Oh Those Summer Nights!

Since last week I promised to do a positive post, here it is! The last couple of weeks have been brutal. Even though I’m happy to see my friends again and my classes are great, I miss summer. This was one of the greatest summers I’ve ever had, and I have decided to share it with all of you. I never thought that three months could be so relaxing, yet exciting.

In the beginning of June, I did a couple of different things. On the last day of school, I had a couple of friends over. We hung out and watched movies. Most of the activities that I did were with my dance group, including seeing Jurassic World, swimming at the Waldorf, and binge-watching Whodunnit? during a major thunderstorm. However, one of the biggest things that we did this summer, as a team, was learn a ballet piece for my friend, Val’s, quinceañera. It was a masquerade themed dance that was more humorous than technical.

My family in Hawaii. From the left is Andrew (my brother),
my mom, my dad, and me

During the last two weeks of June, My family went to Hanalei, Kauai. My family has a tradition when a family member has a bar or bat mitzvah, we go on a trip, instead of having a big party. In the summer of 2012, for my older brother’s bar mitzvah, we stayed on the big island of Hawaii for several days, then went to Hanalei for several more. A year and a half later, we went to Cancun, for a week, to celebrate my bat mitzvah. Yet another year and a half later, we were back in Hanalei for my mom’s adult bat mitzvah and her conversion to Judaism. In Hawaii, we stayed in a small house by the beach. We hike four miles of the Nāpali coast, a ridge of the Waimea Canyon, kayaked to Secret Falls, snorkeled at five beaches. Halfway through our trip, my grandmother flew out from Colorado and stayed with us. We all when to the St. Regis, in Princeville, for dinner. We spent most of our nights walking to a local ice cream shop, then to the beach to watch the sunset. My favorite activity that we did was snorkeling. My brother and I figured out how to free dive so we could get closer to the fish. We didn’t see any turtles, but at Ke’e beach, we saw a seal sunning itself, while more seals played in the waves. My mom and I also saw a sea snake, at Anini Beach, which turned out to be highly venomous. We took a redeye flight back on July 3rd, while my Grandma stayed in Poipu for another week.

View from Angel Ridge

From left: Megan, Paige, me,
 Sarah, Anna, and Lindsay

When I got back from Hawaii, I had less than a week to pack for my next trip. This time, I was going to sleep-away camp in Colorado. Shwayder is a two week Jewish camp, on Mt. Evans. This summer was my fifth year at Shwayder. Some activities that we do there are horseback riding, a ropes course, and lots of hiking. Each age group goes on an overnight hiking trip. The age groups are arranged by the grade you’ll be starting in the fall and the first four letters of the Hebrew alphabet, making me a daled. As a daled, my overnight was the hardest, but most rewarding. Even though the hike to Angel Ridge was about four and a half miles in, it seemed so much long due to it being completely uphill, carrying a twenty to forty pound backpack, and the major lack of oxygen. I forgot to mention that Shwayder is 10,200 feet above sea level. We made it to Angel Ridge about thirty minutes before sundown. We ate dinner (quesadillas never tasted so delicious), made s’mores, and our counselors told stories. I shared a tent with my friends Paige, Lindsay, and Megan. We stayed up and talked because it was way too cold and windy to sleep. We woke up before sunrise and hiked down the mountain, without breakfast (the worst feeling ever). When we got back to camp, we ate breakfast, then slept in till lunch. Another amazing hiking trip that I was able to do was an optional hike up Mt. Bierstadt. This was my first fourteener that I’ve hiked. But the best night of both weeks were, by far, Fridays. On Fridays, we celebrated Shabbat. After lunch, we spent the afternoon showering and dressing up. Before dinner, we had a service. The first year daleds (myself included) lead the service the first week, while the last year daleds lead them second week. After services, we ate best dinner of the week, then sang and danced for about an hour and a half. Finally, we go to sleep and have

India (right) and I

open camp the next day. Being a daled, we have a special day where we spend half the day working on our project and the second half in Denver. This year we went to the Denver zoo for a day. After that, we went to a park behind the Denver Natural History Museum to eat pizza. I could talk about Shwayder for hours, but all good things must come to an end. My dad picked me up after two weeks, and we drove home.

My summer ended with a bang, Val’s quinceañera. My dance group was the court of honor. We had been fitted for matching dresses several weeks before the big day. When it finally came, the day started with rehearsals for our two dances in the morning. After that, we went to Val’s house to do our hair and makeup. Then we went (in an limo) to the church service, I felt like a major fish out of water, even though my synagogue is right across the street. Next we took pictures, then went to Walmart, and drove around Main Street. After that, We went to the party at the hotel. The DJ was great, but then left around eight-ish, replacing him was a mariachi band. They were excruciatingly loud at first, but my ears quickly got used to it. The party ended at one in the morning I went home a slept late into the afternoon.

That’s my insane summer! I’m glad I was able to share it with y’all. My challenge of the week is to have as much fun as you can because next week is UEA break! That means that I’m not going to be posting anything. So anyways, the quote to day is, “Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud,” -Maya Angelou. See you later!

~Rachael