Whitewater State Park

Sorry for the lack of posting! I've been gone on my family's annual camping trip to Whitewater State Park: a beautiful, mosquitoe-less camping range up in northern Minnesota. It was a blast.
First of all, my old friend Jackson who moved to Pennsylvania a couple years ago and his family went camping with us also, as well as some other awesome friends. We spent the time exploring the various rivers and creeks, swimming at Whitewater's FREEZING cold beach, biking, and just lounging around camp having fun. :D There, I was also introduced to the game, Bannagrams, and it's awesome. I'm totally addicted. It's alot like scrabble and me and my bro, Alex, had some pretty intense matches piecing words together in an effort to win our best-out-of-five wins competition. It stunk cause he won in the final game... but oh well. :D
One of the highlights of the trip was climbing this massive, abandon fire tower atop this giant hill. I thought it would be a piece of cake at first, but once I had only climbed the first flight of stairs leading to the top of the tower, my stomach told me otherwise. But anyways, I made it to the top, and the view was incredible. It was so much fun.
So yeah, the camping trip was amazing! :D

Also, thank you Elrania for following my blog! :D :D :D

Namarie!

Jake

Tag from Abby

What time is it? 6:46 PM

What was the last, outdoor activity you did? A game of basketball with my cousin, Joe

Do you have an e-mail adress? Yes

How many followers do you have? 16 :D

How long have you been on the computer today? Ummm... Maybe thirty minutes?

Who was the last person you talked on the phone with? This librarian who informed me the book I'd ordered had finished being transfered to my local library. :D

Are you happy right now? Yeah. But I'm also really tired cause I've been outside pretty much all day.

Do you want to get a horse someday? Yes! That would rock! I've been taking a horsecamp at this ranch up in Northern Minnesota for the past four years and it's been really awesome. It would be really cool if I could have my own horse. :D

How many pets do you have? Well... My family used to have an awesome dog named Casey, but he died about a year ago because of cancer... So all we have now is a little baita fish. :(

Do you have a playlist? Yes, it's at the bottom of this page.

Are you having a fun summer? Yeah, it's been busy but fun, so yeah, I'm enjoying it.

What books are you reading now? Eternity's Edge, book 2 in Bryan Davis' Echoes from the Edge trilogy, and book four of the Fablehaven series.

What is the most advanced book you've read? I don't really know...

Do you like your blog? Yeah

How many tags have you gotten? Ummm... 3 I think

What is the most recent award you've gotten? The C for Contagious Blog Award and the Smiley Award :D

Who gave you your first tag? Wow, I can't even remember...

Who gave you this tag? Abby from Contemplations

Do you have a three column template? Yeah, I think so

What are you doing tomorrow? Well, my aunt and uncle with their three kids have been missionaries in Uganda, Africa for about three years now, and they just returned to Minnesota for a six month stay back in the states. So they're coming over to my house tomorrow to hang out. :D

How long have you been on blogger? Umm... I think since December or January. Can't remember which one.

How many times have you changed your profile pic? About four times

What is the most comments you've gotten on a post (not including yourself) ? I think 8 comments

Are you having fun on this tag? Yep

What is the one thing you want right now? Followers! Oh, and a laptop! :D :D :D

Is your profile name your real name? Yes

What is your favorite animals? Horses

What is your favorite movie (chose only one) ? Ugh, this is tough... I have to say the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I mean seriously, what can beat it?

Have you seen Star Treck? Nope

What are you favorite fictional characters?
Aragorn from LoTR
Aidan Thomas from Door Within
Percy Jackson from the Olympians
Will Treaty from Ranger's Apprentice
Eragon from Eragon

Are you hungry? No

Should you get off the computer right now? Yeah, probably. :D

I tag anyone who wants to do it!

Namarie,

Jake

Beyond The Reflections Edge

I just finished a novel by the author, Bryan Davis, called Beyond The Reflection's Edge; the first installment in his relatively new series, Echoes from the Edge... and I really enjoyed it.

Publisher's Review: This fast-paced adventure fantasy trilogy starts with a murder and leads teenagers Nathan and Kelly out of their once-familiar world as they struggle to find answers to the tragedy. A mysterious mirror with phantom images, a camera that takes pictures of things that can't see, and a violin that unlocks unrecognizable voices... each enigma takes the teens farther into an alternate universe where nothings is as it seems...

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At first I thought it sounded a little strange, but once I got into it I was immediately intrigued by it. Bryan was so adept at building his plot, developing his characters, and displaying the action that I was completely captivated. So yeah, if you're looking for something to read, I strongly recommend Beyond the Reflection's Edge. It's a really great book.

