RYLA 2007

WOW

ok so how exactly do you explain and describe the most incredible and amazing experience of your life to people who have no idea what you are rambling on about, and even if they do care enough to listen could NEVER understand? well call me crazy but im going to give it a go! i find its something that you just cant keep quiet about, even if it is the worlds, and especially Perth's best secret. seriously, if you have the stuff and you want to do it...just look it up. its really the experience of a lifetime.

ok, so lets start with what RYLA is in a sense. RYLA stands for ROTARY YOUTH LEADERSHIP AWARDS and is a kind of camp/seminar for youth aged between 18 and 25. on this camp you with be faced with challenges of every kind. AND overcome with the support of all the fantastic people around you.

some of these challenges, just to give you an idea...were physical. on the 1st day we had tunnelling. which means crawling through a dark and dirty tunnel underground on your hands and knees. sound like fun? well crazily enough, it is actually alot of fun! it is a fantastic way of getting to know people, and so the support and love starts. and then there is the advanced tunnels. now these you cannot craw on your hands and knees through. you wouldnt fit. your on your stomach. and so you craw for minutes and minutes, and only go a few metres. and we actually spent hours and hours doing this.

the next day was abseiling. well for me and half the camp anyway. i abseiled 4 times that day, 2 more times than i ever having in my entire life and i wasnt actually forced into it this time!!! lol so went down the 'nursery' slope twice, then moved onto the intermediat slope, though i think a 38 metre straight faced cliff would be more appropriate in this case! thanks to Jade, Brad and Bernie i made it down to the bottom in one piece! Jade for being there every step of the way, Brad for talking to me and getting my mind of off the fact that i was actually suspending myself over the side of a cliff, and bernie for not letting me go!!!

next day probably the most physical and mentally challenging for me! as you all know (or may not know!) i am rather scared of heights! im ok so long as i have something stable under my feet that i CANT see through. as you can imagine. high ropes course is NOT like that. its hard to explain but i think you get the idea! small pieces of whire high up in the air...not the kind of thing that i would do for fun...and i dont know if i would find it fun, but I DID IT!!! thanks again to Brad. and then theres the leap of faith...also at the high ropes course. now this is one thing that i DID NOT want to do. leap of faith is short for attaching yourself to a rope, climbing up a telephone pole, unto a little TINY platfom, and then walk out onto a plank which you can hardly fit your feet onto, before launching yourself in the air to catch a tiny little tripeeze. now, can u imagine myself doing that?! well! neither can i! BUT I DID!!! (still cant quite believe that i did!)

so there you have the first 3 days. pretty amazing huh? and that wasnt all we did in those 3 days either! but wait, i still have to come to the poker game! when we first came on camp they told us that they would build us up, then break us down to build us up again. thoughts in everyones mind there? yeh right. well thats exactly what they did. pretty amazing huh? especially for a poker game! (though this was not your ordinary poker game...and i cannot say anymore as this information is priveleged! if you really want to know, you may come and ask me and i MAY tell you if i deem ok, otherwise, go check it out for yourself!)

wednesday we had and an amazing look deep into ourselfs and our morals and values, as well as everyone elses. was an incredible journey to take together and one that i would never forget.

thursday, we had the rotary dinner. was incredible to see so many people challenge themselves and overcome their fears. it was amazing!

friday. our last full day. we were all incredibly tired, most of us had only a few hrs sleep the night before as we were extremely busy filling out our daily review sheets and out RLQ sheets as well as giving out warm fuzzies! so it was all self induced! lol we spent alot of time with out project teams that day, i was on the last night event team, so we were planning the fun event that everyone was going to enjoy that night! as well as having our last few small group meetings and small group affirmations! which again took up alot of time. but was really good. the fri nite event went really well. we had organised charades, pictionary, trivia questions, random items, and awards. all of which we did in our small groups. and then as a last small group thing, we had skits to end the show. which were all hilarious!! something ill never forget seeing mike and enrico dressed up as girls with ballons for boobs!!! haha and of course Rons many skills showed of by the lovely Pam, and then the rest of team tangerine with their lovely singing abilities and a re-enactment of all the activities that we had done that week. and then it was more filling forms and warm fuzzies, the FANTASTIC newspaper crew and screen-printing crew finishing everything off for us, (THANKS GUYS! UR TOTALLY AWESOME!) as well as randomly dancing whenever a good song came on before heading of to bed with only a few short hrs sleep if you were lucky! bout 1 1/2 4 me i think!

saturday. our last day. finished off our small group affirmations and warm fuzzies, wrote letters to ourselves that will be posted out in 6 months, filled out forms about our experiences, mystery friends and presesnts. boot camp style activity to keep us awake! (thanks Brad!) and then playing frisbee and hacky sack before the 'graduation' or closing ceremony in front of our parents where we recieved back our finished files. before lots of hugging and crying and plans and promises to meet up again soon! bags in the car...then getting in the car, still trying to avoid it so running round giving final hugs. physically having to force yourself to get in the car. and then on the way home for a well earned sleep! though first you must go and visit the rellies! well some of them anyway!

