Whew- what a scorcher this day was!  I am certain temperatures were in the 90s…  The kids certainly got no breaks at meals with drinks other than plain water.  Normally, they have to drink a glass or two of water at lunch or dinner, and then they can have punch or lemonade but for most of this week it was just water.  Of course they could get pop or Gatorade during canteen time, but for meals it was all water because it was so hot for most of the week.  It was so hot, they moved the normal Wednesday evening game to Thursday!

So today, the teaching was on the ears in the morning.  As for the ears, it is what we choose to hear: (1) What do we listen to, (2) Who do we listen to, and (3) How do we listen.  For (1) a big thing is music.  At their age it hasn’t become such a big deal yet, but we talked a little about it anyway. (2) involves what people they choose to listen to- besides their parents.  We will blissfully assume that they do listen to their parents. 😉 )Mostly this is about other kids or so-called role models who model inappropriate behavior- will they listen to such people or remember what the Bible says instead?  For (3), even if we listen to the right things, what do we do about it?  As the Bible teaches, we must be doers of the Word and not hearers only.  The evening message was about a crowded heart, one where Christ’s teachings are there, but crowded out by other things in our lives like TV, sports, internet (er- including this blog 😮 ), hanging out with friends, etc.  These things aren’t necessarily bad, but if there isn’t room for God then something has to go.  The memory verse was Proverbs 12:15: “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes,  but a wise man listens to advice.” Speaking of verses, today we added all the key verses around the room- the five memory verses and Psalm 51:10, an all-encompassing verse for the week (I’ll let you look that one up- you don’t expect me to do all the work for you, do you? 😀 )Incidentally, we won cleanest (boys) cabin for the second time this week!

Of the two game times, I unfortunately have no pictures for you.  In the morning, we played our nemesis team, the Biohazards- nemesis because we were the top two teams all week, dukin’ it out for first place.  The game was the obstacle course.  I really didn’t get any pictures here because I was helping out our team at one of the stations.  The stations included going through a tire, swinging across a hole with water (and a “6-foot leech”), navigating balance beams (logs) and stumps, going across tall monkeybars, a “meat grinder” (old wire/cable reel), going over a couple of walls, and going across steel cables (my station).  The kids had to help one another, and many came back when they were finished to help Diego out.

The evening game was against the same team.  It was another course to navigate, this time in the game field.  I have a video of just the course- I suppose I could upload it to Youtube or something later but it’s really not as exciting as I had hoped.  This time I didn’t help out at a station, but I only took videos with my camera this time around- no pictures.  We won this game, but mostly because we had less people on our team.  I have no idea who won the obstacle course but I suspect the other team got the nod making the two games a wash.

Today the kids got to do the all-time favorite instructional- the zipline.  Now, you may be thinking, “what kind of crazy camp allows children to use a zipline?”  Well, aside from the obvious answer that our camp does, let me explain that this zipline is not the sort where you hold on to some sort of handles while sliding down the cable, letting go when near the bottom onto a net or something soft.  No, these kids are strapped in and attached to the cable- there is no way they can fall, short of the cable breaking, and I am sure by law the camp has to make regular checks of the zipline to prevent that from happening.  At the bottom they are stopped by two burly staff members- one slows them down, the other stops them entirely and unclips them from the cable.  There are two lines, so two kids can go at once.  They had time to go down about a dozen times each even though three cabins were there (normally there are only two cabins at an instructional- I’m not sure why they did it this way).  The other instructional was biking, though this year I think they got less instruction than previous years.  The biking, by the way, was at the top of that hill I talked about in a previous post.  I think it is only 40-45°, but it feels more like 60-70° when climbing it!  By the way, it’s named after a student who went down this hill on a bike when she was in junior high.  She got to the bottom, flipped, and broke multiple bones.  Needless to say, bicycling down the hill is no longer allowed…

Well, I think that covers all the main stuff.  The afternoon canteen was at the swim front as it was every day, but hot as the day was, would you believe that only one of my kids hit the water?  Unbelievable.  I even joined him for a short time- the first time in all my years I have gone in the water- I have always been paranoid about wearing contacts in the lake.  Even this year when I did go in I made sure to wear goggles to protect my eyes, which worked for the most part.  I’m thinking of combining the last two days into one post to get it over with- what do you think?

