Ha! I didn’t mean to make that pun in the title, I realized it after I typed it.
Anyway, it is true. We are in the meat of our Spring Baseball season. We have had a lot of rainouts which is crappy, but in return the games we have played have been in gorgeous weather or cold weather which I will take any day over heat. The Summer temps have finally arrived so now it will get a little less pleasant to watch them play. The team has been doing great though. Matthew started out strong, had a bit of a hitting slump (still one of the best hitters on the team though) and this past weekend finally came out of it and it doing great now. He has had some pretty awesome fielding plays too. Diving and rolling catches, huge leaps through the air to catch it, double plays, and some impressive catches off of hard hits or crazy bounces. He is a fun person to watch play. The last two tournaments we played in were on turf which we have never done. The boys had fun sliding and diving on it. They also took 2nd in one and 1st in one. They played well.
Allison went to her second year of day camp this summer. Her arm was freshly broken and still pretty tender but she decided she felt good enough to go every other day. She loves her leader and her best friend Hailey was in her Unit so she had a pretty fun time. We were able to get a cast cover for her so she could not completely swim but still participate and cool off a little in the swim activities. She grumbled about it a little but overall she had a fun time.
Emilee went for the first time this year. Per her usual she was a nervous nelly and not to excited about going somewhere new without me. Jovee signed up with her though which was a big help, and there were several other girls in her group she new from school or gymnastics as well. It was also a huge perk that they got to ride on a bus to and from camp everyday and go swimming. She loved it. She was exhausted but loved it. Her and Jovee were really into SWAPs (Share With A Pal). They are little trinkets that each girl makes a bunch of before camp and then during camp they trade and swap them to pin on their hats, by the end of the week they have a hat full of different trinkets from camp.
I asked Allison if she wanted me to come and be a helper during the week for her Unit. She thought about it for two seconds and said no. I did not ask Emilee because I knew she would say yes and want me there all week and she needs to work on her independence. I also didn’t really want to go to camp. A few weeks before camp I got a call saying Emilee’s unit needed a helper on Thursday. I decided to do it and spent one day at camp with Emilee. We saw Allison once, when we waved she pretended to not know us. We had a pretty fun time. Jovee and Emilee insisted I sit in the middle of their bus seat instead of the empty seat next to them so i wouldn’t be lonely. Sweet thought, I agree. Not the most comfortable though. We spent the ride singing camp songs, talking about what we were doing that day and they shared all the details of their SWAPs and how they traded for them with me. We did opening flag ceremony and went to a science lab station about density. The girls had a great time. Then we made volcanoes out of lemons and baking soda. Then it was their cookout day, so we cooked hot dogs and smores over the fire. Then it was scavenger hunt/hiking time. I think I have mentioned this before but Emilee is the least ‘outdoorsy’ of our family. None of us are very outdoorsy to be honest. We like the comforts of modern amenities but we like going on hikes and enjoying the outdoors on occasion. Emilee does not. About 15 minutes into our hour hike (which was maybe a mile and a half round trip just VERY slow going) she decided to start the whining and asking me to carry her, or her stuff, or just sit down and be done completely. It took a lot of coaxing, begging, dragging, and threatening to get her to finish but she took every step on her own. At several points she did just sit down and refuse to walk any farther. Luckily we were hiking with 8 other kindergartners so it was slow going enough and they took enough breaks that we weren’t to far behind when she finally flopped the last little way back to camp and I was muttering to myself this is exactly why I didn’t want to do this in the first place. Her leader confirmed with me later that she didn’t have any other issues the rest of the week when I was not there keeping up or cooperating with what they were doing. Oh well, we finished our day up with a painting craft and closing flag ceremony and all three of us shared a seat on the way home again (I did insist on taking the outside seat though). We fell asleep as soon as the bus pulled out of the parking area to head home.
Happy Day Campers after their first day.
My day at camp with the girls. Bus ride to camp. We sang LOTS of fun camp songs
This is where we found our last clue on our scavenger hunt hike.
Some of Jovee’s SWAPs. Her dad helped us out and 3D printed a bunch of SWAPs for Allison and Emilee.
