Memorial Day Adventure

This is where we stopped when we mixed up our directions and were lost. We looked up and here was the sign! There were no main roads to Camp Lejuene and it was very country, which was fun. Lots and lots of churches with signs like this.

We stopped at "Rays" where the signs inside said "No barefeet and no profanity allowed". We had some down home food and watched "Young and the Restless" with the two waitresses who were off their shifts. The cool thing about Rays was the owner had decorated the entire interior with Roosters.

Livi got a large serving of her favorite at Ray's - mashed potatoes and gravy. It took about five hours to drive to Camp Lejeune, where our tent site was surrounded on all sides by R.V.'s. The place was packed but just a short walk to the beach.
Next time we'll get of the double wides or cabins that you can reserve for a song. We slept in two tents, and woke up with all these slugs and snails all over the tent. I promised myself that I would be a good sport and not lose my cool all weekend about camping, which I'm not very good at. I kept my promise, and had a good idea.

After setting up camp, Madison and I went to get food at the commissary and after we put the groceries in the car, I couldn't find my keys anywhere. I searched the car and my purse while Madison went into the store to look in the aisles and had management make an announcement. After half an hour of searching and saying prayers, I found my keys and sunglasses in the bottom of a large box of watermelon. They had fallen out of my purse when I bent down to get a melon out of the box. Part of our going to Lejuene was to see Patrick and give him a morale boost, so he spent some time with us. It was a really good time with him. The Marines is not what he thought it was, and he was very happy to see us. We all went to church and he and Rhett went for a walk/talk with Rhett. Rhett offered to give him a blessing, and Patrick was very happy to get one.

I tried to be vigilent with the water and the sunblock. But everyone was fried to a crisp. Rhett took the older kids out in the water to ride the big waves, and I was watching Becca with Cecily asleep on my lap. Becca decided to turn and swim out to get to Rhett, who was far away. I stood on the shore yelling at her, and she just kept bobbing and swimming away. I asked a marine to go out and get her, ask her to come back. I told him that her name was Becca. Luckily he was a good swimmer and she came back.

At dusk, we watched "Horton Hears a Who" on the beach, and then Livi began to shiver and be sick with dehydration. Rhett took her to the ER and they sat all night drinking water and hydrating her again. The next morning we all decided that we were sick of being burned, tired, snail invested, and rained on, so we decided to leave after church. Despite the setbacks, Camp Lejuene is really nice and we loved the beach. We dropped Patrick off at this barracks and everyone fell asleep in our airconditioned van, passing the aloe and the snacks. Monday we rested and watched "Paul Blart, Mall Cop" for Family Night. Camping is a dirty business, but I think we should do it at least once a year just for a "family togetherness" experience.

The Big Fun Weekend

The Military definately pays off, like the once a year free pass we get to Busch Gardens. We all played hooky on Friday, and it was the only day of the week where it wasn't pouring rain. The flowers in the park were gorgeous, and our moods were too. One of the kid's high school friends had died in a car accident the night before, and it was hard for them, and very depressing at school, so going to the park helped all of us! We also saw our good friends the Lines on break in Williamsburg getting ready to have their baby - they normally live in Mexico City.

I was very happy to spend the morning with Cecily and Sesame Street Characters - We went on the mini rollercoaster over and over because there were no lines. In the afternoon, I went on the tallest roller coaster "The Griffin" with the kids. My face in the pictures looks terrified. Cecily wanted to go on each ride by herself. Today is Garrett's 16th birthday and tomorrow is Rhett's 35th (plus 10). This morning

we went with 500 other happy Mormons and people of other faiths at the 1st annual Stake Fun Run. It was official - traffic blocked off through the streets of Old Towne - Police & everything! Becca was grumpy about waking up at 6:00 to get there, and then when she saw her friends running and the excitement of the crowd, she took off - with her old slip ons. My race was faster than I thought because I was chasing Becca who was chasing her friend Cassidy. Rhett had the men organized as Race Marshalls, and it was awesome. The

race was built around the speaker, the author of "Running With Angels", who talked to all the women in our exercize clothes after the race. She lost two children, and gained over 150 pounds from her depression, then slowly became motivated to change her life - finally losing the weight and running marathons. Her talk was more about running life's race, especially when things happen to change our plans. I loved her analogy to getting on a plane that goes to Italy. You have been planning on going to Italy for years, and when the plane lands, you are in Holland, but you learn to appreciate the tulips, the Rembrants, and the beauties of that country. Madison was asked to fill in for the musical number that was not able to be there, and she did a great job!

Tonight Garrett is having a movie night with some friends, and after a long discussion, they have settled on a movie. He and I are going on his first date next week, and I plan on getting him his first suit.

Dancing in Circles

Every morning after the last child gets on the bus and it's just she and I, Cecily has been doing her little circle dance. This three year old needs to be "herded" from behind, not led! At the beginning of the day - this is her way of saying "Good Morning"!