see my darling sister, say hello to the mutt, exchange chrissy pressies with my sis. exclaim over the amount of dvds shes brought home! play on my new laptop. go to bed, sleep over 15 hrs straight, wake up watch dvds (that my sis brought home) tell mum everything, see friends, watch more dvds, go to the airport to see georgie whos been in switzerland and other places in europe for the last year. (which was very exciting!) go to bed, get woken up by your beautiful 3 yr old cousin who wants to play, play till you drop dead on the couch, finish the movie that you were watching last night. complain that you only have one day left of work, and that you wish you had a week!

but RYLArians, i love you all. you are the most fantastic and wonderful people ive ever met. lets not loose what we lost on RYLA. keep in contact. i love you all!!

luv lelle/rocky
XOXO

HELLO HELLO!

IM AT A PLACE CALLED VERTIGO
ITS EVERYTHING I WISH I DIDNT KNOW
EXCEPT YOU GIVE ME SOMETHING
I CAN KNEEL!!!
KNEEEEELLLLLL!!!
YEH YEH YEH YEH YEH YEH YEH
YEH YEH YEH YEH YEH YEH YEH YEH!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!


I WAS SINGING THAT WITH BONO AND 70,000 OTHER PEOPLE LAST NIGHT!!!

OMG! IT WAS SOO AWESOME, FANTASTIC, BRILLIANT, TOTALLY WAY COOL!!!

I WAS AT A U2 CONCERT!!!! AND WE WERE RIGHT UP THE FRONT...WHERE ONLY 2000 PEOPLE GET TO GO!

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!!!

it was an awesome, awesome experience. the awesomest christian experience i have ever had!

i wish i could go again and again and again!

was sooo totally worth the hours and hours of waiting in the searing hot sun!

i promise to add pics later. Q and I are going to download the pictures this arvo and work on them 2night while everyone is at the Jaq ball.

which talking about the Jaq ball, i promised to teach larissa and sarah the cha cha cha as it is a latin fever night. so i promise to write all about our fabulous sat later once they are ready and off!!!

i love you all!!!

luv lelle
XOXO

sydney!!!

HEY ALL!!

well lots of exciting stuff has been happening! ive been home from america for about 2 months now. i miss every one from BLYC more than i could possibly EVER say!!

luckily! Erin Abston. my partner in crime and media co-ordinator! an FANTASTIC friend who came down an spend 2 days going to universal studios an disneyland with the hilarious jess an katie savage! IS COMING TO PERTH!!! how brilliant an exciting is that?! so she will be here next year for a few totally AWESOME weeks!

but wait...theres more!!! i am currently sitting in my sisters dorm room at avondale college, waiting for my darling sister to come back with her brand new cast on her broken wrist (right hand- so shes gonna look like a complete dag trying to do everything with her left hand!) which she got after being pushed over during the last few minutes of her basketball game last night. (which her team unfortuantely lost by 3 points! which means they dont get to play in the finals)

so other than the great excitement of getting to stay and have a great time with my darling sister and aunty Q...

IM GOING TO A U2 CONCERT!!!

its on sat night. how totally AWESOME is that?

so im totally excited! an ill put pics up when i get home as soon as i can! but i have to go now coz my broken decrepit sister just arrived home from the doctor.

luv you all lots an lots!!
XOXO

just a few things i forgot about LA...

hey just remembered a few things that i forgot to mention about LA... well first, when we arrived...my luggage wasnt their...not cool, jess lent me a top to wear to dinner that night...but its still not nice to have a shower and get back into the same clothes!!! but luckily all that had happened was because it was the last day of a long weekend, EVERYONE was coming back to LA from Las Vegas so all that had happened was their were running behind, so i did get it that night at about 10/11 or something, so that was good that i had clean clothes to wear to universal studios!!!

the other thing, something that you have all probably guessed is that LA has ALOT of smog, and i mean ALOT! its really quite discusting!!! but the funniest thing is that they are in denial so they dont call it smog, its called the 'marine layer'!!!!! how funny is that?! anyway thats all that i wanted to say...at least its all that i can remember that i wanted to say!!! :D

luv you all!!!
luv lelle

last full day in LA...and USA :(

Hola again...and for the last time!

so sad, our last fun day in LA and also in the great and wonderful US of A has ended. tomorro we head out at 1 o'clock. we have had a great experience, and just to warn you all in case you did not know, but we both come back, still jess and lelle, but not the people that left you all those long days and weeks ago. you cannot go through an experience like this, and experience the things that we have, travel around and see and experience a different culture and expect to return unchanged. i have grown up and learned alot of lessons, and even relearned some that i had forgotten, and for that i shall be eternally grateful. we also had a wonderful time, was kept safe during some difficult and trying times and met heaps of wonderful people. you wont find better people anywhere. we've both made friends for life. and i shall never, ever regret going on this great trip!!!

well today we slept in a little and recovered from our two long, and active days at universal and disney! once we were up and about we took off in the car with Jo and headed towards hollywood!!!

