Joy!

Ok, I so laughed when I found this picture of a GUY wearing this shirt!  Live!  Love!  Laugh!  Scrapbook!

Tonight my sister flies in from Washington and tomorrow we leave for four days of scrapping in the pines of Northern Arizona.  It calms my soul and brings peace to my heart as I anticipate our next four days of relaxation.  Yes, we go twice a year.  Yes, we stay in a 1970s decorated cabin.  Yes, someone cooks and cleans for us.  Yes, we just stay in the cabin and scrapbook.  But we also leave once in a while for a hike or two… and we watch movies.  Girlie movies with love and romance and laughter and bliss.  See why I like this outing so much?  And we laugh.  Til we cry.  And then we laugh some more.  It’s basically an emotional release weekend without hubbies or kids.

This year I am prepared to work on a 2009 family album.  I usually do “event” albums of Christmas, or one holiday or vacation.  But I figured out that I don’t have the day-to-day photos in a book for all to see.  So I printed about 27 hundred photos from 2009 and I already made the first double page spread of each month.  I’m SO ready!

But first I have to unpack my suitcase… and wash my favorite comfy clothes.  Then re-pack my suitcase. 

I’ve given up making menus for my family for the time I’m away…. it seemed the more effort I put into making meals, schedules, grocery shopping, etc…. the more often the family went out to eat.  So now, I do nothing, other than replenishing the fruit bowl before I leave.  (I did that yesterday.) 

I will take my laptop, so I may blog, but no promises from this girl.  Nope.  There is only internet service if you drive to the front of the campground and sit in this one spot.  And even then, it’s iffy.  So, as I said, no promises.

Have a grand weekend.  I will.

Spring Break Shakedown

OK, I just need to start by saying that I will NEVER sleep on the dirt again, as long as I have all my faculties and am conscious of where I am lying.   We left for camping yesterday.  We came home from camping today.  The timing couldn’t have been better for my aching bones.  Thankfully it was only an hour from home and the campsite was lovely.  I probably woke up 20 times last night… and every time I did I would think, “OH good!  That means I actually fell asleep for a little bit.”  I’m even a positive thinking when half conscious. 

The first time I opened my eyes and could see past my hand, I was out of that tent and off to the river to catch lunch.  Austin was right behind me and we made so much noise getting dressed, that Larisa came too.  Did we catch fish?  No.  We did catch other things.  And we know there were plenty of hungry fish in the Verde River because they taunted and teased us all day long by jumping out of the river to show us that they were there.  They even jumped within 6 feet of where I was standing… casting and reeling… casting and reeling. And in case you are planning a fishing excursion to the Verde River at Needle Rock Campground, the fish do not eat the following things on hooks:  power bait in green or pink, marshmallows, corn, bacon, potatoes, scrambled eggs, ramen noodles (hard or soft), and by the way, the little piece of red fabric tied to the lure didn’t seem to help either.

We did eat fabulous food for camping:  steak shish-kabobs with rice, jiffy pop (told you!), breakfast hash, Chinese Chicken salad and of course smores.  As usual, we came up with a famous Crosby lines from our trip. (This is a family custom, so we will always have these inside jokes about our trips together.)  This trip’s line was Keeve’s answer to “When do you want to go home?”  It was discussed that we would leave at about 6:30 or 8:30 pm after another campfire dinner and family time around the burning wood.  The kids were asked at 2:00 when they wanted to go home, meaning, 6:30 or 8:30…. Keeve’s answer:  “How ’bout 30 minutes.”  He did have fun, but was stuffed up the whole trip and then got a rash on his legs from his wet bathing suit.  :o(  Poor boy.

You want pictures????  Of course you do!

What in the world is the last picture?  You ask?  It’s the place where the midnight prowler scared the beegeebeez out of us.  We were sitting around the fire singing songs (Not Kumbaya either).  Cool songs like Islands in the Stream and some Kutless songs.  Anyway, I made everyone stop singing because I could hear something walking in the bushes.  At first my dear family mocked me and called me names like Chicken Little, Scaredy Cat and Lilly Livered.  But when the Coleman lantern lit up the weeds and they all saw them move, everyone except Rick and I was up on the picnic table in 2 seconds flat.  Rick and I chucked large rocks at the moving weeds and eventually it stopped.  But we took this picture for proof!  See how it’s all smashed down!  Proof!

The RR Camping Saga

 

Photo by T. Robertson

Yes, the men and boys arrived home safely yesterday from two nights in the woods.  This was a highly frustrating trip for those who like comfort and order.  It was a highly amusing time for those who like to laugh in the face of confusion.  And it was a highly entertaining time for ALL the boys.  They’ll remember this trip for the rest of their lives.

The Royal Rangers (fondly known as Ritalin Rangers) from the Arizona District had their Grand Fall Pow Wow with several churches participating from around the state.  Poo Bah Poo Bah.  My dear husband is one of many commanders at our church and arranged for our RR boys to go. The plan was to leave on Friday around noon and head to a Boy Scout’s camp near the Grand Canyon, 3.5 hours northwest of us.  Then Tuesday they get an email that states that the camp in closed for construction and the Pow Wow had been moved to Payson, 1.5 hours east-north-east of us.  OK.  No problem.  Then THURSDAY they got an email that said it was indeed back at the Grand Canyon camp.  FINE.  Off they went on Friday.

 

Photo by T. Robertson

Can I just add here that on Thursday night close to midnight, my dear husband handed me the grocery list for the 26 campers and asked me to put quantities beside the items…. AND put the list in the order of the Walmart aisles.  Well, one look at the list and I started crossing off stuff.  Saturday morning breakfast included eggs, bacon, pancakes, syrup, bagels, cream cheese, coffee, hot chocolate, milk and orange juice.  No names mentioned, but the list was made by two of the cushy-hotel-campers.  I chiseled it down to pancakes, syrup, bacon, coffee and milk.  There.  (And there were no fruits or vegetables on the entire list for five meals…….)  I digress.  And yes, I put it in Walmart order and saved my dear husband at least two ours of wandering time.

SO, they get up to the Grand Canyon camp to find the gates locked… and an Under Construction sign.  Sigh.  They couldn’t just turn around and head to Payson because there was another truck load of boys and dads on their way.  For the next three hours they drove around and around and around looking for a camp ground.  By 9:30 p.m. they pulled off a lonely road into the trees and set up camp.  No bathrooms.  No running water.  My husband was in his Native Canadian Indian element… this is how he spent his summers growing up.  No big deal.  But for the clean-fingernail-crowd, it cramped their camping style.

They returned with smiles on their dirty, unshaven faces with every sleeping bag, foamy mattress and pillow WET!  Lovely.  I’m SOOOOOOOOOOOO glad it was a father-son trip.  :o)