You May Officially Disregard the Last Post

We have less than 3 weeks of summer break left to go and I don't know if I've accomplished ANYTHING on my list from the last post.  But who cares... it's summer vacation right?  Here's a recap so far:
Week 1:  Girls Camp

It was amazing and exhausting, all at the same time.  I LOVE Girls Camp.  I LOVE doing the 4th year hike... I LOVE doing it with my partner, Danielle.  I LOVED having Megan on the hike this year.  I LOVED my YCL's.  I LOVED how Eric puts up with me all for this amazing 3 days with a bunch of teenage girls.  (He LOVES it too... and I think he loves that going to Girls Camp gets him out of Scout Camp now!)

Week 2:  Recover from Girls Camp (Daily Routine:  Sleep in, decide it's too hot to exercise, sit in chair in my PJ's until close to dinner time, shower, get dressed and make dinner, pretend like I've done something other than watching Robin Hood episodes with the kids all day, hang out with Eric, watch some more TV, wish I was back at Camp, and go to bed.... repeated 5 times!)

Week 3:  Road trip with my besties...
These girls are seriously awesome.  We got invited to go hang out at Karen's house (aka Lambson Lodge) for a couple days without kids or hubbies.  It was sooo much fun... we were the biggest kids up there.  We sat around Karen's house talking, eating caramel corn and chocolate chip cookie dough, while watching Season 2 of Downton Abbey.  We did get out of the house to eat some mediocre mexican food (and I was mad because I forgot my milk pills!), shop for soda and junk food at the local Safeway,  and get ice cream in Greer.  (Again... still no milk pills....)  Most of these photos were taken when we parked to walk along the creek in Greer.  This little tourist trap town has got to be the prettiest mountain town in Arizona I have EVER seen.  Next time I get a Groupon offer for a cabin in Greer, I might just buy it.    Many thanks to Karen and Sheri for making this visit happen.  It was WONDERFUL!

Two days after coming home from the White Mountains, we took Sheri's family out on the boat with us. It was super fun.  All the kids had a great time, including Megan, even though their family has all boys.  Megan is such a good sport.  She puts up with a lot of boys in her life.

Week 4:  Recover from road trip with my besties and an exhausting boat day... I'm not 13 anymore... it was almost like Ragnar all over again... except that Adrienne and I got to share a double bed instead of cramming into a van for middle of the night naps!   Also this week, appointments galore.... Visiting Teaching, Chiro, Ortho, Dermatology and 2 of the kids got physicals.  Whew... I felt like I was LIVING in my car!

Week 5:  Which brings us to today.  The only thing I've accomplished today so far is about 6 loads of laundry... whether or not said laundry will get folded and put away is anyone's guess.  I've also cleaned out my 2 email inboxes and read blogs that I've ignored for the last six weeks.  Luckily, I'm not the only lazy blogger out there... so there weren't too many to sift through.  I do have a "to do" list of things I want to accomplish before wednesday afternoon.  It includes cleaning the fridge, sweeping and vacuuming the house, pulling the weeds in the backyard, and the usual stuff that has to be done all the time.  Wednesday evening we are having friends over for a BBQ/swim party, and Thursday, Eric and I head to Portland for a short but sweet getaway.

Week 6 will involve lots of cleaning and back to school shopping.

Week 7 we will have family come!  Yay!  I always feel bad when the grandparents come in the hottest summer months, but Ian will be turning 12 and getting the priesthood, so it's a big occasion that warrants the presence of both sets of grandparents.

Week 8 will be the first day of school... and summer vacation will officially be over.  Booo.... Hisss.... sad face!  Summer itself will last for 2 more months after school starts, so at least the school routine will help distract us from the heat.  Maybe...

Cross this off my Bucket List

Since January, I’ve been planning the 4th year hike for Girls Camp.  Since I haven’t been on the 4th year hike in 21 years, it was quite an ordeal to prepare for.  Having said that, this is something that I have wanted to do since my last stint at Girl’s Camp twenty years ago.   But all the stress, meetings and blind prep-work were worth it.  We had the greatest group of girls you could ever ask for.   Here we all are just before the hike began. 

My AMAZING YCL’s (Youth Camp Leaders).  All four of these girls volunteered to go on this hike.   They were beyond incredible.  I couldn’t have picked them better myself. 

The easy part of the trail.  The first day we hiked in about 4.5 miles.  We had a few sore hips and shoulders and had to do some pack adjustments along the way. 

When we got to the river where we were going to spend the night, there was only one problem.  NO WATER.  Yep, the river that was probably 4 feet deep just one month earlier was completely dried up.  The men were able to find water for us about a 1/4 mile downstream but it was quite the ordeal to get it for us.   And they found some very large animal footprints near the only water source in the area, which we tried hard NOT to think about.

The adults camped apart from the rest of the girls.  For one reason, we wanted to be on flat ground, and for another reason, we wanted to get a good night’s sleep.   But we didn’t’ have to worry about the girls giggling all night long.  After a very long day, they were exhausted and most of them were asleep when I made the rounds to their tents to say good-night. 

The next morning, we did certification, had a really great girls-only talk and played some Mafia.  After lunch, we got ready to hike. 