we went to hollywood bld and saw all the stars on the sidewalk and the chinese theatre and the footprints and handprints off the stars our side! and also kodak theatre. that was really cool to see that. you see it in sooo many movies that its great and really surreal to see it all in really life!!! got some pics of the hollywood sign from the kodak theatre. we JUST missed the last tour of the day that goes through kodak theatre. which was kind of dissapointing, as it would have been really nice to see the inside of it all!!! we did get to walk up the walkway and stairs where the red carpet is laid out for the stars. which was pretty cool! their we lots of really weird characters around that area, dressed up in all these costumes from weird movies. i dont think that i recognised any of them! and lots of stalls of people selling hats and jewelry and we also saw one that would put dimenties on your phone!!! they did look really cool though. and also people trying to get you to buy their albums and make it in the world of music.

we left hollywood and took a drive down sunset blvd and into beverly hills on our way to santa monica beach. it was really pretty, that is the fences, gates, hedges that you couldnt see over or through were really pretty!!! but what glimses that you could catch...their where some pretty big and nice houses down their!!!

santa monica beach was pretty cool. was nice and...beachy. actually was really nice to be on a beach again. we had not seen the ocean since we were in portland. and when we were in portland we only saw it twice and it was rather chilly! (yay, go the annual trips to arthurs house) so that was kind of hard seeing as both jess and i are fish and love to be in the water, an i particularly love the beach and watching the sunset!!! they had a pretty cool pier with some nice shops, so we just took a walk down the pier and had a look at some of the stuff, the coolest thing their though was buddy gumps shrimp co. a resturant that was all based around forrest gump. was all decked out with forrests saying and their was even little signs on the table that said run forrest run if you did not want the waitress, and then if you did you flipped over the green sign to the red one which said stop forrest stop. so that was really cool to see that!!!

we then spent the next, who knows how long in really bad LA traffic on the freeways starting and stopping...rather frustrating!!! before we got home and Rod took us out to a really nice buffet dinner where jess and Rod just found out how similar they are!!! in other words, i really didnt open my mouth all night!!! quite a feat for me dont you think?!! :D but trust me, with those two together....whew!!! their is no chance!!!

Jo and Rod have been really nice, as have everyone else that we have stayed with over our travels! and we have had an awesome time everywhere that we have been. so a big thank you again to everyone who was generous and extented their hospitality to us!!! it was great to meet you, or to see you again!!! and we both hope to come and see you again sometime very soon!!!

so buenos noches for the last time!! im going to go and pack my bags for the last time :( i love you all!

your lella

wed in LA- DISNEYLAND!!!

hola again all!!!

well we have just been hitting all the theme parks...and having a WONDERFUL TIME!!!! we were all a little tired from our adventures at universal studios the day before, but we soon picked up when we went on the awesome rides!!! (this time we didnt get to all off them...kinda a bit harder!!!)

we did do some of the classics! such as alice in wonderland, its a small world rides, which were pretty cool, but seeing as they were little kiddies rides...VERY tame! we also went and had a peak around toontown. which was pretty cool!

we spent pretty much the whole entire day on the rides other than a little peak in the pirates of the carribean store where we all tried on pirates hats and hooks and swords etc etc etc and took lots of pics of us doing so! (was so much fun!) and also we watched the parade of course!!! they was no fireworks, but it still bought back many memories of disney world in florida with my family 9 yrs ago!!!

as you can imagine, we went on quite a few rides...and disney was also really really good to us...i think the longest we spent in a line was 15 mins...which is practically unheard of!!! most of the time them being a few hours long!! some of the fun ones were indiana jones, which was a fun cart ride through an underground lair. was rather fast and bouncy and just generally fun. through the haunted house. had really cool effects but wasnt scary at all!!! an a river cruise thing where the animal robots where really rather sad but the tour guides make up for it with their really silly but hilarious jokes! the star wars ride was a simulator, but was really bad compared to the back to the future one at universal studios. also went on the pirates of the carribean ride, which was pretty cool. just sat in a little boat and drifted through different scenes. it was this ride that the movie originated from. that was pretty cool. though they have done some of it up to resemble the movies, but still really good. we...all being competative, and just looking for something different, went on the buzz lightyear ride where you sit in a little cart and go slowly through these different rooms while you shot at targest with a laser gun. pretty fun, but none of us got past level 3!!!

and now the time has come to tell you all of the coolest, funnest, wildest, bestest and any other est word that you can come up with ridests!!! :D in a list ranging from my fave to my other favourites are...
...comming in at the top in a very close competion is the ride that we rode on the most, and always made sure that we were up the front (the ride that katie and jess went on 5 time and erin and i 4 times- i was feeling sick so erin sat out with me while i recovered) is (drum roll!!!!)
#1....SPACE MOUNTAIN!!!! the COOLEST roller coaster ride EVER!!! (not that ive been on many, but its cool trust me!) it does not go upside down, or backwards BUT it does go at high speeds in circles in a dome shaped building that is completely black apart from the little star like lights that are everywhere!!! so while your flying along, all you can see is these little pin pricks and so you dont know where you are going....VERY exciting!!!