My son had his 12 month checkup at the pediatrician the other day, and all is well!  It was kind of strange though, when the doctor asked my husband if I snored a lot.  My husband admitted I do, and then the doctor proceeded to make me breathe for him.  What the heck – is this a normal part of how a one-year-old baby is examined, by exploring the mother’s snoring habits?  The doctor then started describing some of my behavior as of late – you are tired all the time, and you feel lazy.  Right on!  He said he could tell just by looking at my puffy eyes that I probably have allergy problems, which is inhibiting my sleep patterns – did I mention that our pediatrician is also the county’s medical sleep expert?  So he recommended that I start taking Claritin and some nose drops.  I tried the nose drops yesterday, and already I could breathe better through my nose better than I’ve been able to in months – funny how you don’t notice things like this, but I’ve been so busy, I thought I was just tired from all the busy-ness, and I didn’t really notice that I wasn’t able to breathe much through my nose.  I did notice that I’ve been itchy constantly – my eyes, behind my face, and now, I have this nasty spider bite on my knee I got on the 4th of July that will not go away – I itch constantly!  I’m really hoping the Claritin works, and I can be back to the energetic mom I so want to be!  Hey, maybe the allergy medicine will work SO well that I can get myself a pet cat 😉

So anyway, like I said, everything is going great with my son.  I just thought it was weird when the focus of the doctor’s appointment turned to me.  He is doing great; he is 30 inches long which is exactly average for his age.  He weighs 21 lbs, which makes him a little on the smaller side, weight-wise, so we have to try to fatten him up.  The doctor also said he should be standing more, but then again, I had scheduled his appointment for during his nap, so we had to wake him up to see the doctor.  I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t exactly be thrilled about standing up for someone in the middle of my nap either!

I recently started to catch up on some of my DVR viewing (hours and hours of programming, someday when I’m more free….).  I watched one of the tens of episodes of Batman: The Brave and the Bold that harkened back to the 60s series.  The pre-credits teaser found the Caped Crusader and the Boy Wonder up against a villain known as Crazy Quilt.  The villain was using a weapon that fired deadly multi-colored beams of light at the dynamic duo.  Robin uses a piece of reflective glass to throw the beams back at the baddie rendering him blind.

Years later, Crazy Quilt escapes from Arkham Asylum  and vows revenge on Robin.  Now, we are presented with an older, but not a lot wiser version of the crimefighter.  He no longer patrols Gotham City but is the guardian of a community known as Bludhaven.  The last thing he wants is his old mentor coming to town to swoop in and save the day.  He grew weary of the “Old chum” bit, felt he had nothing more to learn from the World’s Greatest Detective, and wanted to escape the Shadow of the Bat.  However, as Bats reminded him, Speedy (The Flash’s protege), Aqualad, and Red Arrow all served with older heroes before setting out on their own.  Once again, the team regrouped to battle an old foe.

Since there have been a total of three characters to assume the role, I was curious as to which Robin we were getting.

• Dick Grayson is the original and probably the most known.  Bruce Wayne’s youthful ward reached adulthood and became Nightwing.
• Jason Todd inherited the role and was murdered by the Joker (ironically, this came after a nationwide 900 number poll in which the public decided the fate of the hero).
• The most recent Robin is Tim Drake.  I know little about him apart from his name.
• In this episode, we have a pre-Nightwing Dick Grayson.

The look and feel of the cartoon very closely resembled the classic series. Several of the BEST devices of the show were there.  Notice I said BEST!  No bat shark repellent spray here and no exploding rubber shark for that matter.  But we had the classic bat traps and the obligatory “Holy delusions of grandeur, Batman!”

