Ice Cream

This Tuesday was another much needed day of rest. Camp really did exhaust me. I've needed these past couple days to just catch up with life.

I woke up at 1pm. Which was crazy because I went to bed around 3am. That means I slept for 10 hours, gosh. Setting no alarm is dangerous sometimes. I did laundry and ate lunch before going to play tennis with Sammie. We decided to walk to the courts in the middle of the day when the sun is at it's highest. Mistake. The walk alone ended up taking 20 minutes. By the time we got to the court we only "played" tennis for 15 minutes before walking all the way back to the house.

I am really into learning how to play tennis. I seriously am thinking about making it one of my goals. Something about tennis seems like summer to me. I just think if there is anytime to pick up tennis it is in the summer. Sammie taught me some basic rules and how to serve. With a little dedication I could be good enough to play a real match by the end of the summer. 

As soon as we arrived back at the house, Sammie and I decided we needed snow cones. I love snow cones. SO MUCH. I need to start making a weekly trip to Snow Beach. After snow cones I headed to work. I took Vivenne and Ella to the park for two hours. IT WAS HOT. No other children were at the park because all the other mothers are sane. Vivenne and Ella's mom lets the babysitter take the kids to the park during the 100 degree weather.

I came home and did much of nothing. I ate, watched the latest episode of the Bachelorette (don't judge me) and took a nice nap in Theresa's bed. Soon my best friend Lauren came over and found Sammie, Theresa, Chandler and I all spooning in Theresa's bed. It was a classic moment. Lauren jumped on top and the five of us stayed there for awhile before deciding we needed ice cream. We loaded up into my car and headed to HEB. The night ended with Moose Tracks and girl talk. A perfect ending really.

Some of my favorite moments are just being around my friends doing simple things like laying in a bed. True fulfillment can be found when you want to do nothing more than lay in bed with your friends. Try it. If it is awkward then your aren't close enough friends with them. True friends can spoon together. That sounds bad, but it is so true.

I am still looking for stability in my schedule. Unfortunately I may not find it by the end of this week since tomorrow I leave for Houston. That is what I get for making the most of life. No schedules. Just FUN.

Back From Camp

Today, Monday the 17th of June, is my first full day back in Austin. Camp was wonderful, spiritual and exhausting. I have many, many stories to share with you. My blog has been hand written the last ten days. I will eventually update my online blog with pictures and memories from the following week. It may take a couple days since now that I am back I will be blogging more than once a day in order to catch up. If you have missed me this past week do not fear, I am back and will be filling you in shortly.

I woke up at 9am this morning to Kim the bug inspection lady. She was inspecting our house for bed bugs. Which by the way we have. But only downstairs. Let's just say I'll be spending the remainder of the week in my room before I visit my parents this weekend.  After she found no bed bugs in my bed, I went back to sleep until 2:30pm. What? Yes. Huh? That's Right. It may have been the tiredness from camp or the fact that I stayed up until 5am because freaking Jonathan. Anyways I seriously did nothing until 5pm.

At 5:30pm I met my boss Jessica from Ten Thousand Villages. I had an orientation with her and another intern. We met for happy hour at Botticelli's, which is a little restaurant right next to TTV. Ten Thousand Villages will now be TTV, just so you know. I will be talking about TTV quite a bit throughout the summer. After that I met Theresa and Sammie at Trudy's for Kyler's birthday dinner. I had some green chile chicken tacos. They were good, but not great. What I did enjoy was my strawberry banana maragrita. It literally tasted like a smoothie with a little alcohol. SO GOOD.

We left Trudy's and headed to the Easy Tiger bar on 6th street to pick up Sean. We stopped in for a bit and found out they have ping pong tournaments every Monday night. Next Monday my butt will be playing ping pong for prizes. Sean finished his game and then we drove to the Alamo Drafthouse on Anderson. We had a solid group of eleven for the 10:30pm showing of Man of Steel, the new Superman movie. My favorite part of the whole movie was the actor who played Superman. Ahh him in glasses. Couldn't handle it. I'm in love.

My emotions are drained right now. Camp wore me out. Hopefully I will find the energy to do all that I need to do this week. Including planning something for my dad who retires on Friday. Can't believe it. I am getting older. He is getting older. Everyone is getting older. I just need to be back on schedule with life.

Bus

Not much to say about this day.

Spent the entire day on the bus riding back to Austin from camp. We finally arrived at Travis High School at 6pm. By the time we got there I was so ready to be away from my girls. I may have even snapped at Teta because I was just so pissed off. I regret that now.

I came home and ate dinner. Then I slept for the rest of the night. Camp was exhausting. Great but so exhausting.

Seventh Day Sunset

On the seventh day of camp...

We woke up early and ate breakfast before cleaning. We had cabin clean up in the morning because we had to be on our buses at 3pm. Cabin clean up was followed by an outdoor lunch and our last club. It was a bittersweet moment driving by this sign as we headed back to Austin. At the last club kids stand up and do a say so. If they accepted Jesus they stand up and tell the entire camp. Really a great moment. None of our girls stood up, which was totally fine. Actually I know where they are at in their relationships with God and none of them are ready to commit. So when and if they do decide to dedicate their life to Jesus, I know their decision will have much meaning behind it. And that is what really matters.

Honestly I was not looking forward to the ride home. I was pissed and not ready to hear the kids complaining. By the time I got on the bus I really felt like I needed a break. A break from our girls and a break from camp. Alaina and I sat at the front of the bus with all the other leaders just praying the kids would be great for us on the ride back.

My favorite thing about road trips though is the change in scenery. Your window literally becomes a motion picture. The sky changes so often as you drive. This is a picture of the sunset that night we left camp. To me it symbolized the end to a magical and unforgettable week.

Sixth Day Sunday

On the sixth day of camp...

Santa came to town. Really though. Christmas in June, complete with an all out Christmas themed dinner. Turkey, stuffing, cranberries. etc. By far my favorite part was the parody of One More Day in Les Miserables performed by the program staff and the work crew. It was hilarious. Naturally our girls had no idea what the heck was going on. Urban Kids.... 

That night we went NIGHT SWINGING. The camp opens the swing and the zip line for the kids at night twice a week. I had not tried out the swing so I was thrilled to be doing it for the first time under the stars. I went with two other high school boys so that Tweetie, Sarah and Alaina could all go together. The boys were screaming like girls. Typical. It ruined my serenity of starring at the stars while falling 20 feet in the air. 

After night swinging we took the girls over to the whistle stop to try the Grand Canyon, which is a HUGE ice cream sunday. The five of us couldn't even finish it. I think the candy to ice cream ratio was too heavily favored toward candy. 

We definitely enjoyed our last full day at camp!