coming in in a close second is the most popular ride at disney which often has a 2 1/2 hour wait in line to ride it is....(drum roll again please!!!)
#2!!! SPLASH MOUNTAIN!!!! splash mountain is similar in some respects to jurassic park...it has a 50 foot drop...among others. and took you through a decepfully peaceful ride throuhg the mountain playing zipee dee do da. was SOO MUCH FUN!!! :D the last time that we did it, it was practically dark and i was in the front and got soaked (again)!

coming in at 3rd place, is suprise suprise another roller coaster ride!!!! THUNDER MOUNTAIN!!!! (yes i know we like our mountains dont we?! :D) was in frontierland and so was set as in the old old west with a train as the roller coaster. was really lots an lots of fun!

and that pretty much concludes our so-cal extrodonair time with erin and katie (other than the having a little peak in the shops with all the funny and cute gifts at extreme prices!!! was really really sad to have to say good bye to erin and katie...was hard enough saying goodbye the first time!!! but it was sooo good to catch up with them both again! (we love you guys! and were sooo glad that you made the lonnnngggg trip to come down and spend some time with us!!! was the best two days!!!)

and so our second last full day in america has ended...but if you want some laughs, refer to jess' blog for all the cool pics!!! http://jess-usa.blogspot.com just in case you dont know it! but go and have a looky at the piccys!!! :D

luv you all! buenos noches!
luv lelle

tues in LA- UNIVERSAL STUDIOS!!!!

HOLA ALL!!!

well as you may have already guessed from the title, monday was a very fun filled day!!! :D

Erin and Katie (savage- both from camp) came and picked us up an took us to universal studios for one of the best and most exciting days that ive had since our touring started. it was sooo sooo soooo!!! good to see both katie and erin again, and made the whole experience just soooo much more fun for both me and jess having those to around, they are both soo much fun! (i luv you both! hope you got home safely!). Just so everyone knows, katie and erin drove around 10 hrs to come and spend 2 days with us...they're so rad!! :D

well anyways, as ive already said we went to universal studios which was heaps awesome, we went on all the rides (jurassic park was my fave with the drop at the end!!! and yes just so you all know and can be very proud of me-ris- i did go on all the rides, and the didnt even have to push me at all...found out that i am quite a ride fanatic...especially if its a roller coaster or involves a big drop down a water fall thingy! :D

but the highlights of universal was cinnabon- really good cinnamon rolls!!! hehe, but seriously the best two things were waterworld and the behind the scenes tour!!! the behind the scenes tour was really cool, taking us past the set and studios that they use to film so many movies, eg, war of the worlds, pirates of the carribian, desrerate housewives, csi etc etc etc. so that was awesome!!! (got lots of pics, ill have to upload them when i get home.) and they also showed us some special effects, like flash flooding and how they make cars do almost anything they want... eg flying and spining throught the air after and explosion, and dancing together to gasolina!!! (a song incase you didnt guess!!! :D) which was really really cool!!!)

we also went on the mummy ride(rollercoaster, which did almost everything except upside down...but it did go backwards at flying speeds!!! throught backdraft- which was really interesting walk through showing us the effects and how they made the movie, back to the future ride (totally awesome and SOO cheesy!!!)was a simulator ride. Van helsing which was a walk through the dark while people jumped out at you and made you scream...which was hilarious....especially me being me- who gets scared at ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING got terrified everytime someone jumped out. even thought you are expecting them to...you dont no exactly WHEN they are so you still get scared!!! the two funniest things happened was that one guy jumped out while we were walking over a bridge in a particularly dark area and scared us and then as we were walking by he grabbed me...so off course i ran off screaming and as i was running i saw one of the workers (who were all dressed in black) and so screamed again and kept running before i realized that it wasnt one of the scary people!!! lol i think she got rather offended. and we also had a midgit jump out and scare us, that was hilarious!!!

we saw a few famous people (actors) marilon munro...shrek, spider man and the main characters from X-men...so that was pretty cool! we also spent an hour or so in the kiddy play area which was a water play area....(it was really hot) we were the only people in their above the age of say 12!!! that weren't parents! but that was heaps of fun! just playing in the water, squirting each other with the water guns and getting COMPLETELY saturated! so as you can imagine it was heaps of fun!!! but we got so wet that jess top streached so much that it was practically around her knees, so we had to go and do alittle shopping!!!

and lastly there was water world (it wasnt last...im just talking bout it last...but anyways!) water world is a movie that they made a show out of! was really really cool...and very cheesy! but still one of the highlights! its about these pirates who live on the water because they cant find dry land or something, and this one explorer (the only girl) finds dry land and brings some back to show her people so they can all move their etc, but OF COURSE their has to be the bad guy who doesnt want them to find it and so chases them and starts this big fight. was really cool because it was such a small area, but they still managed to do heaps of tricks!

as the people were sitting down, some of the pirates had buckets and water guns and were wetting everyone as their went passed and before the show began. was really funny as those people who didnt want to get wet...and were stupid enough to show it!...got soaked!!! you could tell the actors had fun!!! well we almost didnt make it to the show...so glad we did! we had to run for it up log flights of stairs etc and just as we got in they closed it! but we of course ended up in the "soak zone" and we thought, yeh we may get alittle wet from the jet skis or skiers or something, but not that much, we had just dried from our little play time in the kiddies area, but whats a few more splashes right?! well as you have probably guessed...we were terribly wrong!!! few splashes...we were just as soaked as before...i think the guy on the jet ski (he was hot though!) had great pleasure in sending a wave of water our way!!! but it was heaps cool!

well that was all from our day at universal studios...tomorro...DISNEYLAND!!! :D only a few more days to go till we're home too...

luv ya all!

