Paragliding!!!!

Wow! I can’t believe it! I am going paragliding today!! I will live my dream today. I will be learning to fly, because I am a Wren and that’s what Wrens do! They fly and swoop and twirl in the air. 

We met our guides at the gondola station at 10:00. Just as planned. Then, we got on the gondola and rode it to the top of the mountain. My mom seemed to be more nervous than either Riley or I and she wasn’t even jumping off a cliff with a guy that you only met twenty minutes ago and expecting a very large sail or kite thing to catch you or save you from falling to your death. Yeah, sounds fun! Right?!

Anyway, I had no intention of getting scared of this, but when the guide gave me instructions to start running full speed toward the edge of the cliff, that’s when I actually thought that I was going to die/pee myself. And that would of been very awkward. Good news, I didn’t do any of those. Bad news, I could of sworn that I was going to throw up.

OH MY GOD! I..... it........ Wow! I was speechless. One minute I thought that I couldn’t stop talking but now, for some reason the only things that I could say were “ HOLY CRAP” and “ I’M GONNA DIE!!!” But after a few minutes went by I finally got the feeling of it! 

The ride through the air was smooth and wicked windy. The feeling of the cool air blow drying my face and my crazy, red hair in my face being free. With the thought of “ If this rope breaks, I’m dead” racing through my head. Being able to look down and seeing all the people pointing at you, looking like tiny little sugar ants trying to get a picture of you flying above them. Then, when you look straight ahead you see the most beautiful sight ever! The snow capped mountains, the sharpness of the cliffs, as if you touched the blades of them they would slice your skin as if your finger was a cooked carrot stick. 

The guide took many pictures and videos with his GoPro camera. He asked if I wanted to do some swoops and swirls and of course I said yes! Woahhhhhhh! It was amazing! I had somany butterflies in my stomach but, being me I didn’t want to notice the insects fluttering around in my tummy because I was too busy enjoying the last five minutes of my flying time. When he stopped, I knew it was time to land. All you have to do is just put out your deer and start running a little just to let the sail know that we are on the ground again. It really wasn’t that hard. It was a whole lot more helpful to have a natural strapped to your back. Oh! And he also let my fly it and control which way to go! Awesome right? 

When we said our goodbyes, we left the mountain and rode to our next campsite. Talk about that part later on. Love you guys! Hope the Fourth of the July was a blast. Heard a little about home. Can’t wait to see you guys! 8 days left! 😢 😆 ♥️ 

-Wrennie

Pictures!!!

Hey guys! Working on another post. But right now I am just posting some pictures! Yay! Right?!

BEST HIKE EVER!!! part 2

The next morning, we got up, got breakfast, and packed up camp to go for a hike in the Swiss Alps. The mountains were much more visible from the campground in the morning. When we got to the trailhead, we decided to take a gondola up and then hike down, so thats exactly what we did. Wow! It was like flying like a bird. We soared through the air. With the sun beating down on us through the plexiglass windows all around us. 

When we got to the top there were paragliders taking off into flight. It was very fun to watch. There were many of them. They were like a flock of birds. I’ve always wondered what it was like to fly like a bird. I just wish I could try it. I wanted to stay there, watching them all day, but we had to begin our hike that we were all super excited about!

We hiked for about an hour or so and then stopped for a break. I wondered why I had so much energy and then I realized that I had drank a cup of coffee this morning and that explained the mystery energy blast that I was experiencing. Thank goodness it had lasted the entire day! Otherwise I would have been a large pile of tired bones The whole way through the hike. 

We took another turn and at the trail sign, we decided that we wanted to go up some more. So we hike up hill more, stopped for a break and then hiked some more. When we reached a spot, we took another break and then decided to start heading down on another trail. The trail led us to a very large lake in a valley. Seealpsee was the name of the lake. The color was beautiful. It was a dark, clear teal. 

The hike down went very fast! I always hike a lot faster than anyone else so I reached the bottom before anyone else. I got a longer period of time to absorb my surroundings. There were large, fly-infested, stinky cows everywhere along with the stuff that comes out of their rear end. There were tons of paragliders flying around when you looked up into the beautiful cloud-free sky. But I couldn’t look up for long because my eyes were being blinded by the bright sunbeams that were sun burning the lenses in my eyeballs and my neck was cramping. Just then, a life flight helicopter flew over me making it super duper windy. 

When mom, dad, and Riley had caught up with me, we headed to the lake. There, they crashed into their sweet dreams while I, with my amazing energy, went for a swim in the lake and then, went for a sprinting run and came back before any of them had awaken. 

