Skip-Bo

Hello, I just went to Oelwein, Iowa to see Ally and the other Christine! It was a really great time! We hugged, we played games, we laughed.

Some things that happened:

We were in the basement talking and I had to go to the bathroom. Ally told me to go upstairs because the basement bathroom is her brothers and she thought it was too gross and would maybe not flush. I said "don't worry about it" and went in...a minute later I come out of the bathroom saying "Ally, help, the toilet won't flush!"

We played Yahtzee and Ally got THREE yahtzees! She wasn't even trying, she also wasn't trying when she rolled the Large Straight on her first roll. "hey - one, two, three, four, five!" - Ally. I lost, and Ally won of course, with Christine in 2nd place. However, I was using Bill's old scoring card, and I beat Bill. "I beat Bill..." - me "We all beat Bill..." - Christine

Then they taught me to play Skip-Bo, my new favorite game. I also really like how a b sounds after a p. So it's also my new favorite word. Skip-Bo.

We went to the amish store where there was SO much stuff! My favorite item was this juice I found! There's this juice that we had at Ben's friend Nate's house in Milwaukee 4 or 5 years ago. I loved it so much but I couldn't ever find it here in Minnesota. But there it was! At the Amish store! I only bought two bottles, I maybe should've bought all they had.

Ally told Christine and I all about the Amish culture, and later that night after Christine had gone home, Ally's mom and step-dad told me a whole lot MORE about amish culture. I now know what language they speak at home, and that men stop shaving their beards when they get married, and that when women come of age they sometimes are shipped off to pennsylvania to avoid inbreeding issues, they don't have electricity or cars of course, their houses are spotless, they go to school until 8th grade and then no more, I even saw their schoolhouse! At first I thought it would be kind of cool to be Amish, but then I saw that all their clothes were hung out to dry and decided that I really don't want to be Amish. This is because it was icky outside. Those clothes would be all cold and damp when you take them off the line. No thank you.

We bought some hot chocolate powder there that was REALLY good. It was easily the best I'd ever had, except I think that was because I had it with milk and I usually have it with water. And 2% milk at that!

Ally and I exchanged backrubs all three days I was there. 5 minutes on 5 minutes off. It felt so nice! We also ran a little bit yesterday and stretched and she taught me the Matrix. Pretty much the coolest weight lifting thing ever. I need Ally to tell me all that was involved in it so I can do it at home.

This morning Ally and I made caramel rolls, but they didn't pan out too well. So we ate cereal and watched the price of right and full house and then we hugged and said goodbye 8 thousand times.

I love Oelwein! Skip-Bo!