Eating our fire cooked hot dogs.
Working on our density science project.
End of the day. Dirty, tired but happy, and ready to head home.
This little power nap on the way home is why they arrived at home with just as much energy as when they left that morning.
The day after the girls and I got back from Florida, the kids and I were going to go with Lauren and her kids to Nauvoo IL for a two day trip. That night we were both talking on the phone and it just wasn’t working out that great for either of our schedules so we decided to bag it and reschedule for another time and do something closer to home. We decided to try the water and theme park in KC. Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun.
We got there when it opened that morning and did the theme park first. It’s the first big theme park any of our kids have gone too. It was pretty fun. We had varying degrees of adventurousness but everyone tried something. Jovee was willing but to short for some rides. In another year or two she will probably be the most adventurous of all of them. All of my kids were for whatever rides they could go on. We started with some smaller rides more like carnival rides, then we got to a real roller coaster called the Cork Screw. It goes through some loops and then stops and comes back the way it came but backwards. Emilee went on it with Aunt Lauren. When the ride was over she had a look of ‘oh my gosh, what just happened to me’ on her face, then she looked and me and got the biggest grin and gave me a thumbs up. She thought it was pretty awesome. We went on a water ride and then my three wanted to go on the biggest ride in the park called the Mamba. Emilee was tall enough and really wanted to, I was a little hesitant to let her but she was insistent that she would be fine and had loved the other ones. So she did it. She had the same look on her face as the first one when she got back but when I asked her how it went she started crying and had a little break down. It was a little to intense for her. Mom fail. I think she would have been better if I had gone with her but I was watching Leah and Ethan and I didn’t want to go on it myself either. I am not a big roller coaster fan. She said she didn’t want to go on anymore rides but we found a nice easy spiny, floaty feeling one and she went on it with me. She kept saying, ‘This is so nice, I like this, this is fun.’ I think it started out trying to convince herself but by the end of the ride she meant it.
It was pretty stinking hot and we were all melting and about at our wits end from the heat so after a few hours we went to the car and ate our lunch then headed over to Oceans of Fun to cool off and get in the water. It is a pretty nice water park. We let the older boys and girls go off and try different slides and areas and Lauren and I stayed with the Littles. We did slides, the wave pool, obstacles, play areas, it was a nice afternoon. We stayed pretty much until it closed. The kids loved it. It was a successful fun new summer adventure! They all slept like a rock that night. Emilee usually sleeps in but she reached a new record of 11 am the next morning. Matthew and Alli weren’t up before nine either.
When we were in Florida for Spring Break our beach day was not good. It was pretty cold and the water was freezing. We were only there about 45 minutes to basically say we went to the beach.
When we got to Florida after our rv-cation the weather was perfect for the beach so we decided to drive Moose (the RV) to the beach and enjoy a good beach day.
Loading up to head over to the beach.
Playing games on the way to the beach.
Chillin in the sand.
Baywatch pose. How does she know that…I have no idea.
There were large crabs in the rocks they were trying to find,
Emilee got some water in her mouth and wanted to know what was wrong with it.
Uncle Kenny relaxing in the ocean.
So pretty. Probably one of our best beach days ever (except for the bahamas)
Aubry started covering the rock with sand so the girls decided to help her out.
They decorated it with shells when they finished.
Emilee was loving the warm water.
Allison loves having a little cousin to take care of. She will be a good mom.
Aubry is a sweet little girl.
The girls were great little travelers on the way home. They were a little bummed there was NOT any turbulence.
It was wonderful. We set up the canopy so we had some shade in the beautiful white sand for the kids to play in. The water was so warm. We didn’t really even need towels. There wasn’t that much of a temperature difference being in or out of the water. We went out into the water and played in the waves, but we settled at a little tide pool area that was pretty shallow for the kids to play in. They covered a rock in sand and decorated it with shells, splashed and played in the water, and of course collected shells. Usually we just see clam shells, but this beach had lots of the little tiny conch shells. I told the girls to only pick their most favorite ones because we didn’t have a lot of room in our suitcase. I then watched as Emilee started picking shells up as fast as she could exclaiming how pretty they all were and she just couldn’t leave any behind.
