Day 198: Que Bueno Blachly!

Update: 205.2 lbs, 50 lb Goal Reached Day 124. 7 lbs to 60 lb goal.

Blachly, Oregon is a little tiny town about 2 hours from here, that we have simply grown to love. Founded in 1892, and named after William Blachly, the city leads into one of our favorite little getaways -- Triangle Lake.

I never like to be the last one to the party, but figured there could possibly be Triangle Lake posts from multiple people who blog about such things like Kristi, Thorsons, or Nick -- and as it turns out, I was right on at least 2 of the 3, and I'm guessing the third will step up to the plate once he's regained his strength again....poor fella, getting older. But needless to say, Triangle Lake was once again an amazing time with our Mid High buddies.

This year was a new experience as I wasn't really the man in charge for the trip, our new fearless leader, K-bowd was the go-to guy, and from the first blasting of Sadie Hawkins Dance to kick off the mosh pit, to digging the trench down the beach for sandy Slip-N-Slide, to the stage built on the edge of the lake for evening sessions - he busted his butt to provide a great time for the kids. Now, the rest of the amazing volunteer staff also really stepped up to pull off an extrememly memorable end of the summer bash, and the adults who came up to drive boats, work in the kitchen, and just be extra eyes, ears and hands were priceless. Many big thanks to everyone who helped....it was a fantastic team effort!
We had our largest group ever this time around, with about 125 people attending - roughly 70 students, 40 adults, and 15 children making it up for the 3 days of sun and fun.

Our good friends the Glancys also came up and Nate was our special guest speaker, sharing about his life in Mozambique, and helping kids understand about God's love. I was busy leading music most of the time, so I never got to look out from the back, down over the beach and out onto the lake as the sun was going down while kids were singing and listening to Nate talk, but both nights there was just an amazing energy and a buzz in the air. At one point, caught up in the moment (and there is video on file, unfortunately, to prove it) I raised my hand while leading music and actually found myself psuedo-raising the roof, or something like that...I don't know how to reallly explain it, except I looked like some sort of Jason Alexander character in a Brad Paisley video...sad really. All that to say, some of the greatest times of music and talking could be found right there on the edge of that lake this week.

In keeping with the food/diet portion of the blog, we had some pretty decent grub. Hamburgers and hot dogs, of course, but also lasagna, pancakes (banana and vanilla on the last day) and egg burritos with guacamole and mango salsa, nachos, cookies and candy. And Morrows brought up their new DeLonghi (welcome to the club!) so we were making espressos and iced coffee drinks around the clock. I worked hard to not go overboard, but probably did have a bowl or two too many of the Frosted Mini Wheats....dang those get me everytime. At least I countered the extra calories with tons of walking from the lodge to the trailer and back with my little boy on my shoulders or hip most of the time.

Amongst all the fun the kids were having spending the day out on the lake and running around the camp, we had a touch of sadness as we said goodbye to the Thorsons (above, listening intently to Pastor Kevin) on their last official event with the Mid High group. They've been a huge part of our team, and we hate to see them go, but we know they will love this adventure in their lives, and hopefully we'll see them back in the next year!

I think all us oldies are still catching up on sleep and waiting for our strength to come back, but it was totally worth it. Already looking forward to Triangle Lake '08!

Hasta!