I woke up, fresh for the new day. I had an English muffin for breakfast, which is not very British...as we don't have anything like them here. I unpacked the rest of my stuff and sorted my room so everything was away. We were heading down to the nearby lake with the rest of the families staying at the house, for a picnic and some swimming and boating.
The Lake
We arrived at the Lake and Lyle suggested we go on a kayak ride. I can assure you, this may sound like fun but it was a lot of work. I had never been in a kayak and the trip was interesting...to say the least. Both people have to paddle in sync or the kayak just goes round and round. We somehow managed to make it around the main part of the lake and back. When we finally arrived back, exhausted and quite wet (but satisfied with ourselves) we sat down and had a well-deserved picnic. We then wanted to go swimming as the water was lovely. We had a quick swim and then got out for a snack and headed home.
When we got home, the girl with the broken leg (who I think was called Kaitlin, so I shall use that name now.) She asked if we wanted to go with her and her brothers to this rope swing where you could swing and then land in a body of water. I happily accepted and Claire came along too, though slightly nervous. We drove out to a secluded woodland area and changed into our bathing suits. There were two levels to the rope swing, from the middle part of a tree or from the very top. I went quite a few times from the middle...sometimes landing perfectly, but sometimes turning and landing on my side which hurt a lot. When I had built up some courage, I kept climbing to the very top and just going for it. I found a lot of the time on this stay I did things I wouldn't normally do without a lot of motivation. I guess it was because I was only going to be here once and wouldn't return for a long time. The top wasn't too bad but obviously if I stacked, it hurt even more due to the height. By the end I had a red mark against my side where the water had smacked into me, but I was still happy! Claire only went a couple of times but then she was only 13.
We came back home and just hung around downstairs while Lyle read and me and Claire talked. We all got invited with the other guests for 'Happy Hour' which was strictly more for the 21+ for obvious reasons but it was good to socialise. I had a couple of 'chips' (or crisps to Brits.) After this, two of the families staying together started up a basketball game and asked if I wanted to play. Once again, I found myself getting stuck in, despite not being fantastic at basketball. I'd like to interject and say I find it very annoying when people assume I'm good at this sport due to my height! Our team played strong but they had a player who was about 6'4, so the basket was easy to reach. I actually scored two points, one from a quick shot near the net and one from far out, which got a great quote from the Bruce Willis look-a-like "Nothing but Net." Due to their team's tall guy, we lost 24-18, but as I contributed 4 of those points I was satisfied :D
We went in for dinner, nice and sweaty and it was a lovely dinner of tortellini and chicken. After dinner was over, Kaitlin suggested we go for a jeep ride. It was very exciting, and we saw a lot of wildlife but...we got lost. VERY lost. We were driving through woodland for ages. It was exciting at first and we weren't worried. But then Katilin said "Seriously guys, where are we...we'd better get back soon before it gets too dark to see." It was already about 8:30 and I don't think we got back until 10pm. You can call it an adventure if you like but overall...it was rather scary! We finally got home and as we were so worn out from our night time travelling, I collapsed on my bed.
Thanks for listening.
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