We were there for a few hours then we rinsed off and went back to the RV to eat a nice lunch with the A/C running. Having an RV is a pretty handy way to travel.
Kenny stopped at Bahama Bucks, which is an icee shop on our way home. We all got a delicious icee and finished the trip home. Most of us were asleep by the time we got home.
Once we were home the girls showered up and relaxed while Sherri and Kenny made dinner and I cleaned the RV up for the next renter that is picking it up on Monday. Another big help of our RV-cation is I have a lot more hands on knowledge now for the RV in general and for the whole process of preparing it and sending it off with a renter. When Moose left on Monday we have all of our RV’s out on the road for the next month. They have all been out a few times but this will be the first time all three are out for a while. Pretty awesome.
It was nice to have a few days in Florida before we came home. Once again I love seeing my sisters and spending time with them, but I am always sad when I leave that we don’t live closer to each other. Thank goodness for modern travel options but it would still be wonderful to live close enough to see each other whenever we want instead of a couple times a year.
Thursday morning of our RV-cation was nice and relaxed. The kids slept until we woke them up at 9:30. It rained a lot throughout the night and the day was rainy too. We lucked out whenver we did an activity it stopped long enough for us to do it before it started raining again.
After breakfast we went to the Raccoon Mountain Caves and did the walking tour. The boys were debating on doing one of the deep cave explorations but decided to do that some other time. The cave was pretty awesome. We saw some cave salamanders almost as soon as we went in. Our guide told us that two brothers discovered a big part of the cave by squeezing themselves through 7″ slot in the rock. Ugg, I started panicking just thinking about it. It’s bad enough when you know whats on the other side. I can’t imagine doing it if it was completely unknown. It was a pretty awesome cave. We learned a lot of interesting facts like a cave is basically a giant living thing and the oil from one finger touching a cave will stop the growth for 10 years. The water in this cave was also extremely high in magnesium. She said that if you drank one swallow it was like drinking five cups of milk of magnesia and it would clear your entire digestive system out in less than ten minutes. Our guide also told us that if you get dripped on while you are in a cave that is called a cave kiss and it is one year of good luck. For the rest of the day Emilee kept saying whatever we were standing by loved her-tree, rock, building, anything, because it was raining and it would drip on her.
We did a little panning for gems after our cave tour. Allison has always begged to do it and is our little rock collector so since it was a realtively inexpensive bag of prestocked dirt we let the kids split it and find some gems. We got an emerald bag, so they each found a couple emeralds.
On a gem hunt.
Looking for the emeralds.
Alli has always wanted to try panning.
This is the area tornado shelter.
In the heart of the cave.
You can crawl through that crevice and explore further into the cave.
They have sleep overs in this area sometimes.
This is the only rock in the cave they allowed us to touch. They called it Dead Fred.
Cave salamander. He is smaller than my pinky finger.
These little bumps on the ceiling take decades to grow a few millimeters
We were planning on staying another night at Raccoon Mountain but with the rain it kind of put a damper on things to do there so we dumped, refilled, unplugged, retracted and were on our way. So convenient. I love not having to pack, repack and haul everything every time we go someplace different.
On our way out of Chatanooga we stopped at Rock City. A little pricey for what it is, but a beautiful, unique, place. It used to be a private garden and has developed into what it is now. It is basically a stone path that winds up through the mountain. There are lots of bridges and a few tight crevices even that you can walk through but are very narrow. There were some gorgeous overlooks and plants and tunnels through the mountains. It was almost like a cave without the roof. At about the half way point and the top there is a big water fall and Look Out Mountain. You can see seven different states from there. It was pretty cool. On the way back down they have made lots of little ‘fairy houses’ and nursery rhyme ‘villages’ in the caves as you walked through. I got a lot of pictures but they don’t do it justice.
On our way up the mountain. The kids were betting on if dad would rip a mirror off before we got there. It was a tight squeeze.
Getting ready to head off to the top of Rock City.
Gorgeous walkways and scenery the entire way.