LAS VEGAS!!

hola ya'll!!

well it is less than a week until we will be leaving the US of A and be back home in the land down under. it is a strange thought after america being my home sweet home for the past 3 months. but we are still going, and in our second last stop of our travels...the place of dreams and hopes lost in the harsh beauty of the desert and mountains!!! LAS VEGAS!!!

well we arrived on friday evening, after our flight from colorado springs to denver and also our flight from denver to las vegas had been delayed, 30 mins and an hour respectively!!! so we arrived to the extremely hot (but thank God! not humid!!!!) which of course made the heat bearable!!! our first impression of las vegas was a rather strange sight, not something that you would see here. slot machines and posters advertising all kinds of things from girls to shows. i think that it is very safe to say that las vegas is a place like no other!!!

our fist day here, we got up to the lovely smell of blueberry pancakes cooking!!! (they were really nice, considering that i hate blueberries!!! but i didnt have the heart to tell julie that!!!) and then took rocco the beautiful chocolate lab retriever and went for a hike up a mountain that is a ski resort in the winter. also saw some wild horses in the distance! we had a lovely picnic up the top of this mountain, no one else around over looking the beautiful desert and mountains (an no im not being sarcastic!! it really was beautiful. the best sabbath experience you could ask for!!)

and so just to see how much of a contrast we could get! we spent a couple of hours on the stip that night, having a look around, and just generally being amazed at the splendor of some of these places!!! their are soo soooo soooo many of them, all of them 1000 times bigger than burswood (an im NOT kidding!) most of them with their little themes and such! was soo amazing, just another world in its self! i have to say that cesars def has the best interior. made out like a huge roman town, with the forum shops made to feel like it is out side with the fountains, and the roof painting like a nice summer day sky, and the coblestone street, and the roman soldiers posted on the walls of the courtyard! was awesome!!! and the outside of the venitan was terrific, with walls like ancient europe, and the venice cannals where you can go on a gondala ride!!! was terrific!!!

i have to say though that the most enjoyable time we had ALL night was when we took a tour of Madame Tuassades!!!! (the wax works of people that look real!) was soo cool!! so we took our picture with woopi goldberg, brad pitt, frank sinatra, got married to GEORGE CLOONEY!!! and had my picture taken with (guess who mum, beacky and ris?! just to make you jealous!!!) BONO! (my hero!) as well as elvis an lots an lots of others of course!!! was sooo much fun! oh and we also told bush that he was an idiot!! :) was lots of fun!

unfortuantely we JUST missed the belagio show (water feature...oceans 11 if you cant remember!) and was not going to wait around at treasure island (miss congeniality!) for 30 mins in a jam packed area where we couldnt see anything, as we had better things to do! so we are going back again tonight to see those two! :) after we finish a beautiful meal of homemade pizza!

today we spent the afternoon (after a sleep in recovery of last night!!!) driving around red rock, where their are some beautiful mountains of rock, with different colours streaking all the way through them. was really beautiful!!! we may take a walk again their tomorro before we leave, their is a little spring with ponds and palm tree and such with is supposed to be really beautiful, right bang smake in the middle of the desert! so that will be cool!

well im going to run and get ready for another night on the town!! ;P just joking!!! (kinda...i am going into town and it is at night, just not in that context! :D) so i shall say adios! and i love you all!!!

your lella

oh and dad...just wanted to say HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!! for....yesterday...although it is sunday here so you could say that i wasnt late!!! :D but i luv ya lots an lots an lots daddy boy, and im sorry that neither of our little girls where their to make you something! but we do love you and were thinking of you, and ill make you somthing when i get home!! (in less than a week!)
your darling little girl :D

COLORADO!!!

HOLA ALL!!!

well tonight is our last night in beautiful colorado, as tomorro we leave for Las Vegas. We had a very short but enjoyable time at the latvalas beautiful house in coaldale. where we are completely surrounded by beautiful and majestic mountains! most georgous view!!! it has been real nice to spend time away from cities and cizilization ("gonna shoot it up!" for all the camp ppl reading!! we love you kelly kendall!!! :D) ANYWAYS and just spend time in the country and open clean fresh air!!!

today we spent the day just driving around and seeing some of the sights near salida which is about 30 min drive from where the latvalas live. the first thing we did was go to a pool and do some laps, which was really nice! then we drove up the spiral drive on the salida hill which had a beautiful 360 view of the town and surrounding mountains, before heading down and having lunch at a resturant which used to be a garage and gas station.

after lunch we headed out to m- pass. forgotten the name of it, but it was really pretty up their!!! and then we just did some souvenir shopping at the pass and then back down in town before heading home. their was some really cute stores there!! and then after being home for alittle while, the georgous erin called!!! was sooooo good to talk to you again girl!!! ive missed our talks sooo much!!! cant wait to see you and katie in LA!!! :D YAY!!! the we had a lovely home cooked mexican dinner. and so ends our time in colorado. we are going to gods garden tomorro before going to the airport, so im going to say buenos noches! and see you in LAS VEGAS!!! :D

luv lelle

SOUTHERN ADVENTIST UNIVERSITY!!!