A very fun episode!

A comment on Taylhis’ blog gave me inspiration for post fodder.  My first time riding a coaster took place when I was 10.  My family spent a day at Cedar Point with my uncle, aunt, and two cousins.  I liked riding rides and had been on several smaller coasters.  I remember the Beastie at Kings Island (still there, Lis?).  I took my cousin Stacy to ride the Jr. Gemini.  However this year, I was too TALL to ride the smaller version.  Seeing this, my Uncle Bob challenged me to ride the REAL thing with him.  Why not?  The line for the double train, much like The Racer, was not long so I did not have to wait a great deal.  I still remember having my eyes shut tight after we made the turn and approached the first hill.  From what I understand, I also held onto my co-riders hand and squeezed it a little bit too hard.  But what a rush!  Red and blue racers going up and down hills and then the split at the end when the cars tilt to the side and finally return home.  There may be bigger, faster, longer coasters  (you can see the Magnum XL 200 which is 20 years old this summer… NO WAY! dwarfing the classic) but the good old Gemini is still one of my favorites.  That day in 1983, I discovered that I was growing up because I was no longer small enough to go on any of the kiddie rides.  No more Kid Arthur’s Court for me.  But I can ALWAYS ride the Cedar Downs racing horses.

Saturday morning, I had planned to sleep in a few hours especially following the late night (SO NOT COMPLAINING… others had it much worse) that is until Mother Nature had other plans.  So, I was up by 8AM and decided to make a small dent in my new book.  Later, I got a phone call asking if I would like to continue my birthday celebration at a site yet to be determined (either a Mud Hens game or a drive-in movie later).  Anything was great with me.  So, ah hour or so later, we decided on a return to the Toledo Zoo.

I have to say that my favorite animal this trip was the baby gibbon… well six month old “Quon.”  The little one was so adorable.  One minute he(?) was clutching onto his parent being carried around the exhibit on the ropes, etc.  then, he would attempt to grab onto a rope solo.  I loved watching Quon climb the fence with his little arms reaching.. adorable.

I also enjoyed the tigers.  To beat the heat, the kitties got into their pool of water and at times took turns and other times shared the relief.  The sloth bears were also out.  As expected, the social one came right up and sniffed.  I held out my Supes cap and sure enough was drawn to it… he must be a fan (but something tells me otherwise, but my post so I’m sticking to it).  TANGENT:  I must have left my cap somewhere along the way.

After the zoo, we went to Ruby Tuesdays for dinner and a point was made to announce that we were celebrating 2 birthdays… 35 years and one day apart!  Nothing exciting happened… no kazoo playing, cabaret singing, nor being led around the restaurant while wearing a sombrero (NOW THAT would be fun!).  But the big guy and I did get a dish of ice cream.

On the return trip, I got tracked down and informed that I was to be at work the next morning an hour early!  What a way to spoil a great day 🙁  So, after having some fun in B-town, and going to Sonic with the girls, I did manage to make it home by 10.  Everyone was tired and had to get up the next morning.  Once again, a funtastic day!

So, where did I leave off when I blogged about our kid-less day trip to King’s Island amusement park?  I don’t remember; I got kind of side-tracked and have made a few unrelated blog posts since then…  But no matter, I’ll just begin by rating the rides at King’s Island; my scale is 1-5 ♦’s, 1 being not so good and 5 being a perfect ride experience.

The Beast – 4½♦.  I have an in-depth description of this one in my previous post, but I will recap again – very cool wooden roller coaster; built into the existing terrain of the Miami River valley in southern Ohio which means you can be speeding along not more than 3 feet above the ground, thinking you must travel a lift before you can drop, but that’s not the case!  This is the longest wooden roller coaster in the world with a 4 minute and 50 second ride time.  Like any wooden coaster, it can be rough and rickety (I was sure I threw out my bad back on one of the speeding curves, but thankfully, I did not.  Shhh, don’t tell anyone I ride coasters with a bad back, but it must not be that bad since my back was one of my least sore parts the day after King’s Island), but these sensations improve if you ride the front row – I HIGHLY recommend the front seats on this one!