Our little birds.
That is a big rock balanced on a tiny rock.
This beautiful waterfall is kind of hidden, We literally walked right by it and missed it.
Ryan wanted my sunglasses off for the picture and took his time…the sun was in my eyes, as you can see I tried my hardest to keep them open.
Should have just worn the sunglasses.
Walking across the swing bridge.
Seven flags for the seven states you can see from the lookout.
Seven state lookout.
Beautiful views!
The Smokies were smoking!
The rock bridge was the other option across the crevice. We voted for the swing bridge.
On our way down from Rock City. Admiring the view.
The kids were anxious to get to Florida, I think the zipline there was calling their name. We started that way and realized that we would hit Atlanta right at rush hour so we stopped at a movie theater and watched the new Incredible II movie. We all really like the first one. There were mixed reviews on if the first or second one was better but either way they were both good.
THURSDAY FAVORITES:
Emilee- Raccoon Mountain Cave
Allison- Panning for gems, family Wacky Six game
Matthew- Raccoon Mountain Cave
Dad- Raccoon Mountain Cave
Mom- Rock City and Raccoon Mountain Cave
We drove until about 10:30 that night then stopped at a gas station and slept. We got to Kenny and Sherri’s at about one in the afternoon on Friday. Like I expected the kids headed straight for the zipline. We only had a few hours before Ryan and Matthew had to be at the airport. They headed back for a baseball tournament that Matthew was in. The girls and I are stayed until Tuesday morning and then we flew home. As a little side note, flying with older kids now is awesome. I spent some time helping another mom with a 14 month old who was screaming the first hour of our flight. I didn’t mind it at all, I can totally relate. My kids were pretty good travelers but even if they are good travelers there is the constant worry that your kid will poop their diaper before you land, or start screaming and not stop, or find none of the 500 possible activities you brought to entertain them entertaining. My girls slept, colored, looked out the window, ate their snacks, and read books the whole way. I loved my baby years but I don’t miss traveling on planes with babies or toddlers.
FRIDAY FAVORITES:
Emilee- playing with Aubry
Allison- zipline
Matthew-zipline
Dad- relaxing in Florida for a few hours
Mom- shower, nap, arriving at Sherri’s
I think our first RV-cation was a great success. It wasn’t all roses and lollipops. We had the regular sibling issues and not following direction or listening issues, but overall we all had a fun time. It was a cool adventure to do together. I hope we get to do it again sometime, and since we own an RV Rental company that seems highly likely. Now that we aren’t complete newbies I would be up for planning a longer trip to get to see some cool areas in the United states.
We didn’t have an ‘actual’ vacation planned this summer. We have things going on and lots of fun planned but we didn’t have an actual going someplace for a few days trip planned. Then about a month ago a potential renter asked Kenny if we did one way rentals. He told him that we didn’t but out of curiosity asked where he wanted to take it. The guy told him Kansas City. So Kenny asked us if we wanted to drive it back to Florida and BAM! Instant summer vacation! Bonus that it is something new that we have never tried before too, which we probably should since we own an RV Rental business.
We met the guy on Saturday and kept the RV at our house until we could leave on Tuesday after I finished work. We had a few days to clean and pack everything we need in it and hang out in it just for fun. The kids LOVE it. They offer everyone who walks by a tour if they would like. We didn’t turn the AC on and it was pretty warm in there but they just hang out anyway.
Departure day finally arrived. I was working so Ryan took half a day off to finish getting everything ready. The girls were at Ms. Cristi’s house so when he went to pick them up he drove the RV to pick them up. They were over the moon excited which Ryan liked because usually they are not happy to go when he picks them up from Ms. Cristi’s.
We got all loaded up and headed out about 5:15. Just in time to cross KC in rush hour. Forty miles and an hour and a half later we decided to stop and grab dinner. We grabbed some Five Guys and ate it in the RV. We also sang Happy Birthday to Ryan and had his birthday cake then headed out again.
