I'm Going to Camp!

Because I couldn't go a whole week without seeing my family Shawn and I chose today as the day I'd spend with them.

I was so excited to drive the Eos down there because the gas mileage was amazing!!  I didn't feel guilty at all for making the drive. 

I met Shawn at the road leading to camp and we went to find the girls.  The Eos handled every road we took it on quite well.  And some of them were pretty bad!  We found Kennedy and Reagan at horsemanship training and sat on a wasp infested patio while they identified the parts of a horse.  I started breathing heavy right away.  My two inches shorter right arm and my cracked pelvis are still terrified of those death traps.  Soon they were off to their next adventure and we went to find McKinley. 

Here's where we found her.

On top of a death trap.

I almost passed out.  As soon as the horses were tied up she came over to talk to me.  First thing out of her mouth?  "I'm the only girl in my cabin!"  Now, I of course knew she was attending a Christian camp.  After all, the YMCA is an amazing organization.  But for a split second I thought, "WHAT???"  She quickly explained that there were no other campers in her cabin.  Just the counselors and the CIT's.  (Counselors in Training)  So basically it was all about McKinley.  She's waited her whole life for that.

We went to lunch with the campers but decided we'd make a trip into town to find something a bit more appetizing.  I just don't like camp food.  We put the top down and drove into the happening town of Davis to try a BBQ place that came highly recommended.  But after getting there and smelling the wonderful scents coming out of the smoker my mouth was watering.  And then we discovered they were closed on Wednesday.  Wednesday???  Oh come on.  Of all the dumb days.  Why not Monday?  Extend your weekend.  What good is the middle of the week?

So we looked up BBQ restaurants on my phone, picked one, and drove to the big town of Sulphur.  Since I'm familiar with the town I didn't really pay attention to the navigation.  After all, it was on the major highway and before the turn.  How hard could it be?  Yep, we missed it.  We turned around and paid more attention.  We ended up at a gas station.  Nope, no BBQ.  So we had chicken.  After all, two strikes was enough for us.  And we were hungry!

When we got back to camp it was AquaFest time!  When we go to camp in September with the 5th graders from school I always wish I was there in summer to see the lake being used.  There's a tower to jump off of and a two story slide.  But we are in Oklahoma....and the lake level was low. 

See that black line?  They haven't seen it in years.

So AquaFest started by just playing on the docks. 

Shawn and I settled down at the base of the slide stairs and watched the girls have fun.  There was music blaring from the lodge so the dance moves were everywhere and highly entertaining. 

About every 30 minutes a whistle would blow and it was 'Buddy Check' time.  As a nervous mother I really liked that.  Everyone got out of the water and had to hold hands with their buddy until everyone had been checked.  Even though there were about 15 lifeguards that was still comforting.

At this point I was really wishing I was in the water.  I ventured down by the water just once and quickly headed back to the only available shade.  The base of the slide.

But Shawn had another idea.  Why not go to the top of the slide?  He found the guy with the key and soon we had a new view.

Just in time for Kennedy and Reagan to go off the tower.  The top story was closed because of the low water but they still got quite a ride.

I so badly want to go back next year with my swimsuit and do this slide.  Hopefully they'll have enough water and I won't scar my children for life.

Shawn had gone down to ask the girls to go off the tower for me and soon enough he couldn't handle watching anymore and had to do it.  He lasted longer than I thought he would!

Love him!

Too soon I was leaving them behind and heading home.  With a few sniffles...I'm not going to lie.  But I had an entire list of projects to do.  So off I went. 

Stay tuned for more evidence of why my body ended up many different colors:c)

Shimmers After Hours

We got a nice surprise last night.  Our sweet friend Debbie and her girls Amanda and Emily came to visit!  I had been noticing her Facebook status updates and knew she was in a different town than the one she lives in, but didn't know where.  When I got a text asking if I wanted to go to Shimmers, I knew they had to be in our town!  They were close enough to buy a few things to help with dinner, and far enough away that I had time to pick up our cluttered house!  After a dinner of grilled pork quesadillas we sat down to talk but soon knew we had to head to Shimmers.  It's a tradition. 

Shawn had somewhere else to be, and McKinley and Kennedy were both gone for the night, so Reagan and I took Amanda and Emily in the Eos and Debbie followed in their car. I don't remember what time we got there...but we didn't leave until it had been closed for about 2 hours. After sitting at a table and eating we slowly walked to our cars...and talked for the next 2 and a half hours. And the three girls? They played.

In the car.

In the grass.

In the storm drain.


In the parking lot.

And when the sprinklers started, they played in the galoons and gallons of water that poured out of the broken sprinklers.
 Um, gallons.

Right next to the little building that Shimmers is in there is a small grassy area with tables. There are probably 4 sprinklers there. 3 don't do anything, and 1 pours water over the curb and down the hill of the parking lot. It was a river of excitement for the 3 girls. They did pretty well in staying dry, mainly just got their feet wet. That was good since they had an hour and a half trip home. But then it happened...the fountain.

I really think they need to check the sprinkler system in this shopping area. 

Know what happens when 3 girls who have been playing nicely in a river of water see a fountain?  They instantly get wet. 

Soaked.

To the bone.

And had an absolute blast doing it.  How could we stop them?

Debbie had blankets in the car for her girls but I didn't know what to do.  We don't keep anything in the Eos for these situations.  But when I opened the trunk I saw Shawn's emergency scrubs.  Since he's always on call he put those in their to ward off call-ins while we were out breaking in the new car.  So Reagan got wrapped up in those.  And looks pretty stinking cute!

And another interesting tidbit about Shimmers...I received an exciting comment on a post about Shimmers.  You can read it here.  Yep, I consider her a celebrity and love that she found my blog!  Maybe she'll find this one and know to have the sprinklers checked!

This should help get the info passed on to the right people:c)