Diamondback – 4½♦ – I also talked about the park’s newest addition in my previous post, so here is another recap.  Exceptionally smooth ride, with no upside-down air time.  Rather, the only air time is achieved when your butt lifts from your seat on the multiple drops.  The sensation of free-falling is achieved by the restraint system – one smallish plastic piece that sits between your legs – that’s it!  The picture I posted in my previous blog doesn’t do justice to the coaster, so here is another:

I know certain readers of mine will notice that this is indeed a computer-generated picture, so I might as well just say that outright.  The first time we went on Diamondback, I loved it, and it would have gotten an even higher rating from me if it were not for the time we rode it in the front row.  Unlike The Beast, the front row of the Diamondback adds an entire new dimension to the ride – one I was happy enough without!  I respect our tour guide’s opinion that riding front on Diamondback is a must-do experience, and even though it wasn’t for me, I’m glad I got to do it once.  But it was SOOOO scary!

Firehawk – Holy (excuse my language) crap.  This is one doozy of a coaster!!!  Wow, I forgot to rate it, hmmm let me think…  3¾♦.  First let me explain what this coaster is, and then I can explain what would have made it better.  The riders load into Firehawk, and then the seats recline until the rider is lying down.  Not for the faint of heart – you are strapped into flexible (not hard plastic like most) shoulder harnesses, and then you are tilted backward until you are lying on your back – and it even  feels like your head might just be lower than your feet.  So anyway, lying down, the rider leaves the station, and proceeds to go up a hill, head first, facing the sky.  So of course you can’t see when you’re going to reach the top.  And when you finally do reach the top of the lift, you flip until you’re flying Superman-style through the trek of the coaster.  Overall, it was awesome, and I have to say  that I truly misjudged how ultimately different the horizontal sensation would be – it was VERY different.  What kept me from giving this coaster a higher rating, however, was this (and a discussion on the long ride home found my husband thinking the same thing):  For a unique roller coaster where you were supposed to feel like you were flying, especially for one of the first and only of this type (this is the only one in Ohio, I believe), they really could and should have simplified the design.  Instead of all the inversions, corkscrews and loops, they should have actually slowed down the coaster and left the rider suspended belly-down for the majority of the ride.  After people experienced that, THEN they could have added the speed and all the inversion stuff in an update version of the ride, and it would have been like a 2-fer – 2 rides, one idea.  The way it was, the ride was so fast that you really didn’t have the time to pretend to be Superman, and that was a shame.  The woman in our row the second time we rode Firehawk was, and I quote, “terrified”.  My husband told her it wasn’t that bad, and when he told her that, I was thinking, “What are you thinking?  It IS terrifying!”.  I just did not think that being on our backs face up on our way up the lift was the right time to tell a stranger that my opinion differed from my husband’s – it’s not like she could check my face for my true feelings.  The woman found out for herself.  I think she liked it though, as did I in the end, despite the changes I would make.  Another fun thing about this coaster is that while waiting in line (or by-passing the line on your VIP tour, highly recommended please see my first King’s Island post ), you get to pass next to the part of the ride where it first slows down as the riders come back into the station.  You can hear the riders’ very first reactions to the crazy configuration of this coaster, and that is a really cool time-filler!