Our driving goal the first night was about an hour east of St Louis. It would be 5 hours by car, but we quickly learned it is a little slower going by RV. We ended up stopping just outside of St. Louis on the west side at 10:15. We also quickly discovered some handy tips to remember when in an RV. By ‘we’ I mostly mean the kids who tend to only half listen or completely ignore us when we tell them things. Some of these will seem like I don’t watch or am unaware of what my kids are doing, or teach them basic safety rules but the saying ‘You can lead a horse to water but can’t make him drink it’ applies. And its really loud in the front of the RV so you can’t really hear what is going on if you aren’t looking and I get car sick.
#1. An object in motion stays in motion until acted upon by an opposite force (or something close to that).
That one took a few bumps and bruises for some of them to sit their behinds down when we were moving. They were semi fast learners though.
#2. If you don’t hear a ‘click’ then it isn’t closed.
Matthew personally learned this applies to the fridge, drawers, cabinets, and the door to the RV (even if its locked). Luckily most of these, especially the door was figured out pretty quick once we started moving instead when we were cruising down the freeway.
#3. The table (or any other flat smooth surface) is not a ‘secure’ place to leave items unattended when moving. This applies to card games, drinks, and plates full of food.
#4. Coinciding with tip number #3, make sure you have plenty of napkins and a broom with you on your trip. We also were glad to have a first aid kit due to a smashed finger, bringing us to the next tip.
#5. Don’t play tag or hide-n-seek in the RV.
#6. Matthew can not eat watermelon anymore.
That last tip is not RV related but one we will have to live by from now on. We figured out that he must be sensitive to it or something because he ate some then he felt yucky and started having a hard time breathing and had to do his nebulizer.
There is a little bit of a joke about how many times we will have to call Kenny and ask him how things work since we have never used an RV before. We asked several questions before we left and a couple since we started but we are trying to keep it to a minimum, partly so we don’t drive Kenny crazy and end up in any of his hashtag references, and partly because of our pride. Haha! So Ryan took a cold shower instead of a warm one last night, but he took it because he was really hot so…not a complete newbie error.
After an hour or two everyone settled in and got the hang of traveling in an RV for the most part. The found a spot to stay and used their ‘RV Legs’ when they had to move around. The rest of the night was pretty uneventful learning new tips wise. We stopped at a Flying J and gassed up and stayed the night in one of their RV Parking areas. We weren’t right next to anyone so we extended the slide outs and got comfy. We played Uno and Wacky Six and then got ready for bed and lights out.
Here we go!
Finally learned to sit their bums down!
Family game of Wacky Six
Playing games on the road
Emilee spent most of her time hanging upside down from the bunk.
Unless she zonked out and took a nap.
TUESDAY FAVORITES:
Emilee- Getting picked up from Ms. Cristi’s in the RV.
Allison- Riding in the bunk area in the RV.
Matthew- watching Angry birds in the RV while driving.
Dad- Birthday cake in the RV.
Mom- Leaving on vacation!
Ryan popped up like a daisy the next morning and we were on the road again at 6 am while the kids kept sleeping. Which leads me to my next list, things we love about traveling in an RV.
More comfortable. Lounging about on the couch or playing a game at the table, or even taking a nap in the bed. It is pretty darn comfortable and more roomy then a car or plane.
Sleeping. Laying down and actually having a bed to sleep in instead of trying to get comfortable propping yourself up in an upright position is awesome.
Pit Stops. The only time we have to stop is to get gas. No potty breaks needed. Which also means no gross gas station restrooms.
Bedtime. No checking into a hotel. My kids love staying in hotels and its an adventure for them when we’re on vacation but it is so much more simple in an RV.No carrying all our stuff in unpacking, then repacking the next day and worrying about getting to breakfast and back on the road. So awesome.
Stopping for the night. Our first night we ended up stopping about 70 miles before we originally planned. We didn’t have to worry about getting to a certain spot for a reservation. It got dark and rainy so we decided to stop. Easy-peasy.
Eating. No fast food. If we see a fun or famous restaurant we can stop, but otherwise it is turkey, ham and PB sandwiches for lunch. Cereal, fruit, and eggs for breakfast. No McDonalds- hallelujah!
