Top Ten Memories with Friends

A quick disclaimer. If I were to include memories with just my family, this post would never be possible...there's no way I could narrow it down to 10. Maybe I'll post again later about good memories with just my family, but for now, in the interest of brevity, I'm sticking to memories with friends. :-)

This list was very hard to make. And I'm sure there's a lot of stuff I forgot. If you can think of a glaring event I forgot, let me know in the comments!

So, here we go, in no particular order:

1. The NYC E-Team
   One of the best trips I've ever been on, hands down. From inside jokes to trivia from Joseph (Grocery), it was simply a blast. And it was amazing to see God work in the Brooklyn area through the church there. It was a lime green, hot chocolaty, harkin' good time, and I'll never forget it.
2. Camp Sankanac
   Those of you that are smiling and nodding already know exactly why this is on the list. Some of the best homeschool memories happened there including tipped boats, hayrides, and the scare-the-moms wire bridge. And who could forget Mr. Jan's speech and running to claim canoes during lunch?
3. Homeschool Plays
   I thought long and hard about whether to pick one individual play or to lump them all together...and I just couldn't pick one over the others. They each had their unforgettable moments, including Aaron's angel song, Noah's performance as GT, the fog rolling off into the crowd, and Mr. Parris dismissing us by animal group when I was the donkey.
4. YouthCamp '99
   Far and above my favorite year at YouthCamp. Who can beat having Eric Carey as a team leader and the only guys on the team being myself, Curtis, Ian Morris and Mike DiMaio? We even got to help Mr. Isabel in the kitchen one day. This was also the year of the legendary, "Mike DiMaio threw a rock in my cabin!" (during which, I was in said cabin), and the year of the turtle in my sleeping bag. Going to Hershey Park was icing on the cake.
5. Six Flags
   I guess we mostly went with the O'Neill's, but there were quite a few times we went with groups of friends as well. Such immortal jokes as "hey, look, vandalism!" and "it's in the water" were born there, as well as Aaron's incredible ability to locate money on the bottom of the wave pool.
6. Hanging out at the Welch's
   I know it sounds cliche, but it really was a lot of fun. From ever so briefly writing that book with Jonah, to learning the joys of a fine cigar, to filming Stacie's song, a lot happened there. It's also where I first started hanging out with Shelsy, so it's definitely gotta' make the list. :-)
7. Fort Night
   Pure fun, through and through. This night involved zero sleep and lots of Halo all while under carefully put together blanket forts. No, this wasn't when we were little...this was only five or six years ago. The most memorable part of the night, by far, was enjoying donuts Mat had salvaged from the Dunkin Donuts dumpster.
   
8. Celebration
   Again, I couldn't come up with a specific year that I remembered more than the rest. There are just so many memories from various years at Celebration that I had to include them all. From playing Ultimate Frisbee on the football field, to getting Taco Bell late in the evening, to climbing to the top of the bleachers and watching the white fans wave below. I actually got really nostalgic about Celebration earlier today.
9. Driving to Pittsburgh with Mat
   Back in the day, when Mat still worked at PALCS, we took a trip to Pittsburgh for the grand opening of the office out there. And we took our trip in a 26 foot Penske truck loaded to the brim with furniture. We stayed with one of the employees that night and drove the truck back the next day after off loading and assembling the furniture in the still-under-construction mall. That was a fun trip!
10. Christmas Craft Workshop
    Who can forget this staple event? From the original days of having it in the side room at the Community Center, then moving into the gym, then finally to the new building. Carrying our various creations over to our paper bags, moving up through the grades until we were finally with the older kids making awesome woodworking projects with my dad. Quality events...and I still wish I were young enough to attend.
    

So there you have it. How'd I do? If you think I missed something, leave a comment and tell me about it! :-)

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