Flight of Fear – 3¾♦.  It does feel strange to rate this and the previous coaster the same since they are two very  different ride experiences, so I feel the need to disclaim that I’m rating my overall ride experience.  Keep in mind that I am no longer in my 20’s, so I’ve lost my reckless abandonment.  I really like roller coasters, but I do draw the line and find some things too scary – so my rating system might vary from that of a true coaster enthusiast.  But anyway, I liked Flight of Fear, largely because it is like a much better version of Disney’s Space Mountain.  My husband likened it to the Aerosmith Rock N Roller Coaster at Disney’s MGM Hollywood Studios – which I loved, but I  found it more like a much improved Space Mountain.  All 3 are dark indoor coasters.  Flight of Fear and Aerosmith have what they call linear induction launches, which is how smart people say “0-54mph in 4 seconds!”.  On the way home, I was browsing through (ahh, life without kids in the car!) the super-cool stat sheets our guide gave us as parting gifts, and I noted that Flight of Fear was the first ride in the world with the linear induction launch!  It was SO much cooler than Space Mountain; much more smooth and with inversions.  Space Mountain is herky-jerky, and there are no drops nor inversions – it’s almost kind of like, what’s the point?  THIS is Magic Kingdom’s thrill ride?  But then again, Magic Kingdom really isn’t like that – you visit with small children and/or for the small child inside yourself.  But my point is, Flight of Fear is SO much better than Space Mountain, but not quite as good as the Aerosmith coaster – perhaps something to do with Aerosmith’s black light flourescent graphics versus the plain darkness of Flight of Fear; I preferred the graphics.  For a tangent, here is an interesting story about Flight of Fear: as I mentioned, we had a guide for our trip to this park.  Other park visitors would see he was an employee and ask him questions throughout the day.  One of the questions was “Is Flight of Fear still open?”.  Our guide said yes, not really knowing what the guest was talking about until later during the behind-the-scenes tour of The Beast when the park’s PR Manager, Don Helbig (who has ridden The Racer, another wooden coaster, almost 12,000 times!  How does one even count that high, especially when being tossed around on a wooden coaster?) told us that one of his job’s challenges was to dispel the rumors about the park given life by the internet.  One of those rumors he talked about happened to be that Flight of Fear met its demise.  Not true – Flight of Fear is alive and well and also well worth riding, especially if you are a person who is used to Space Mountain.  I think I can pretty much guarantee you will like Flight of Fear better.

Well…  I have once again talked blogged your ear (?) off with my boring detailed account of an event.  I wanted to rate most of the enjoyable rides at King’s Island, but I must cut the post short for now – maybe I will be able to get the other cool rides in the next post if I cool it a little and shorten the detail…  Until then…

Yesterday I spent the day with my youngest daughter, her friend, one of my sisters and her husband. We traveled to Michigan and back in time to visit Henry Ford’s Greenfield Village.

The very first thing we did was ride a Model T. Our group had to split into two and we road in two separate vehicles. The one I rode in was one of 6 historic reproductions made by Ford. ( I can’t remember the year these were made — Sorry) The driving tour on the Model T was a history of the car itself. The number of cars made, number of years in production. Location of the gas tank (I was sitting on it in the front seat). And how people differentiated their cars from all the other Model Ts on the road (mainly with special radiator caps and maybe a blanket or throw on the seats (no heat in these cars, so winter travel almost demanded a blanket). Top speed of the car 30-35.

We then road on a 1913 Carousel. I was able to ride on a frog. I’m sure I would have missed out on this if my recently married daughter had been with us.

We saw skits of the Wright Brothers, and a Waterford general Store. As an community theater actor, I was impressed by the way the period actors stayed in their roles. They told a good story and gave an insight into the times and life of the periods.

The afternoon continued with a horse drawn Omnibus ride and and also a ride on a steam locomotive. We had lunch after getting off the locomotive and walked to a 1860’s rules Base Ball game. The home team La Di Dahs were playing the Nationals. The pitching was underhand and they players wore no gloves. Foul balls caught on one bounce were outs. Players were warned if they did not keep their caps on their heads. Very interesting to watch ball played by the old rules.

Of course we walked around the Village. We went into a variety of buildings that exist. There was no way that we would be able to tour the entire village in 1 day, and we didn’t even try. It was a very enjoyable day.