Weather. It rained a lot while we were on our trip. There isn’t much more miserable when your camping than getting soaked (bugs and heat are close). We just slept right through it at night-no worries- and hung out inside when it rained during the day. The biggest mess was sweeping out the wet grass when it dried.
It took us until about 4pm the second day of driving to get to Racoon Mountain. Our stop for a bit. Much longer than by car but we weren’t in a hurry. Our camp spot was right next to the pool so the first thing the kids did was go swimming. We got everything hooked up and extended and settled in. Ryan started a fire and we had tin foil dinners. While we were waiting to eat Matthew had the urge to show me his latest dance moves.
#7. The typical child will not eat tinfoil dinners because ‘it looks weird’ even if it is food they recognize and normally eat.
Good thing we also brought a bag of hotdogs for them to roast. After dinner they played at the park and then went swimming again. They swam until after dark. I forget that pools have lights in them at night. I remember swimming with the lights in the pool growing up. It was exciting and fun. This pool light changed colors which was pretty neat. We let them swim until even with the lights it was to dark to see them. After showers and getting ready for bed we played a game of Wacky Six. Then the kids willingly crawled into bed and were out.
WEDNESDAY FAVORITES:
Emilee-swimming
Allison-swimming
Matthew-swimming
Dad-relaxing and grilling over the fire
Mom-family Uno game
Sleeping in
I loved being able to get up and start moving without waking them up.
We spent several hours in the pool.
Alli always has a silly face for the camera.
Setting up for dinner.
Listening to the NBA baseball game while cooking dinner.
Tinfoil dinners over the fire for dinner.
Emilee eating her hotdog, no tinfoil dinner for her. ‘It didn’t look like real food.”
So far I would say our summer has been going great!
Our theme for the summer ‘Work Hard then Play Hard’ has been going pretty well. We have to jump start it again when we are gone out of town for a few days or even if I work it gets thrown off. I guess it might be more accurate to say that if I insist on it, they are cooperating for the most part, and it is working. The overall quality of their efforts and work is improving too, which was one of my biggest grievences. The electronic chore chart seemed to be the key for them and me.
Along with working on improving our work ethics we have done a lot of fun too. We are chipping away at our bucket list of things we want to do this summer.
Swimming, has been going successfully. We have gone as often as we can. I love having three swimmers now too. Last summer I hired a lady in our neighborhood to do private lessons for the kids and she had Emilee swimming after a few lessons. My kids are not scared of the water and I have found for them that if I want them to learn to swim 5-6 private lessons is better than years of summer group swim lessons. At least here in Olathe Kansas. I usually have a brief 1-2 lessons to refresh everyones swimming skills or work on better technique if they are more advanced. I didn’t get around to it this summer though and Emilee keeps asking to take swimming lessons because she ‘can’t remember how’ so I did sign up her and Alli up for a few private swim lesson through the YMCA but still haven’t heard back from them. They have been getting better on their own just going to the pool a lot so I might end up not worrying about it.
We went to a pottery painting place a few weeks ago. We have done it before but we found a new place to try. Everyone picks out their own piece of pottery and then can paint it however they want. When we are all done painting we leave it there and they fire and glaze it for us and we pick it up when its done. Everyone likes it and has a fun time but Matthew could take it or leave it and Emilee suprisingly gets bored with it pretty quick. Alli and I spend a lot more time and detail so it takes us a lot longer. We were annoyed and feeling rushed by the end because Matthew and Emilee were done and not very patient waiting for us. We decided we would save that for a Alli and me day out next time we did it and leave the other two home.
Matthew had a busy week earlier this month. He wanted to sign up for a baseball camp and it happened to be the same time as the Vacation Bible Camp (VBC) he went to with his friend Finn that invited him. He spent the morning at baseball camp and then he ate lunch in the car on the way to VBC when I picked him up. He liked basball camp even though it was really hot. They had some new tips and drills for him that he learned. His favorite part of VBC camp is the food packing drive they do for Harvesters. They get to assemble bags of food for people that need them. They also have a shaving cream fight and fire truck hose everyone off on the last day that is fun.
Harvesters food assembly.