HOLA (again!)

well as i said in the gainsville post. jess and i spent a few very relaxing days at southern adventist university (for some reason i like writing all that out...havnt figured out why yet!) with christina hack and christina liem who were both counsellors at BLYC (big lake youth camps in case you forgot what it stands for!)

so it was great catching up with them again! they both had alot of work to do, so most of the time we just hung out and had some chilling time, catching up on all the relaxing time that we had missed!!! over the past 2 1/2 months, so that was really nice!!! but we did get to do some shopping and also go to christina liems brothers house and go swimming and make a really nice meal, and watched a movie so that was a fun night! we also got to experience a fire drill in the middle of the night which was also interesting! and we both sat in on a couple of their classes. which was interesting! i went with christina liem (i was staying in her room while jess was with christina hack :D) to some of her classes. she is a music and elementary edu major. (i think it was elemetary edu...and christina hack is a theology major) so that was a really fun time.

it was awesome to be able to catch up with both of them again! i miss everyone from camp so so so so so much!!!! hopefully if all goes to plan then we will get to catch up with erin (the media co-ordinator and the person that i worked with closest at camps and came really really good friends with!) so pray that that all goes well and actaully happens!!!

we had some more drama this morning. we were supposed to be leaving southern at 7:30 to get to the shuttle bus on time so that we got to the airport with plenty of time to spare and so we didnt have to stress...but of course my alarm didnt go off, and so we had a late start, but to make things worse the traffic was horrendous and so we missed the shuttle that we had planned on taking...but as an example of God actually solving your problems before you even realize that they are their, we managed to get to the airport and check in with out any stress on the later shuttle, but as we found out, the shuttle that we were supposed to be on actually broke down and i think we made it to the airport before they did, or pretty much around the same time anyways. so through it all God proved to me that he does answer prayers and that he does care. how cool is that?!!!!

anyways so we got off to colorado springs alright, and have had a very enjoyable evening, having dinner on the deck, completely surorunded by mountains, which was beautiful. and have much enjoyed looking around the latvalas house which is completely enviromentally friendly and self sufficiant. so its pretty cool. they also have a blue heeler!!! which must think that jess and i are cattle or something because she keeps nipping at our heels as if to round us up!!! but she is stopping and not doing it as much which is nice!!!

well i better get to bed as we have a full day ahead of us!!! so beunos noches everyone!!!

luv lelle

GAINSVILLE!!!!!

HOLA!!!

well gainsville. i can't remember what i last wrote about gainsville so if i repeat myself then i am very sorry!!!!

i think that the last thing that i mentioned was that we had arrived safely and all that jazz. so ill pick up on from wed arvo...

well i went back to good old Hunt Tower (where dad worked) and said hello to a few people that i remembered...and alot that i didnt!!! (well i was only 9 and it was 9 yrs ago!!!) so that was alot of fun just hanging out in the square in gainsville, seeing it all again and bringing back the memories that i do have of halloween and the market in the square where we wanted desperately to buy some fish!!! had a look in this great store called daddys money!!! (i took a picture of it for you daddy boy!!! :D)

the next day we had a lake day. just lazed around on the dock, until Peter came and took us out for lunch to a really nice mexican resurant. then watched some movies. was really nice just to relax after camp and new york!!! then the barretts took us out for a lovely italian dinner at maccarroni grill. was lots of fun catching up with janice, airin, and nina! (who is engaged and has the most GEORGOUS little boy!!! :D) and then to a awesome hang out called jillians. so that was lots an lots of fun!!

the next morning jess left for savannah for 2 days. was really weird not having her around, after living in each others presence for 2 1/2 months!!! i didnt know what to do with myself, while she was living it up on the (very humid) streets of the beautiful savannah with kim brooks! but luckly i got to spend the afternoon with my old friends the allmans, mainly zach and rachel! was awesome seeing them again! spent alot of time in the pool and had a great time messing around...been beaten hands down at every game we played by zach!

on sat we went into atlanta, seth kendall had a soccor tournament in atlanta, so inbetween the games we went to the olympic park. which was really beautiful with lots of lovely fountains! and then beth and i walked around before going and watching seths other game. then we did a bit of shopping and had dinner before picking jess up. then beth treated us to drinks in a lovely revolving restraunt called the weslin which looked out over atlanta city and was really pretty!!!

and then the next day jess and i caught the shuttle bus up to chattanooga in tennessee where we were met by two of the lovely christinas that worked at camp who go to southern adventist university where we spent the next few days chillin and catching up!

gotta run!
adios!
luv lelle

NEW YORK!!!

