Nearly my whole summer in one blog?!

As I sit here I think of how I can possibly nearly my whole summer into a blog but I will try.

1. Mountain Climb.

At the top of the 14er

Brian, Me, Zyler, and Erin

~For the second summer in a row I climbed a 14er. It was an great time climbing with 3 of my closest diabetic friends and their families they are just simple
awesome and I love them!

2. Diabetes Camp.

~ Another awesome year at camp. I got to go on an overnight backpacking trip with 3 other teen diabetic boys, 3 med staff, and 2 eagle lake counselors. The hike lead us down into a canyon that was absolutely gorgeous! We found many streams and waterfalls which by the way are my favorite things in the world. Then to top it all of we slept out under the stars and yes that means no tents, just our sleeping bags and the great outdoors! I also conquered my fear of scrambling which can be defined as climbing over a lot of lose rocks. The whole teen camp went white water rafting again this year and I enjoyed it a whole lot more this time. Even though the water was high I felt a lot safer and didn't find it that bad at all. This was my 7th year in a row going to diabetes camp and I can't believe that I only have one year left. Its going to be sad but then I will get to be on med staff so yay for that! Going to camp for me is like being with my second family we are all in the same boat and for a short time we are the majority instead of the minority.

3. Diabetic Hangout

Zylers hand :)

Best Friends :)

~The week after camp was set aside to spend time with Zyler, Erin, and Brian along with their families. I think I was just as excited for this as I was for camp. It started off with a fishing trip with Brian, his friend Mark, Zyler, Brian's two dogs, and me.  We left Brian's at the weeeee hours of the morning and headed to a lake up in the mountains a couple of hours away. When we got to the lake it was covered in fog which I personally though was beautiful. It was a fun relaxing day out on the water.
Erin is a big fan of Harry Potter I mean big. She was looking forward to going to the midnight showing of the newest Harry movie. Her mom and I were going to go to a different showing while she saw it at midnight. In preparation for this I had to catch upon my harry potter by watching multiple movies and asking Erin a lot of questions but by the end I knew what was going on. I loved Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
My last night in Denver was spent at Zyler's house celebrating his mom Melissa's birthday. All in all it was an outstanding week.
 
 4. Medical Camp
~I was privileged enough to be able to attend medical camp at one of our local hospitals college. We had so much hands on learning. We learned how to intubate, put a catheter in, start an IV, see the ICU, give ultrasounds, write college applications, conduct interviews, and give someone anesthesia. At the end of the week Coach John Cook came and spoke to us. The funny thing about the group was that out of 40 kids we had 4 diabetics. CRAZY!

 5. MY FAVORITE! HOBY!

My small group- B5
We represent Hong Kong, Taiwan, South
Korea, Canada, and the US

HOBY on the Bean

~No matter what I write here you will not understand how amazing of an experience I had. I have 402 best friends from 10 countries around the world now after attending the Hugh O'Brien World Leadership Congress in Chicago for 8 days. These kids taught me so much about what life has to offer. They showed more hope, excitement, and determination than I have ever seen before. The kids from South Korea see peace and unity between North Korea and them in the next couple of years and they are fighting for it. Ambassadors from Mexico are working to see their country grow and becoming safer.  These are not  your normal kids. They have been selected from millions of teens in their countries including our own to represent where they are from. It was (and still is as we all talk to each other every day) a special group of people.

We stayed at Loyola University right next to downtown Chicago. Everyday we had panels of speakers that would talk about topics ranging from volunteerism, religion, goal planning, team work, bullying and so so so much more. We had people who wrote books, started organizations, owned TV shows, and even work for the CSI . We met some famous people along the way including Tererai Trent and Jesse Jackson. The moment I heard we were hearing Tererai Trent speak I FREAKED OUT! I could not believe it. A couple months ago I saw Tererai on Oprah. I never ever ever watch her show but for some reason on this day I did. I was amazed by Tererai and her dreams, she made something that seemed impossible become a reality. I am now one of her 300 facebook friends. Yes she only has 300 when she could have 300,000. She is one of the most sincere and loving ladies in the world.
Here is a video of her story http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Tererai-Trents-Story-Video
and her is a video of what she is doing now and how oprah helped http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Oprahs-Surprise-For-Tererai-Video
Please watch these they are simply amazing!
The neat thing is that she has never spoken to anyone before except on Oprah so we were some pretty dang lucky kids.

Working on our Night the Light project

One of the days that we were there  we got to split up and volunteer around Chicago. Some kids set up an Alex Lemonade Stand  downtown, others volunteered at retirement homes, homeless shelters, and other various locations. My group stayed at Loyola and worked with an organization called Light The Night their work is simply amazing and it has grown close to my heart. PLEASE PLEASE check them out!
Here is a youtube video sharing some of their story http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN9x2nKwN2M&feature=related

At the banquet and dance

I can't even describe how World Leadership Congress changed my life. I learned so many lessons like every time I look at someone I tell myself to find something good about them to prevent me from judging and instead of asking a person "how are you?" I say "tell me something good?" then you get more than a one word response. The spirit I felt there is what impacted me the most. I feel closer to those 402 kids than I do most of my classmates. The kids at HOBY were OUTSTANDING (hoby word :) and yes it even has a cheer) they are making organizations such as this one my friend from Texas is working on http://www.facebook.com/DontLoseHopeOrganization or this one http://www.facebook.com/DontLoseHopeOrganization#!/pages/heARTS/235156706525937 they aren't just organizations that are being made and nothing done with them, they are actually reaching out into the community and making an impact.

Our pizza at the orchestra

Eating at Soilder Field

Some of the extra fun things we got to do were watch an orchestra downtown next to the Bean and eat Chicago's most famous pizza, have a banquet and dance at the end of Navy Pier, watch fireworks downtown, and eat lunch at Soilder Stadium. There is so much more to the trip but this blog will never end so I must stop myself.

At least once a week I skype my HOBY friends. One night I had Canada, Mexico, and the UAE all going at once.
No foreigners, Just neighbors....these are the words Jessie Jackson spoke to us.

This brings me to now. I am on my 3rd week of school and cross country. My memories haven't faded a bit but I wish I was still back at all of these places. I thank everyone who made my trips so special.

Hopefully my blogs won't be this long anymore.