When they did awake, we headed back to the car. But on the way there, we got to see the paragliders land and dad asked the guy there, if Riley and I could meet him at the gondola and go paragliding with him. He agreed to the plan. And I swear that I don’t think that I have ever been so anxious and excited at the same time in my entire life.

Tomorrow is the day that I will have my first experience paragliding!!!!!

Hope all is well in Maine! Getting our first thunderstorm now in Italy! Love you all and miss you too!

Love, 

     Wrennie❤️

BEST HIKE EVER!!!

Hi everyone! Wow! Forgot that it was July 2nd today! That’s crazy! Right now, I am in the car and we are driving in Italy! I am a little far behind with the whole camping days and everything so I’ll try my best to do my best at catching you guys up on that.

So, let’s see. Oh yes. The second day. Right. We drove from our last campsite that was amazing. Then we drove into the alps. It was incredible! While we were driving, I felt so small compared to the huge mountains that were towering over us. We drove up this one road that had so many tunnels going through mountains and so many switch backs. I felt a little nauseous by the time we reached our campsite. Wow! It overlooked the hills that stretched across the land like an uneven and crinkled blanket. 

That night we made some completely fat free ( at least it tasted that way) burgers. “Beef burgers” that’s what it was labeled in the small grocery store that we went to before coming to the amazing campsite. It was beautiful! As I looked to my left, I could just barely make out the silhouette of the Swiss Alps behind us. 

Our neighbors were very friendly and nice. They were German, but I will say that they spoke very good English. They had two dogs. Chico and Finny. They were adorable. Finny would bring you his small, blue and orange frisbee, he would drop it and when you went to pick it up, he quickly snatched it away from you as if he had changed his mind about not wanting you to touch his favorite toy. But then, he would do the same thing again, and I learned that if you wanted to get his frisbee all you had to do was just point with your finger in another direction and when he takes his eyes off of the toy, that is when you have to make your move and steal it away from him. The other dog just really liked being pet. And if you stopped he would get mad at you nudge you right in the face with his slobbery tongue and snotty nose. It was sort of yucky. He sort of reminds me of my puppa boy, Blue. Gosh I miss him. ♥️ 

To be continued.......

We’re FREE!!!

Hey guys! We are free! We are out of the group and into the family part of this trip!!!

The first day, after we parted from our well-made friends from the chorus and we headed to a campground with a lake!! We were surrounded by mountains and the color of the water in the lake was incredible! As you can see below:

 Dad and I went for an amazing paddle board there. While mom and Riley were on an incredible run! Every time I looked down into the water, I kept expecting to see a coral reef with tropical fish and nurse sharks swimming around it! It was so beautiful. It was like the Bahamas with mountains! 

After our nice cool swim, we made some French pasta and sauce and then headed to bed. We slept really well that night. Well, at least I did! In the morning, we had a quick breakfast and headed on the road. To our next amazing campsite!

Love you guys and hope all is well!!!!

-Wrennie ♥️ 

Last Day in the Group!!!

Hey everyone! How is Maine? Let’s just say that I don’t think that I have seen a more beautiful place in my entire life. And yes, that does include the Bahamas. 

Through the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth days. We explored some amazing towns with crazy cathedrals, we sang in churches and schools, we went on a pretty amazing hike, and then there was the last day. 

I woke up at 7:27 in the morning. Breakfast was at 8:00. I got up and got all dressed. I grabbed my iPad and my earbuds and walked out my door and sat on the nice, green grass and listened to music. There, I sat criss-crossed on the lawn, listening to the music I love. While I was sitting there, I thought of all the people at home that I love and miss, I thought about how much I miss my violin, how today will go, and about when I will be called downstairs to breakfast. 

Speaking of which, just then I got a shiver and decided to go in. When I walked through the door, everyone in my room were becoming restless. They were coming out of their sweet dreams and into the sunlight that was beaming through their windows.

After breakfast, we were told that we needed our concert dress, the bus was leaving for a church down the road a little ways at 10:15. We were singing the French National anthem and another French song. Then tonight, we had the last big concert of the France trip. 

(Written after the whole day)

Something unexpected always seems to happen in these 10 days, and it happened on this day. When the girls were on the bus changing into their concert dress, one of the back wheels of the bus popped. BOOM! It literally sounded like a bomb exploding! I almost peed myself!

The first ceremony went very well. Gosh I love singing like this. It is so much fun! Then there was the big concert at night! Let’s just say “Wow!” First things first. We were amazing. Like usual. We sang beautifully!  Then, at the end there was an amazing group of adults and they sang with us. I am pretty sure that when we opened our mouths to sing, we shook the entire church that we were in. 

So yeah, you could say that we were amazing! Next blog post will talk about our family part of this trip!! Hope everything great in Maine!

Love you guys!

-Wrennie ♥️