The first day was mostly flat and downhill. The second day would be uphill and grueling. The first mile was straight uphill. After that it leveled out some. After 3 miles, we got to our cars for our second night.   Here are all 15 of them…. tired, but very happy that the worst part of the hike was over!

For the first night of our camp, we had to employ the wander-deep-into-the-woods-and-dig-a-hole technique for bathroom jobs.  The second night we camped along a well traveled road, so there weren’t really any woods to wander into and get privacy.  This is our home-made latrine.  Eric and the YCL’s dug the hole and built it.  The potty itself is a 55 gallon water drum chopped in half with a toilet seat attached to the top.  It’s primitive, but it felt like heaven after squatting in the woods. 

One great thing about having cars nearby, was we could cook really good food. Our camp cooks, Danielle and Jared, were amazing! We had shish kabobs and rice for dinner.  And when we gave the girls a cold soda with their dinner, they thought they’d died and gone to heaven.  I just wish I had acquired a couple more cans of Dr. Pepper. 

We had one girl get sick that night, which meant we had to call her mom, who decided to drive up and get her.  It would take her at least 3 hours to make the trip up, so we had a late night waiting for her.  The entire area was under a N0-BURN mandate, so we had to get creative keeping our hands warm.  Luckily we had a full size BBQ and a large tank of propane.  Can you say desperate?  What can I say?  We were freezing!

                                          

On day three, we got up bright and early to head for the Blue Ridge Reservoir.   It was just a few miles down the road from where we camped.  I must interrupt this narrative to say how responsible our girls were.  Not one of the 15 girls asked us to pack their backpacks or put up/take down their tent.  I was amazed!

I’ve never been to the Blue Ridge Reservoir before, but it was gorgeous!  The water was cold (60 degrees, I think,) but the sun felt very warm even at 9 a.m.  It didn’t take long to get hot and sweaty and to think that maybe a quick dip in the water would feel good. 

Good thing one of the YCL’s decided to jump in off a rock.  Her reaction when she came up from the water convinced me NOT to try it myself.  I was also very thankful that none of our girls tipped their canoes.  None of the leaders wanted to deal with that problem in the freezing cold water.  and we’re pretty sure they wouldn’t be able to right it on their own without help.  When we went to the reservoir, I was expecting something big and wide.  I didn’t expect it to be a long and narrow snake-like river.  I liked it because it was easy to keep track of the girls.  Eric and I were in the front canoe and Jared and Danielle were in the back canoe.  The girls could do whatever they wanted as long as they didn’t go ahead or get behind.  Of course, Eric and I had to work hard to keep up with the girls who were determined to get to the end of the river before it was time to turn around.  Apparently we aren’t very efficient canoers.  Girls kept surging way out in front of us and we were working harder than they were!  No fair!

 

   

   

This was by far the coolest picture I got while in the canoes.  Check out that water fight Eric is having with the girls. 

After we’d paddled for 2 hours, we turned around and paddled back to the boat launch.  We changed clothes and ate lunch and got ready for our grand re-entrance into camp.

This is where my photo journal ends.  We drove back to Long Valley and sang our way back into camp.  It seems silly, but it was a super emotional experience for me.  (Thank goodness I was wearing sunglasses, so no one would notice me crying!)   I was so proud of each one of these girls and their accomplishment.  How many 15 year olds do you know that will give up their make-up and carry a 30 pound pack on their back for 2 days in the middle of nowhere?  Not many, I think.

The rest of camp was a blur for me.  I didn’t take any more pictures with my camera and I spent most of the time walking around in a stupor.  I was so strung up over the hike, that when it was over and we were all back safely at camp, I crashed.  Not that I slept well, mind you… (I had the curse of the crappy air mattress), but I wasn’t really coherent enough to do anything without being told.  Luckily, I had a schedule clipped to my pants so I wouldn’t forget what I was supposed to be doing for the rest of the week.

It was a fantastic experience for Eric and I to be leaders on this hike and we can’t wait to do it again next year!  And next year, we’ll have Megan in our group, which will make it extra special!

Girls Camp: Long Valley

I have been trying to get to Girls Camp for years.  I LOVE going camping, and I love hanging out with the teenage girls in our church... so what better way to spend a few days, right? 

I've also been dying to visit Long Valley.  It's a piece of property our church owns up in the mountains on the Mogollon Rim.  (Mogollon is pronounced Mon-gee-on).  It's at 8000 feet, in beautiful ponderosa pine country with no cactus in sight!  Yeah!

Proof I was there!  This was the first night, while I still had good hair... thank goodness the first day was the hottest, so I could spend the rest of the time with baseball caps or beanies on my head and be comfortable!

This gully runs the whole length of the valley.  It's really beautiful!

I loved being at camp with Megan and all the other young ladies from our local congregations.  We have some fabulous girls in our ward and stake.  I was so impressed with their testimonies, their leadership skills and their spirit of fun and creativity.  I loved seeing their "true selves".... make-up-less, cell-phone-less and relaxed... just up there to have fun.  I am hoping to weasel my way into the pool for the 4th year hike next year... now that would be even better!