Either my last post was uninteresting, or I hit another busy spot in all of your lives. Most likely the second, but just in case of the first, here’s a little break from camp for a little humor involving kids. Note: none of it was written by me, it was all shamelessly copied from Worthy Christian Forums, though the ones who posted these are probably not the authors either. 😛

Murphy’s Law of Children (there is no actual law it’s a joke)

1. The later you stay up, the earlier your child will wake up the next morning.
2. For a child to become clean, something else must become dirty.
3. Toys multiply to fill any space available.
4. The longer it takes you to make a meal, the less your child will like it.
5. Yours is always the only child who doesn’t behave.
6. If the shoe fits..it’s expensive.
7. The surest way to get something done is to tell a child not to do it.
8. The gooier the food, the more likely it is to end up on the carpet.
9. Backing the car out of the driveway causes your child to have to go to the bathroom.
10. The more challenging the child, the more rewarding it is to be a parent..sometimes.

—————————————————————-

I was sitting in the waiting room of the hospital after my wife had gone into labor and the nurse walked out and said to the man sitting next to me, “Congratulations sir, you’re the new father of twins!”

The man replied, “How about that, I work for the Doublemint Chewing Gum Company.” The man then followed the woman to his wife’s room.

About an hour later, the same nurse entered the waiting room and announced that Mr. Smith’s wife has just had triplets. Mr. Smith stood up and said, “Well, how do ya like that, I work for the 3M Company.”

The gentleman that was sitting next to me then got up and started to leave. When I asked him why he was leaving, he remarked, “I think I need a breath of fresh air.”  The man continued, “I work for 7-UP.”

—————————————————————-

Great Truths That Little Children Have Learned:

1. No matter how hard you try, you can’t baptize cats.
2. When your Mom is mad at your Dad, don’t let her brush your hair.
3. If your sister hits you, don’t hit her back. They always catch the second person.
4. Never ask your 3-year old brother to hold a tomato.
5. You can’t trust dogs to watch your food.
6. Don’t sneeze when someone is cutting your hair.
7. Never hold a Dust-Buster and a cat at the same time.
8. You can’t hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk.
9. Don’t wear polka-dot underwear under white shorts.
10. The best place to be when you’re sad is Grandpa’s lap.

My son is ONE year old today – how time flies!  He is starting to look like such a little man:

This picture was taken at our church for his baby Dedication ceremony we had in June.

Jesus said “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”
Mark 10:14

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEEBER!  WE LOVE YOU!!!

Yesterday started off slowly and ended in the best way possible.  I had to work on my birthday but I really wanted to have Saturday off just in case plans arose for an all day celebration (ya never know).  I decided to call my pal when I got ready before work to check up on him because we were still bumbed about the auditions.  After talking to him, I sensed that he was still not fully recovered.  Hopefully, the game night would help.

Before I went to work, I stepped out into the beauty shop and was greeted with birthday wishes from my mom’s co-owner and an old friend who remembers this day 36 years ago.  The mother of the first woman to ever break my heart.  Ok, so i was like 6 when I asked “Seeah” (could not say Teresa) to marry me then she went off and got married to another man.  To this day, she reminds me of this.

After a loooong, uneventful day at work, I called over to the game night festivities that had already begun to inform them that I had five minutes left!  Games, brownie cake with a “54” candle on top.  54=18 (another game night participant celebrating her birthday)+36.  I think it was 54… sometimes that short-term memory ain’t what it used to be.

Then the surprise package.  I received a thong with a lottery ticket ($2.00 winner) from Megan and a gift bag with a homemade card from Taylor, an invitation to Beeber’s 1st birthday party, a hardcover copy of The Death and Life of Superman, and a fantastic stuffed #1 Yankee fan bear.  I think I like the bear even more than the book it is sooooooo cute.  Thanks taylhis for going to the trouble.

As usual, I was the last guest to leave.  We got into a discussion of our status as guests in a roundabout way.  Something like you no longer are considered a guest if you stay long enough to help clean up.  I don’t know how much I cleaned but I definitely stayed long enough.

Thank you all once again for a Super birthday!!!  I hope it helped C as much as it did me 😀