fishing trip?" "Oh, it was awesome! It was sunny and 75 degrees the entire time and the fish were biting anything you threw in the water, even my sister's toe!" Is that really what awesome means? Nice weather? Bite-happy fish? According to Dictionary.com, something is awesome when it inspires awe in you.

Psalms 99:1-3 says, "The Lord reigns; let the peoples tremble! He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake! The Lord is great in Zion; he is exalted over all the peoples. Let them praise your great and awesome name! Holy is He!" (ESV, emphasis added) It is God and His Name that should be inspiring us with awe, not fish! To quote Lewis, "don't use a word too big for the subject."

And yet, God's name is probably the most ill-used name in America. You can hardly watch a movie without hearing "Oh my G*d" 3-50 times, or "G**d**n it" in PG-13 or R rated movies. Just take a walk through the local mall you'll hear it. For me, it's gotten so bad that the word "god" reminds me of a thing so boring, so commonplace, that it doesn't sound powerful enough when ascribed to the God. I have to constantly remind myself of His Greatness.

I'll end this post with a challenge: Look up verses about God's greatness, His majesty, His awesomeness. If you have a concordance in the back of your Bible, use that to find verses. To start with, look up and read Psalm 96. But don't just read it; learn from it. And while you read it, think of how amazing it is that God, THE God, who commands lightning (Job 38:35), is the same God who wants to know us personally, and for us to spend eternity with Him. Isn't that awesome?!

Freedom Fest 2012

Since 2008, our church has held a free annual Fourth of July event called Freedom Fest at Colt's Stadium. They have kid's games, giveaways, an entertainer (this year it was an illusionist named Curt Anderson), the presentation of the colors, the National Anthem, and a big fireworks show. Most importantly, though, they use it to share the Gospel with the city.

My family usually volunteers to help out with it, but didn't this year because we weren't sure if we were going to be able to come. So, as we were preparing to leave, I grabbed my camera thinking that I could get some pictures of Freedom Fest (which I haven't been able to do in the past). So, here's a couple of them for your enjoyment. :)

This is the field! You can see the stage to the left. That was where the
giveaway winners were drawn and announced, where the illusionist
 performed, and where the presentation of the colors and National
Anthem were held. The kid's games ran along the edges of the field.

Some volunteers preparing to launch a t-shirt.

Haha, classic bromance. This is Ethan and Chandler, one of
Ethan's friends.

My best friend, Josh, giving prize candy to a little girl for
playing the game.

Bahaha, oh, CB. My, my, my. This is CB Sutton,
our assistant youth pastor. He's crazy. x]

Gracie! She was quite proud of her face-paint.

About the time it got dark, my camera decided to die on me, so I couldn't get any pictures of Curt, the flags, or the fireworks show. But, here's a picture from the internet to add that Fourth of July touch. :)

A Trip to the Zoo

More travels, complete with pictures!

First, for a recap: Last week, from Sunday to Wednesday, we were in San Antonio for a homeschool conference. During this time, Ethan and I were helping out with a Public Speaking class. I had been a bit...apprehensive about dealing with nine- to twelve-year-olds from 9am-4pm each day, but I was pleasantly surprised. Quite an enjoyable time. (Though there were other times that I wanted to strangle a few kids.) Because Gracie has never been to a "good" zoo, we decided to spend Wednesday at San Antonio's Zoo.

Now, pictures!

This is (as shown by the sign) Fralo's Pizzeria. We stopped
here for lunch on the way to San Antonio.

At Fralo's, I managed to snag a couple portrait photos. This is
my Dad. Quite snazzy, if I do say so myself. ;) (Especially the
reflection in his sunglasses.)

Mother! :D I like this one, even though her hand is a bit
blurry.

Ethan--he has cool hair. (If my hair started curling like his,
I'd totally go all hobbit-style. Just saying.)

And Gracie, eating her pizza. Clay was being
camera-shy, so I wasn't able to get his 'andsome face up here.

Gracie again, climbing on some rocks. The picture
quality isn't the best, but I just love her facial expression
in this one.

On Monday evening, we went to eat supper with one of Dad's
friends who lives in San Antonio. They had foam swords and a
trampoline, so naturally, Gracie, Clay and Joe (Dad's friend's
son) went outside and started a trampoline war after supper.

Now we're at the zoo! I'm not sure what she's
looking at in this one...it might be the bears.

Le family looking at the Komodo.

The zoo had these really crazy-looking flowers, so I just
had to take a picture of one.

Haha, I love this otter's face.

The jaguar! This one actually turned out better than
I had expected. I thought the shadows messed it up.

This is the offspring of a zebra and a giraffe. I call it a
zebraffe. (Haha, not really. It's its own species, but I can't
remember its real name.)

(The following is best read in Morgan Freeman's voice.)
"Due to the scorching heat on the African Plains, the
elephant retreats to the relief offered by the local watering-hole."

This sign made me depressed. I mean, even elephants can
run faster than Olympic sprinters! That's sad.

Oh my goodness. This kangaroo was adorable.

You'd think this serene setting would house some Japanese
Stork or something, right? Or at least a panda? Wrong. This is
the alligator exhibit. You can sort of see its tale at the base
of the tree.