Hola!

well new york. WAS TOTALLY AWESOME!!! we both really loved it their and wished that we could have spared a few extra days so that we could see alittle bit more of it! it was crowded and very bright! (our first impression of new york was when we went in in the late afternoon to see the broadway show CHICAGO! (which i might add, was brilliant! both jess and i loved it immensly! :D) so as we came out, into times square, we saw people everywhere, and bright flashing billboards. was great!

but we had quite and eventful end to our eventful day (begining in canada) where the airline lost jess luggage (we fortunately got back the next day) and had to run for the train as we very nearly missed it! (but that just made our new york experience more complete....wasnt the only time we had to run either!)

the next day (our only full day in new york) we took a tour for 5 1/2 hrs around new york, and on the staton ferry pass the statue of liberty. which was very interesting and well worth it. our tour guide was an actor by night and a tour guide by day, he was a very interesting and funny old man, which made it all the more enjoyable!

the rest of the time we just spent wandering the streets around times square doing some shopping and alot of window shopping! but the place has a great atmosphere, and once you get over the sight of seeing police men walking around with great big machine guns and huge black dogs, you feel quite safe so long as you have your purse safley buckled and with your hand on it at all times!

we sadly left new york on tues at 2, and caught the train on a lonnnnngggg loonnngggggg ride down to gainsville georgia, which arrived at 7 in the morning. where we were met by the lovely beth kendall!!! was so great to see her again! so far i have not seen any one else that i used to know, but jess and i are currently spending a few hrs wandering round the square and so are going to visit peter in hunt tower (it looks the same dad!!!! taking lots of pics for you all!!!) also drove by mine and ris old school, riverbend elementary school, which looks completely different as they put a new front on the builing. and are right now sitting in hall county library of which...if i remember correctly, i was a member of! so it is very exciting for me!

anyways id better run!
luv you all lots an lots an lots!!!
your darling lella!
xoxo

CANADA!!

HOLA!

well i know that its very late...but hey, better late than never right!!! so here is what i remember about our few short days in petersborough, canada (just out of toronto bout 1-2 hrs if you didnt know!)

well jess and i arrived in toronto very early in the morning after having a red eye flight from portland oregon after we finished up summer camps with a short stop over in vancouver canada. Aunty Glenda and Uncle Keith were their to greet us at the airport and shipped us off in the car to go see Niagara falls!

even though we were extremely tired, we had a wonderful time. the falls we absolutely beautiful. definately worth the drive!!! the sheer amount of water that flows over is amazing!

on our second? night their Glenda and Keith treated us to see a production of the sound of music!!!! which, as you can imagine, we both enjoyed immensly!!!! it was really really well done and we all loved it! (ris, mum and Q, i was thinking of you when we went! you would have all loved it!)

those were the main things that we did in canada, other than that we just spent time relaxing and seeing the sights around petersborough. which was really nice just to relax after the very very hetic last week of camp.

so that was canada. which we left on sunday. something that almost didnt happen. at the airport, we could not find the address for the people that we were staying with in new york, and as they were doing america customs in toronto airport it caused some problems. they finally let jess through, but for some reason pulled me aside for futhur questioning, but FINALLY let me go and i raced down to the terminal where jess was waiting to stop the plane if she needed to, where i made it JUST in time as they were boarding when i got their. so that was rather exciting!

and thats it for canada (but the good stories follow on for new york! we had quite and eventful few days!) so check out the next blog. i love you all!

your lelle!
xoxo

Second phase-canada/toronto and niagara falls!

hola!

well so we have ended the first day of our second phase of our trip!!! saying good bye to blyc and the wonderful people and the best of friends that i have made their was very hard and emotional. blyc was a big learning and growing curve for me. both spiritually and emotionally! it is an experience that i cant wait to repeat and that i will remember for a lifetime.

we arrived in toronto airport somewhere around 6 this morning. very tired and worn out, but excited to start out second phase and be in canada going to niagara falls!!! the falls we so unbelievably georgous! and we can now both say that we have been behind the falls and on the maid of the mist! which was alot of fun! we both had an awesome day!!!

aunty Glenda and uncle Keith are both georgous, and insist on treating us both like nieces! they have a beautiful little house as well, with a georgous garden!

well i must run off and go to bed before i fall off the chair from lack of sleep this past week. finishing up work at camp was tough an long hours...did not go to bed before midnight once....and on sat night stayed up till 7:30in the morning with on 3 or 4 hrs sleep max on both friday night and thurs night. but it was very fulfilling knowing id finished my job well and to the best of my ability! but as you can imagine i am very tired, so i shall try to upload pics as soon as i can, but it wont be tonight!

buenos noches & lots of love!
your girl
lella

FIRE!!!!

