"May these memories break our fall" (a.k.a. Jack is gone and I'm depressed.)

JACK'S VISIT WAS AWWWESOME!

Seriously, that's the most fun I've had in a long time. I can honestly assure everyone who follows her, (and if you don't, why not? Get over there and follow her now.) that she is just as lovely and hilarious in real life as she is on her blog, and I am so happy we got to meet her for real.

We kept bursting out with the "We gonna partay like it's EIGHTeen Eighty-eeeiiight!" from Psych the Musical

I had this song stuck in my head for a lot of the visit and I think it's highly applicable to how I felt while she was here. 

 I said, "Remember this moment."

in the back of my mind.  

That night we stood with our shaking hands

the crowds in stands went wild.
We were the Kings and the Queens
And they read off our names.
The night you danced like you knew our lives
Would never be the same
You held your head like a hero
On a history book page
It was the end of a decade
But the start of an age.

I will admit that I was a bit nervous. We're all shy. She's also shy. I had visions of us meeting each other and nodding and smiling and being highly uncomfortable.

That didn't happen.

Although, my dad may have called us at the airport, to warn us that if SHE turned out to be a HE, to leave, because she/he was probably a murderer.

True Story.

Jack!

She kind of just slipped right in to the family.

So we did fun things.... like went to cool shops with beauteous paper weights, and also the most epic kaleidoscopes I've ever seen.

And then we came home and watched Leverage. See, the goal was to get Jack through all five seasons in two weeks and one day. Challenge accepted.

On the first Sunday, we went to the meadow and read and talked and it was really peaceful.

Long live! The walls we crashed through
All the kingdom lights shined just for me and you
I was screaming long live all the magic we made
And bring on all the pretenders
One day, we will be remembered

She wishes to remain anonymous, so we will have a bunch of pictures like the one below, because really, we need pictures of Jack, without showing her faaaaace. 

Jack introduced us to John! (I love John!) But unfortunately, I cannot help but refer to him as Jawn, and not John. 

Jaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwn

 

And then we went home and watched more Leverage. We had 77 episodes to get through, people!

The day after that, we went to a different meadow. One we could walk to. We brought books and cameras and talked.

 

And then!!!! You guessed it. More Leverage! (We were up to season two by now. I think we'd watched a Tim Hawkins' concert too, and the Three Amigos.)

Jack, this gif is just for you. LOL!

Next came a hike up to Cascade Lake. We were having really beautiful weather for the first part of her visit and the hike was really fun.

I said remember this feeling
I passed the pictures around
Of all the years that we stood there
On the side-lines wishing for right now
We are the Kings and the Queens

You traded your baseball cap for a crown
When they gave us our trophies
And we held them up for our town

 And the cynics were outraged
Screaming "this is absurd"
Cause for a moment a band of thieves
In ripped up jeans got to rule the world

And then home.... and..... Leverage. =)

I MADE THIS GIF!!

At this point, Sammie was comfortable enough around Jack to curl up next to her and go to sleep. I told you she became part of the family. (Sammie eventually started going, "This is my Jackie. She's my big sister." and it was adorable.)

Also, by now, we were all booping each other in fine Supernatural fashion.

I made this one too

In between trips to Starbucks and Jamba Juice and other drink places in town, we did a lot of this:

 And this:

 Also this:

See? Jack likes to read in the sun, just like us! Lalalalalalala! Normalcy is such a rare thing to find in other human beings.

Some days we'd just stay home and read, or talk, and it was relaxing. Other days we'd mix in sitting on the pier and looking at the lake.

Long live the walls we crashed through
All the kingdom lights shined just for me and you!
I was screaming: long live all the magic we made
And bring on all the pretenders
I'm not afraid

Courtesy of Jack

Also courtesy of Jack

 JACK

 NOT JACK

And then came the day that we went to thrift stores and got clothes and Jamba Juice. WHICH reminds me.... I FINALLY GAVE A FALSE NAME. TWICE! I was Jules. And then I was Jo.