Shaving cream fight.
Shaving cream fight.
Alli has been working hard on her gymnastics. The gym offers 2 hour camps throughout the summer to focus on more specific skills so she likes to go to the tumbling ones. She has her front and back hand springs down pretty good. She can do them on the trampoline, she just needs to be a little braver to do them on the floor. She does them great with a spotter too.
We go to the library a little more often in the summer than we usually do. They have a statue of a bull dog that they hide somewhere in the library on Fridays. That is the day they like to go because if you find him you get to pick out a prize.
Emilee went to Target with me the other day and was dying to have me record her doing one of her ‘most favorite things ever’ so here it is for your enjoyment…Emilee slides on a red cement ball!!
Jovee had her birthday party at Chuck E Cheese this year. She gets to pick a friend to go in the ticket booth and try and get as many tickets as they can in a minute or something. I thought it was pretty cute when I heard she had picked Matthew to help her. Clever girl.
At the end of the year Alli’s Girl Scout Troop uses any of the leftover funds they have from selling cookies to do a bigger activity together. They had the girls vote between spending the night at the zoo, or spending the night at a horse ranch and then going on a horse ride the next day. The majority of the vote was for horseback riding. That is what Alli voted for much to her delight.
I asked Alli if she wanted me to go with her or let her do it alone. It could go either way with her. She said she wanted me to come so I signed up with her. It has been about a year since either of us has camped. We went camping as a family last summer. This is our first just her and I camping together though. We picked up her bestie Carlee and her mom and carpooled together to the ranch. The girls have actually rode horses at the ranch we stayed at before but this is the first time they spent the night.
We set up camp when we got there. I brought our little three person tent so that only her and I could fit in it. (Cranky lady-yes. Happier camper-yes.) I started setting it up a bit away from the other tents (for noise purposes) and went to get some stuff from the car. When I got back one of the leaders had moved my tarp and started staking it next to the other tents with barely enough space to walk between the tents. She smiled at me and said something like she wants us to all be cozy and in the action together. Later that evening the same leader announced she would be sleeping in her car instead of the tents-not very cozy of her if you ask me.
The leaders brought all the food so it was nice to not have to worry about packing all that stuff. They said to being a water bottle which we did, but they neglected to mention that meant and water to refill it the whole time. Luckily my kids annoying habit of opening a water bottle taking two sips then getting another one the next time they need a drink came in handy. I found enough partially filled water bottles in the back of the van to last for the time we were there. Which wasn’t very long but it was HOT!! It was in the 90’s with a 100+ heat index.
Friday night we went on a short hike to the lake, ate dinner, played games, played soccer, walked around the horse pens, played with the local dogs and cats, roasted smores and had a fun time together.
Allison doesn’t like eating smores but she is a very good marshmallow roaster so she kept the smores coming for me and then anyone else that would take them.
About 11 o’clock the leader called it for the night and sent everyone to their tents. Then one leader left and went home to return in the morning and the other one went to her car and closed herself in a quiet private sleeping area. The other three moms and myself were left with 8 hyped up on sugar girl scouts. Our tents were so close we might as well have all been in the same one. It was a long night and I was quickly reminded how much I don’t like camping in the summer in Kansas, but also in general. I am becoming less and less a fan everytime I do it. Everyone finally fell asleep sometime after midnight and we were able to sweat and try and get comfortable in silence until 5 am when some dog started barking and woke everyone up. At which point I discovered that at some point between 1-5 am I actually had slept deep enough to let a spider that was hiding somewhere in our tent-my sleeping bag specifically- had bitten me 7-8 times and I had huge welts starting all over my legs and torso. Reason number eleventy billion I don’t like sleeping in a tent. Since everyone was up we packed everything up and ate breakfast and got ready for the horse ride…and waited almost two hours to go. Did I mention the girls woke up at 5 am. We were supposed to ride at 10, but because of the heat and our early rising, they started getting the horses ready sooner and we started at 8:30 am.