HOLA!!!

well we have exciting news here at BLYC. everyone is frantically packing, not only because summer camps are almost over :( tear. but because we have a fire burning rather close to us an we are on code 3 which means that the forest service can call us at any time and tell us to evacuate. so between packing and working, i am very busy! erin an i are going to put all our luggage in her car tonight, as there is a VERY high chance of us been evacuated tomorro morning, and we would need to get all of the videography and photography things out! so it is very exciting news!!!!

well i have to run....

luv lelle

teen 1...

hola!

well its teen 1, an banquet night, the theme is island breezes. we have michelle tumes singing tonight, shes a christian singer from new zealand who married someone who used to work at big lake. so thats pretty cool! cant believe that summer camps are almost over. its soooo sad, i mean im excited about travelling, jess an i have been talking bout it an both of us are soooo excited about it, but its going to be sooo sad to leave here. made so, so many good friends that leaving them is going to be really sad.

after living at big lake for almost 2 months now it really seems like home, an living any where else just seems strange now. but im sure that i will get used to it very quickly!

i must apologise as i have said twice now that im going to upload more pics, but every time that i go to do it, the computers wont work....so i promise to get some up soon but im not sure when that might be! so im really sorry bout that!

well id better finish getting ready for the banquet!

luv you all lots an lots!
buenos noches!
luv lelle

hola

buenos dias everyone!

(good morning in spanish...not sure how to spell it but thats how it sounds!)

well i am very sorry that their are no photos up on my last post. the computer that i was using did not recognise the fact that i can upload pics...so while i dont have the pics that i was goind to upload (ill upload them an some more probably tomorro night after my day off- going to Arthurs house again!!! so excited!) i do have some random ones of the staff that i took last night, so ill upload them while i am waiting for my pics of the campers to uplaod to the website!

hope you all have a great day...though i guess its night there now huh! so have a good sleep then!

adios,
luv your lella

HOLA!!!!!!

hola!!

how are you all? well it is currently 12:30 pm an i am up doin the late shift, burning all the rad camp cds! is a very long as slow process which i have to baby sit alot so i thought, why not write up a blog?! so here it is!!

well its almost the end of tween, an only 2 weeks left of camp! :( can't believe how fast everything has gone! made so many friends, an had such an awesome time! dont know how im going to be able to leave!

made some really good friends this camp with some of the campers. only in the last few days though, so its sad that i didnt get to know them for longer, but ashley is going to come back an visit and shaggy (i dont know his real name) is staying for the rest of the summer doing rad camps, so that should be interesting an alot of fun!!!!

we had a kiwi at camps this week!! he was on the skater rad camp. but mate it was so good to hear the accent!!!! after hearing everyone talking funny, it was very nice to hear something remotely normal!!!

went for a horse ride today. go most sat mornings is the only time that staff get to go riding. we do get to go wakeboarding as skiing during lunch on most days as well. so they do look after us here! was alot of fun! the activity that i did was the trailhead to fish hatchery, which is a very beautiful hike! follows a georgous river the whole way! really want to go to sahalie falls though sometime! they are SOOO beautiful! ill put up some pics when i do go!

well i hope all are well. im really tired and cant think straight, so i cant remember if their is anything interesting to add. so ill just upload some photos for yall to have a peek at!

luv your lella!

more pics!

me an the georgous erin who is the media co-ordinator. an heaps an heaps of fun! we have an awesome time together!
the crazy/beautiful karissa who is our lovely store girl!
christina hack, me, britt waring, erin, christina perry and mindy at the fish hatchery on our sat arvo activity!
De-anna, one of our lovely laundry/mall girls an I. just chillin as usual!














just some more pictures for yall!!! hope that this satifies everyone now that you know that everyone here is as crazy as i am, so i fit in extremely well, an are also really really nice! so there is nothing to worry bout! an you can also see what beautiful people im working with! :D

luv lelle

PICTURES!!!! WOO HOO!!!!

this is a pic of 2 of our lovely kitchen girls, kelsey an nickele!
on one of the sat arvo activities. the hike from the fish hatchery to the trail head. as you can see its a beautiful hike!
two of our crazy boys, bryan-boys village councillor, an trevor, maintanence specailist!
more crazy boys playing capture the flag. jason, dustin L, matt russell, and dustin S
me an the lovely mindy wilkins!
HEY HEY YA'LL!!!!

how ya doing? well i know that alot of people have complained (mum) that i have sent no pictures home, nor have i uploaded any to the internet! so here you go! enjoy!

the exciting news for this week was that i got a break from photography and was a wrangler for the week!!! because their was a horse pack trip rad camp going on they needed more people to go up in the horse corral, so i got choosen! was alot of fun, have really really bad tan lines now from being in the sun all day! everyone here took the liberty on finding something new to tease me about, an told me all week that i smelt funny!

but i am now back to being the camp photographer as the week is over an the all the adventure campers have gone home, an only the high desert waterski trip an the horse pack trip rad campers are here. also alot of staff have gone to camp meeting (which is alot like easter camp) to promote big lake, so the place is stangely quiet, an dead! but the break should be nice an lots of fun!

hope that yall are well. cant believe that the summer is almost over! it goes so very very quickly!

love you all lots an lots!
your lella