We're so proud of Nikolas! He passed his Green Belt test yesterday! He's progressed from white, yellow, orange, to now green. Keep up the good work, buddy!
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Monday, July 2, 2012
6-27, Cottonwood Lake
What do these things NOT have in common: an emergency trip to a local clinic, discovering a missing driver's license while trying to check-in to said clinic, and visits to the local pharmacy, internet cafe, printing store and post office? The answer... the makings of a relaxing, birthday getaway. I'd have to say this was one of the most stressful camping trips we've taken. After the stressful birthday morning of finalizing our China travel arrangements while communicating with a travel agent in Seattle and the adoption agency coordinator enroute to Uganda, we were more than ready for a few days to 'recharge our batteries'. The relaxing part lasted all of 2 hours from when we arrived at the campground until a caravan of cars overtook the campsite next to us and 15 kids and 10 adults appeared....quite noisily, I might add. That evening, I didn't sleep well. It hurt to lay on my back, it hurt to roll on my left side and it hurt to roll on my right side. Well, I should have stayed in bed with discomfort instead of getting up to discover I had a sharp pain in my back every time I tried to take a breath. Combine a remote mountain setting with an already stressed me and add pain while breathing = me freaking out. We were able to find a clinic in town who gave me an emergency appointment. My guess was right: a rib was out of place. You would think I was happy being given prescriptions for a muscle relaxer and vicodin, but I wasn't. I wanted to RELAX these few days off, not drool and sleep my way through them. Oh yeah, and that's when I discovered my driver's license was missing. Let's just say that day was extremely stressful (until the Flexeril kicked in, that is) and was totally wasted. We were all pretty bummed. By the last day my back was starting to feel better and we were able to relax a little bit-- just in time to go home.
On a side note, Nikolas and I were given a valuable lesson in why you don't jump to conclusions. The caravan of cars that arrived that first night continued to multiply over the next few days until they were knocking on our door asking if they could park their cars behind us. Geez- the nerve! Yeah, insert reality now. We found out they were all evacuees from the fire near Woodland Park. There were adults, kids, dogs, rabbits, you name it. It was a very sobering lesson as to how an 'inconvenient disruption' for us was a matter of livelihood for others. It was a great teaching moment-- for both Nikolas and me (Sven, the bigger man, as always, never complained about any of it). By the end of our stay, Nikolas was playing with the kids and we even took one of them fishing with us. As we said goodbye to them and gave them our camping spot for that night, we hoped they would have homes to go back to. We remembered when we evacuated Pensacola for Hurricane Ivan and how scary it was (and were fortunate enough to have an intact home to return to while people died in the neighborhood across the street). We remembered how the Pinery was evacuated last year while we were in Texas and we were completely helpless and unable to rescue valuables from our home. You're thankful you have each other and you're safe, but it's so stressful not knowing if you're going to lose everything else-- or if it's already gone. Anyway, you have time to think about these things when you're doped up on Flexeril! I guess I was finally able to relax afterall.....just not in the fashion I had hoped.
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| Sven was so sweet to make me 'my strawberry pie' for my birthday. |
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| I think Nikolas must have taken this photo. |
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| As Sven said many times during this trip: "We just need to send him up to Grandpa so he can go fishing!" |
I didn't leave our camping spot much (obviously), so I thought I could at least get a few pics of the beautiful scenery that surrounded us. It's gorgeous there.
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| No campfire-cooked meals this trip- there's a statewide ban. |
We figured we'd better get a final picture of our trailer during its final voyage. The insurance company is totaling it after all the damage it sustained from the hail storm. Now the question is do we buy it back from them and replace the flooring, fix the furnace and AC or just save up for another one? We can't tell you how sad we are that we only got to enjoy this trailer for a year! I guess maybe some things were just not meant to be.
6-13, Just another walk in the 'hood
Believe it or not, life has been a little hectic and stressful lately. Shocking, I know. As a result, I've packed on a few pounds (when I wish I'd only packed our suitcases for our upcoming adventure instead!). When our schedule allows, I've been getting up at 6 AM and going for a morning walk. It's been a great way to beat the heat (the temps have hovered around 100 degrees for quite some time now) and formulate plans to tackle my endless 'to-do' lists. The best part of my walks are all the furry friends I come across.
The rumor was out: "The babies have arrived!!" I couldn't wait to get a glimpse of this year's fawns. I figured if I walked far enough, I'd get to see these beautiful babies. So one morning, I walked and walked and walked. No babies to be found. As I rounded the corner to our street, but what did I see?! The mommy and TWINS (!!) playing around our mailbox!! I couldn't believe my eyes. Who knew if I'd have made myself a cup of tea and sat on the porch I wouldn't have had to walk those miles. (I know, I know, it's good for me....) I only had my little camera with me, so I couldn't zoom in anymore. But, regardless, I think you get an idea of just how adorable this little family is!
Another morning, Sven ventured out on my morning walk with me. (I won't get into how he disturbed my morning routine and had us walk to the moon and back.....). Again, as we were walking down our street, he grabbed my arm. In this neighborhood you never know.....fox, mountain lion, armed gunman..... but as I saw what had stopped him in his tracks I couldn't believe my eyes. This little guy was four feet off the road. I never would have seen him there among the rocks (but as I stated earlier, I was a tad bit tired and just wanted to get home....). I guess mama thought this was the perfect hiding place for her little one. Sadly to say, I scared the dickens out of him (I really did think he was sleeping) only moments later and he jumped up and hid under this house's patio. FYI, I did not crop this picture at all-- that's how he close he was to the road. It was awesome being so close to this new little guy!
Don't these photos make you all want to come visit and go for a morning walk with me?!