It was quite a group of us, between the girls, moms, and guides there was about twenty of us. Alli road a horse named Luna which one of the guides told me was sometimes short for Lunatic because she was a little onery and sassy. The guide told Alli that she would have to be stern with her and give her a little kick if she didn’t want to listen or she would do whatever she wanted (eat, go a different direction, just stop). Alli thought that was great. She loves a free spirit take charge kind of attitude. Her horse did stop and hold the line up a few times too. One time it started running to catch up, the guide was worried Alli was scared until she heard her squeels of delight. I rode on Nelly. She was a little wobbly sometimes, I kept thinking we were going to fall on our faces, but she was a good horse and nice and calm. It was an enjoyable ride.
Once we got back from the ride, the girls helped put the saddles away, brushed and groomed the horses, lead them back to their pens and mucked out the stalls to earn their equestrian badge. I went on a short walk around the barn to loosen up my knees from the ride because I am getting old and could barely walk when we got back. When I returned from my walk the girls were just finishing cleaning the stalls. Allison was talking to the lady in charge about coming to clean up the stalls for her whenever she wants for just $5… the lady said, “sure you can pay me $5 to come clean them out.” Obviously it wasn’t her first offer from a girl scout. Ha!
We headed home shortly after that. The boys were at the Royals game for Matthew’s Christmas present, so the girls helped me air out and clean up all the camping stuff and we went to the pool. We had it all to ourselves so I laid in the zero entry part and dozed a little while they played. It was wonderfully relaxing. I’m a beach girl not a camper.
By that night I had about a dozen chigger bites pop up all over me to go along with my spider bites. Apparently the bug spray expired between the time I sprayed Alli and then myself. Luckily she didn’t get any bites. I was an itching miserable mess for the next few days.
I asked Alli if she had a fun time and wanted to do it again. She said she loved the horses part but didn’t really like camping. I am cool with that. We can do other fun activities together that don’t involve bugs, dirt, sweat, and port-a-potties all night long. Emilee who is usually inseparable from me is not an outdoorsy person either. She does not even like picking strawberries or blueberries with us because its to ‘melty and bugsy’ (hot, humid, and to muchnature). When I gave her a kiss goodbye before the campout she asked where I was going. When I told her she said, “See you tomorrow!” without a second thought. I guess we will all be softies together and save camping for ‘only when necessary’. At least in Kansas.
You might have picked up on it by now that Matthew and Ryan share the love of baseball. They spend as much time as possible playing, watching, practicing and enjoying it together. They have had some pretty awesome experiences together too-all their own baseball stuff they do together playing and coaching and practicing and then the Royals Wild Card game, Royals Spring Training, and family Royals games we go to. Matthew’s Christmas present last Christmas was Crown Seat Tickets to a Royals game, which are the 4 rows directly behind home plate. Front and center, best seats in the house to watch the game. So close you can keep the Ump honest. The tickets for the game he got were for a game this month so Matthew and Ryan went last Saturday. Watching the game, seeing the players up close, sometimes getting an autograph (Matthew almost got Salvador Perez’s autograph but wasn’t quite bold enough) is pretty fun. They also have a private all you can eat buffet available to them throughout the game. This isn’t hot dogs and nachos either. They have that if you want but it is real restaurant food, like all kinds of meats, appetizers, and treats. Matthew stuffed himself on shrimp, shirley temples, ice cream bars, his own personal ice cream sundae, which according to him, “had so many toppings on it I forgot there was ice cream on the bottom!” The seats are in the line of the TV camera’s too so everytime they showed the batter you could see Matthew and Ryan. We recorded the game at home so they could see themselves on TV afterwards. We texted them and told them we could see them and to have Matthew wave at us. Luckily the camera was on the batter when he waved so we saw him. The girls thought it was pretty awesome that someone had just waved at them on TV. They had a pretty fun time. Matthew said it was worth the wait, even though the Royals are not very good right now (almost the worst team in MLB) and didn’t win. Still lots of great memories.
He got a bonus game too. Not crown seats again, but the Monday night after the game Ryan took a client from work to the Royals game and her grandson happens to be a friend of Matthew’s from his previous school so he took Matthew and her grandson too. They lost again but Matthew had fun seeing his buddy.
