Camping

For the past three years my family has gone camping for our family vacation. For the first two years we traveled to see some of the greatest sites in the great Northwest: namely Mt. St. Helens and Crater Lake. This year, however, my parents decided to stay a little closer to home, and instead of guided tours and information centers, we did whatever we wanted. It's amazing how interesting board games become when there's no cell phone service and no Facebook, and to be honest I think it's the most fun I've had in a long time. We stayed in an old ranger cabin right under Mt. Hood and next to a huge, beautiful lake. It was absolutely incredible. Gilbert even thought the dirt was wonderful.

Through the eyes of a five year old

If you need a look at the world with a more simplified view, spend some time with a five-year-old. My baby brother, Gilbert, turned five last May and though the rest of us are all very excited for him to leave the house and start kindergarten, his current interests consist of Scooby Doo, junk food and collecting quarters. He has curly blond hair, giant blue eyes and very strong opinions. (Proof that it's not just the redheads that are stubborn in this family). To top it off he has enough energy to light up New York for a year and generally exerts it either running all over the place or talking unceasingly.

Last night my boyfriend, Todd, and I decided to take Gilbert out for the night. The festivities began by asking Gilbert where he wanted to buy ice cream. It was a toss up between McDonalds and Dairy Queen, but after changing his mind several times and weighing the pros and cons of each one, we finally headed off to Dairy Queen or "that other place" as he called it. Gilbert loves riding in Todd's truck. I'm not sure which reason it is exactly, but it could be that he gets to sit up front where he can reach all the controls, or it could be the fact that Todd has a coin tray overflowing with shiny pennies and nickels. Either way Gilbert loved turning the air conditioner on and off and shoving all the pennies down his shoes.

When we finally arrived at Dairy Queen, Gilbert and I shared a chocolate chip cookie dough blizzard of which he ate five scoops of before he was tired of it and ready to move on to the next thing. (Reason number 212 that my healthy diet plan is failing.) Next, we made a stop at Target where Todd allowed him to choose a box of candy from the dollar section. After watching him eat almost an entire box of Mike Ike's, we decided to let him burn off some energy at the park before returning him to my mother. He was quickly all over the play scape sliding down the middle of the two slides instead of picking one and insisting on swinging on his stomach.

The crowning moment of Gilbert's night, however, was as we were walking up the front steps to my house. Todd asked Gilbert if he wanted a couple more coins to take home with him and held out two shiny quarters. Gilbert's eyes immediately lit up as he hurried back to get them. The reason for his excitement was revealed this morning when Gilbert dumped out his piggy bank and informed me that he now had a dollar he could spend at the dollar store.

Though I don't think I will ever have as much energy as Gilbert does now or will be shoving pennies down my shoes anytime soon, I believe there is a lot to be learned from a five-year-old. Sometimes it seems that life is just one problem after the other and yet I've had more ice cream cones and boxes of candy than I can count. I think if maybe we all remember to be excited about eating our favorite candy or getting two shiny quarters, life would be exciting everyday of our lives.

First Blog

I decided I could label this post as my first blog since every other blog I have previously created was to fulfill a school assignment and that simply does not count. Just as, as any other college student will probably tell you, I go eight months every year without reading a book. Now don't get me wrong, I use my textbooks and do outside reading like a good student should. Last winter I read approximately eight of Shakespeare's plays, but all those hours I spent studying were simply not the same as the many hours I spent reading while I was a kid.

I chose a set of books as the background for my blog because ever since I was four years old books have made up my life. They took me on adventures, showed me a different way of life and filled my head with ideas (some good, others not so much). There's just something about a good book that inspires you to be the heroin in your own life and go out and stand up to the bully on the playground. My mother, of course, is thankful that I never actually did, but it was an exciting thought.

There are endless numbers of books out there and generally I believe people should read what interests them, but there are certain books I believe everyone should read because the authors capture both the nobility and shallowness of humanity so brilliantly.

A Tale of Two Cities
David Copperfied
Charles Dickens

Uncle Tom's Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe

Harry Potter Series
J.K. Rowling

King Leer
Taming of the Shrew
William Shakespeare

Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen