We're back from a fun week at my mom and dad's.
Briana had
gone to Triple Threat Performer Camp in their town for 2 weeks. This
was her 3rd year to go, and she had a blast again. She takes musical
theater for about an hour and a half in the mornings, then the rest of
the day (until 4:30) is different dance styles and exercise. We went
over last Wed., so we could see her performances on Friday. They were a
lot of fun. In her muscial theater class, they did a group number, and
each one sang a solo from a musical. One afternoon they got to go for
free to the Playhouse's performance of Singing in the Rain. They have
great performers there, and people travel for hours to see their
plays.
The rest of the
week we relaxed and played. We took the girls to the pool 3 times,
except one of those I stayed and just dad went with them. The little
ones went fishing a lot, and went to the playground one day. We went to
the fireworks show at the big lake on Saturday, then watched the small
show on their lake on the 3rd. We went out in the paddle boat a few
times. On the 4th it rained all day. My dad managed to cook out under
thier tiny little covered porch.
One night we had a
campfire by the lake and made s'mores. We "invented" (I'm sure someone
else has done it before) a story game. We went around the campfire, and
each person said just one word to make a sentence. We went round and
round until we had a hilarious, slightly deranged story. Slightly might
be too kind! It involved skinning a chicken on a tree and a frog with
toothpicks in his toes. We had all of us from 9 yo Marissa, our 2
teens, James and me, to my mom and dad. We all laughed so much. The
story (thankfully?) got cut short because the rain started back up and
ran us inside. Probably just as well anyway, because it was 11:00, and
the little ones were still up.
Try as I might, I
cannot keep us on our schedule when we are gone. Even though they are
only 2 hours away, my parents live in a different time zone. I try to
stay on eastern, but it only works for a day or so. Then they are going
to bed on central time, and still getting up on eastern time. Then add
in the late nights like the fireside night, and we really get mixed
up.
Well, I got one child back, and am about to send another one off.
Ashley leaves
this Sunday afternoon to be a camp counselor at the Baptist Youth Camp
about 45 min. from here. She is going to attempt to do it 2 weeks this
year. She will be home Friday afternoon through Sunday afternoon in
between, though. Talking about long weeks. She is up at 6:30, going
all day, and lights out are at 11:00ish. She gets one hour free time to
take a shower and rest, and one hour in the afternoon that she has
devotion time with another counselor and a few minutes of rest. About
20 min. of it is walking back and forth just to get there and
back. Last year she had 3 big time trouble makers, so we are praying
for some mercy this year. : ) She has been working for several days
preparing devotionals for her cabin. She won't find out the exact age
group she has, or which 2 classes she will teach until she gets there
Sun. night.
Well JOY! Marissa
just came in saying there is a lizard in the school room. I suppose I
should be excited for this wonderful teaching opportunity I could turn
this into. However, I am mostly thankful that James is on the way home
so he can catch the thing and get it out of here. eeeeeewwwww!!! And,
why don't cats ever catch the things you want them to? Whenever I set a
cat down in front of some varmit I want it to dispose of, the cat just
stares at me like I've lost my mind. .......He may have a point!
I'm off to visit a few friends, then continue my unpacking--avoiding Mr. Lizard at all costs!
It was really bad. I must have been stressed and not known it. Anyway, it was fun. This 
Really, you must--even if you aren't tired, ask her!!