Jake

Utterly Awesome

I arrived back from FLY early Sunday morning on a coach bus filled with youth from my church and various others and I have to say: the convention was probably the greatest, or at least one of the greatest experiances in my life. I won't go into depth explaining each and every day but seriously, it was absolutely incredible. We had two main sermons each day; the morning service, and the evening service and the speakers were spectacular, and I mean move-you-so-much-that-you-go-back-to-your-dorm-sobbing spectacular. They talked and preached with such conviction that pretty much everyone in my youth group had tears streaming down their faces by the end of the first night! One speaker I'd like to point out was named Eric Ludy, and he, was definitely my favorite. This man was SOLD-OUT for Christ. He even remarked during his sermon, "People hate me because of my beliefs, and I love it!" I remember going back to my dorm room that night, sitting down on the floor with my back against my bed, and sobbing. During Eric's message, I realized I hadn't been living all for Christ. Sometimes us Christians just try to slip by, holding on to all these temporary things and making our daily decisions ourselves without God leading us. And I saw that I was one of these Christians, holding onto MY dreams, MY plans, MY ambitions, MY stuff and not letting Jesus come in and take over. I'd been basically putting my goals and things ahead of God, and that night in my dorm I finally said I'd had enough. Enough of plotting out my own course in life, enough of clinging to earthly things. I prayed, "Lord, I can't do this on my own. Please come in and take complete control over my life." And surprisingly, I didn't feel all morose or gloomy about giving these things up. All of those things just suddenly felt so meaningless...
The rest of the week was awesome as well. From 1:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. all the youth received free-time to spend as they chose. So during this period I had the oppertunity of climbing a massive mountain called Emerald Peak (or something like that), playing tons of basketball, competeing against my friends on this minigolf course FLY has and in ping-pong, and pretty much just hanging out. Oh, and me and Ryan signed up for this archery session the convention provided using recurve bows which was lots of fun. :D
So after going to FLY, I can tell you one thing. If you ever have the chance to go, GO!!! It was utterly incredible and you will NOT be disappointed. I can promise you that.

Well, that's my overview of FLY.
Namarie,
Jake

FLY

Tomorrow, I'm leaving for Estes Park, Colorado for the FLY convention (a week-long, collosal christian convention for youth). I get to ride a coach bus with a bunch of my friends for twenty-two hours until we reach Colorado on Monday. :D At the convention, there's going to be TONS of different bible studies and sessions which I can attend and there will also be alot of free-time for the youth in which we can do many, awesome activities. Plus, the location for FLY (Estes Park) is nestled high up in the Rockies and is surrounded by breathtaking, snowcapped mountains, towering trees, and various other incredible views so yeah, I'm really excited! :D
Since I depart for the convention at 2:20 p.m. tomorrow, this is probably going to be my final post until I return from the trip... So I guess this is goodbye... *sobs* jk, lol. But yeah, I hope you all have a fantastic Fourth of July and I'll cya y'all later!

Jake

Tag

Lord of the Rings vs. Narnia

Gimli vs. Trumpkin?
Gimli

Gandalf vs. Professor Cornelius?
Gandalf

The White Witch vs. Saruman?
Hmmm, that's a tough one... Probably the White Witch

Gandalf vs. Aslan?
Aslan definitely

Aragorn vs. Aslan?
Aragorn

Narnia vs. Middle Earth?
I have to say Middle Earth

Prince Caspian vs. Frodo?
Frodo

Susan vs. Arwen?
Arwen

Edmund vs. Merry?
Edmund cause he's more heroic and valorous

Lucy vs. Pippin?
Pippin

Peter vs. Haldir?
Peter!!!

The Dancing Lawn vs. Lothlorien?
Hmm... Lothlorien

Centaurs vs. elves?
Elves!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D :D

Peter's sword vs. Anduril?
*thinks really hard* probably Peter's blade, Rhindon...

Susan's magic bow and arrows vs. Legolas's bow of Galadrim?
Legolas's Bow

Wargs vs. Werewolves?
Werewolves

The Witch's castle vs. The Tower of Barad-dur?
The Witch's caste

Gryphons vs. Eagles?
... tie

Uruk-hai vs. Telemarines?
Uruk-hai

Catapults vs. Oliphaunts?
Oliphaunts!!! They're awesome!!!

Cair Paravel vs. Rivendell?
Oh, this is the toughtest Q yet... Ugh... Cair Paravel

Alright, I tag anyone who wants to do this tag, although I think pretty much everyones already done it. :)

Jake

Polls

Results for my three polls are in.

First of all, the book poll: The Door Within Trilogy vs. The Dragonkeeper Chronicles... The Door Within recieved 8 votes. The Dragonkeeper Chronicles received 3 votes. And there were also 3 votes for Tie. The Door Within Trilogy is victorious!!!

Now for the Lord of the Rings character poll: Aragorn: 5 votes, Legolas: 6 votes, Gimli: 2 votes, Frodo: 0 votes, Haldir: o votes, Gandalf: 0 votes, Eomer: 0 votes, Arwen: 1 vote, Boromir: 0 votes, Eowyn: 2 votes, Faramir: 0 votes.
First place with 6 votes: Legolas
Second place with 5 votes: Aragorn
Both tied for third with 2 votes: Gimli and Eowyn
What!? Legolas beat Aragorn???!!! *groan* NOOOOOOOO!!! :-( Grrrr, why does everyone think Legolas is better? Aragorn is just so AWESOME!!! Well, at least Aragorn only lost by one vote...

And finally, the name poll. The top two titles are Saerlin and Beltor. Hmmmm, interesting... very interesting. I'll use those names in my story. :D

Thanks for voting!
Namarie,

Jake