NYC Bus Trip July 25	Last updated July 18, 2006 11:39 p.m.
Quote of the Day: "Oh no!"  (a comment we heard Erin say several times throughout the day as groups of people sang "Happy Birthday" to her)	Erin arrives at her birthday party blindfolded, not really sure where she was being led to, or what would happen when she arrived. She is crowned the birthday queen with a Birthday hat that Pastor Keith purchased at the Corn Palace. She is immediately attacked by all the guys in the group with silly string. Now she picks the gooey, sticky silly string out of her hair. One of her presents - Erin holds her own two cans of silly string.  How will she use them?  We don't know, but you can bet that we will be watching our backs. We will post more pictures of Erin's party tomorrow. The other highlight of our day was hiking in the Rocky Mountain National Park. Here is Alex, Erin, Justin, and Sarah waiting for instructions on our hike. Beth takes a break by a running stream. We saw stunning waterfalls. And the view was fabulous as you can see in the picture above and below. We saw wildlife . . . . . . and some pretty flowers.	Journal Entry: Today was a special day for our group.  Erin McCracken celebrated her 17th birthday and we had the privilege of helping her celebrate.  We have been building this day up for weeks with Erin; promising her that we would help to make her day special.  Well, let's just say that we made it one that she may never forget. We began the day in the dining hall. Pastor Keith stood on a chair before breakfast, got everyone's attention around our table and persuaded them to sing "Happy Birthday" to Erin.  Of course, her face got really red.  Later, as we gathered for morning worship, Beth repeated this event, encouraging everyone around where we were sitting in the arenato sing "Happy Birthday" to her also. Again, red-faced and embarrassed, Erin began toget a glimpse of the kind of day she was going to have. Pastor Keith and the advisors were not the only ones responsible for embarrassing Erin.  During her small group time, her small group sang for her, as did her very good friend, Andrea Gibble from Codorus Church, who led the singing at the supper table. Oh, and by the way, today was our hiking day, so when we loaded up on the bus to go to Rocky Mountain National Park, the whole bus sang "Happy Birthday" to her, also. All in all, it was a good day, but we were not quite finished with  our birthday celebration, yet. Immediately following our evening worship  time, we blindfolded Erin and led her to the courtyard of Corbett Hall, where decorations, silly string, and a birthday cake (along with trick  candles that don't go out when you blow them) were waiting for her.  We crowned her the Birthday Queen with her own special birthday hat.  We had lots of fun and Erin was wished a happy birthday by literally hundreds of people.  Oh, and we gave her a present, also . . . two cans of her own silly string so she can extract revenge against her "friends" in the youth group. Happy Birthday, Erin! We love you and hope you had a special birthday. We were glad to be a part of it.