Week in Review 6/24/10

The last day of girls' camp was ... short. I got up around 6 am to start packing up my stuff. We had torn down our makeshift kitchen area the night before, so the bulk of our work was going to be getting the girls up and ready ... fed and packed - yes, it was like moving mountains. All in all, it took about 5 hours start to finish. We had a few minutes to take some group pictures and then pulled out and headed home. I was lucky enough to only have one person ride with me, a sweet girl named Malati from Nepal. I really connected with her, perhaps because my mom had also emigrated from her homeland. It was interesting to learn that they both had misconceptions about what life in the U.S. would be like, based on Hollywood's portrayal in films. We talked about things like arranged marriages, education, job opportunities and divorce. I love this girl!

After getting all the troops to their own homes safe and sound, we quickly unpacked, washed up and tried to start and finish Father's Day. Luckily, hubby was more than happy to offer up gift ideas for the littles. The kids all got up early Sunday to decorate before breakfast. We made him a hearty meal of eggs, sausage and country potatoes, then let him open all his presents before we got ready for church. We had to split the family later so hubby's kids could spend part of the day with their step-dad, D, and we went to my in-laws to share hugs and kisses with Grandpa, who hadn't been doing so well. He was definitely acting strange when we got there and seemed even more tired than usual. He wouldn't get out of bed to sit with the kids, so we spent most of our time in the bedroom with him. The following nights he was so agitated that his kids needed to come and help care for him over night. They paired up and took turns each evening allowing my sweet mother-in-law to have a much-needed break.

Growing old certainly doesn't look easy. I'll admit I'm not looking forward to it ... at all.

Week in Review 6/17/10

June 11 through the 17th was ALL about camping. It started out with Webelo's camp in Millcreek Canyon, admittedly a nice change from my Bear troop. There was a 2 mile hike and lots of classes on things like how to shoot a BB gun and the fine art of archery. The weather cooperated and the boys were great - can't complain too much about that. Of course ... Saturday, dear hubby was kind enough to drive me up to our girls' camp site to see if it had flooded with all the seasonal rain. It was a mucky mess and I wasn't sure how we'd get through the next week.

Of course, we got the final word that camp was on, regardless of the muddy conditions, so I started piling all our gear in the living room while dearest went to pick up the trailer. The 4th years went up Monday morning and the rest of us followed on Tuesday. Lucky for us, the sun worked some magic and really dried out the area a lot before we got there. Hubby came up with us to help us get all set up. He picked the best spots for the tents, we needed 5, and the girls did most of the tent pitching themselves. The Nepali girls who came with us were beautiful and a pleasure to get acquainted with. Of course there was an immediate issue between my own daughters, complete with tears, but it wouldn't be camp if everyone got along the whole time, would it? We did our best to resolve it and got on with the day.

We started our series of devotionals, which would take us on an imaginary cruise starting in California and ultimately ending at Christmas Island. Each day the girls answered a series of questions about standards to find out the next destination. We talked about things like music, movies, modesty and dating. Each island we stopped at also had a craft to learn. The first day we made hemp bracelets, then beaded fabric necklaces and the last day we made wire rings with stone embellishments. I'll try to post more pics of the crafts with instructions soon - just remember that time flies around here.

For the most part, the weather was on our side ... but there was one morning when all the tent zippers had frozen closed. We actually had to poor hot water on one of them to get the girls out. Good times. Great memories!

Week in Review 5/20/10

This week was all over the place. We had the primary elections for the 2010-11 SBO's, in which #3 was running. The slogan she chose was, "Vote for me. I already told my mom I won." Catchy, isn't it? She put together a great video for her skit too where she sang her own rendition of the Backstreet Boys "I want it that way". This girl's got moxy - I'll give her that. She made the first cut too, so she'll continue on next week. I've been crafting up a storm making samples of the projects we'll make at girls' camp. I'm just about done putting the devotionals together too ... along with the camp skit and cheer. (It's been busy) Soccer games ... photographing extra stock for my shop update that hasn't actually happened yet ... and #4's orchestra concert filled up the rest of the week. OH! And I scored on a great card rack for the Christmas shows - extra motivation to actually get some cards designed and printed up, right? I can always use extra motivation.