Jules

Jo

Heeeehehe.

Anyway. Jamba Juice also included going and sitting in a park for a while, because it was really warm, and fruit smoothies + warmth = delight.

Long live all the mountains we moved
I had the time of my life fighting dragons with you
I was screaming long live that look on your face
And bring on all the pretenders
One day, we will be remembered 

This involved Bella taking an embarrassingly awful 

picture of me grooving, Dean style, to Heat of the Moment

So as payback, I might have taken a picture of her falling asleep in the car on the way home. 

Twice

Home again, home again. 

Terrible picture, but there you go. Sorry. *Grin*

MORE STARBUCKS

CAFFEINE

More of this: 

We spent a day at Barnes&Noble. I freaking love that store, you guys.

I OWN THIS. (thanks, Kit. lol)

 More Jamba Juice

Sammi came over and spent the night at one point....

PARTAAAAY! (Like it's 1888...)

More booping. Everyone was booping everyone by this time.

Chloe parked herself on that counter while we made dinner, and sang with much gusto to Sparks Fly and Long Live.

Hold on to spinning around
Confetti falls to the ground
May these memories break our fall

We even taught her how to play revenge! (a card game that needs speed, accuracy, and power... actually, just speed and a good eye for pairs.)

And about this point, I got clever and starting yelling at her to cover her face in pictures. Literally, "COVER YOUR FACE, JACK!"

She was very obliging.

Coffee!

Sammi joined us for the above and then we went and hung out at Mahri and Amy's cabin for a bit.

COVER YOUR FACE, JACK!

And right after that....

 

This is Jack's last day and it was kind of bittersweet, because we were having fun, and all, but there was that inevitable sadness in the back of my mind that made me go, "We could just.... sleep in too late and make her miss her flight..."

Will you take a moment, promise me this
That you'll stand by me forever
But if God forbid fate should step in
And force us into a goodbye
If you have children some day
When they point to the pictures
Please tell them my name
Tell them how the crowds went wild
Tell them how I hope they shine!

Cover your face, Jack!

Amy and Jack

Beware the Weeping Angels

So we made gnocchi for dinner. (Jack helped roll them off forks and it was fun.)

We also made strawberry pound cake and it was delish... we ate it while we watched the LAST EPISODE of Leverage! We did it, guys! We watched five seasons, and only skipped three episodes.

After that, just us older girls went to the lake to watch the sunset. It was cold and snowy, but epic, because... we make all things epic.

There were actually so many pictures from this that I had a hard time choosing which ones to post.

Long live the walls we crashed through
I had the time of my life, with you
Long, long live the walls we crashed through
All the kingdom lights shined just for me and you
I was screaming long live all the magic we made
And bring on all the pretenders
I'm not afraid

COVER YOUR FACE, JACK!

Me and Jack

Mahri and Jack

Singing, long live all the mountains we moved
I had the time of my life fighting dragons with you

The snow looked like shooting stars to mah camera

 JAAAACK!

 I even took a video, which everyone allowed me to upload. Honestly, I couldn't have asked for a nicer vacation. It was really perfect. 

Between watching Leverage, (and The Three Amigos, The Italian Job, TWO Tim Hawkins concerts, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, 42 [the baseball movie], Kate and Leopold, AND The Eagle..... What? So we watched a crud load of films! SO WHAT?)  and the quoting, and the tickling, and the sharing of hatred of a certain fictional character, Jack fit in so well, and we all got along... she's pretty much been adopted as another sister. (She and Sammi both.)

And long, long live that look on your face
And bring on all the pretenders
One day, we will be remembered 

I am so happy we got to meet her, and I am so depressed that the visit went by so fast. We have all been moping a bit. *Sob*

 

L-R from back row, Jack, Bella, Kat, Amy, Mahri, and me

So, Jack! We miss you already! When are you coming back?

Witch. (it's not an insult if you know why I call her that.)