Thursday, July 22, 2010

what i forgot

Duh. I forgot a fun day! We spent Monday at Carrowinds amusement park. It's owned by the same people who own Cedar Point (for those of us Ohioans) and the newest ride there is a "scaled down" version of the Millenium (called the Intimidator) -- this information is from mom and dad who were at Cedar Point a year or so ago and rode the rolling coaster. In any event, we arrived as the park opened and were able to ride the Intimidator without too long a wait. Mom sat out with Taylor who's not quite tall enough for the ride. She'll have an opportunity to ride it again later in the year with their season pass. The rest of us (me and my girls, dad, Kris, and Mackenzie) all rode it. FUN!!! We were at the park until mid-afternoon, riding coasters and other rides, ending up on the river ride on which we all got soaked (just in time to get in the car wet for the drive back to mom and dad's house).

I probably forgot something else, but for now, this is it!

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

July 2010

Yes, it's been a while. No, I don't have a good excuse. And I'm typing on my mom's keyboard, so excuse any typos.....

For a summer in which the girls didn't go to camp ALL summer, it's been incredibly busy. They did participate for one week in camp at Dominican High School (where Maggie starts in the fall). Maggie's age group selected activities in which to participate, Abby's age group had assigned activities. We carpooled with two other families -- one of Maggie's friends from school and an acquaintance of mine who live near-by. Worked out nicely in that no one had to drive all the time. I went to the finaly program (Abby did a dance and a cheer) and got to see all the artwork they'd made during the week -- some pretty nice stuff!

Abby really improved on her swimming with the team. She learned how to dive and flip-turn and her strokes are stronger. She really seemed to enjoy it and wants to both be on her school's team this fall and probably do it again next summer.

I completed a Bible Study on my own -- some of the women from my church meet during the week in the evenings, but it doesn't fit with my commitments right now. This summer they were doing a study on "Becoming a Woman of Worth" that interested me -- studying 8 women in the Bible and how they are examples of traits to be emulated today. Even though I didn't participate in the group, I did the study on my own. I missed the discussion like I get with my school-year day-time group, but did find a lot of value in the study in terms of how I want to develop myself.

The girls and I are currently at my parents' house in North Carolina. We flew up with Tom 2 weeks ago and then spent a week in Pigeon Forge with my sister and her family (unfortunately, my brother-in-law threw his back out and was unable to come -- in fact, Kris drove home for 2 nights to be with him and get him to an MRI before returning). We had cabins across a small lane from each other and all had a great time. Tom and I took a driving trip to the National Park and went to Cades Cove. We also enjoyed massage on our deck one morning during a rain storm -- pretty neat! We hit the Dollywood splash park and had fun on the water slides. And we enjoyed the Dixie Stampede together. Did some touring of Gatlinburg and some went to the Aquarium, some went to a Science/Discovery museum, etc. Dinners at the cabins which each had hot-tub (my dad actually got in one!), jacuzzies, pool table, air hockey, etc. LOTS of fun for all!

We got back to mom and dad's Friday and Tom headed for home Saturday morning. Sigh. The girls and I have managed to keep a bit busy. We've done some shopping (girls with gramma, a few trips to Target to replace broken flip flops and other fun things, shoe store with sales). Abby thought she wanted to try water skiing again so we headed out yesterday. I hadn't been for 12 years and managed to get up on my second try (not quite enough "oomph" to the acceleration on the first try and my rear-end was stuck in the water!). Stayed up a short while and demonstrated to Abby how easy it is to simply drop the rope and "fall". Mom then took a go and also got up on the second try and stayed up much longer than I (this after celebrating a birthday Sunday!). The boat was acting up (probably the starter) and Abby decided she was a bit apprehensive, so we decided to take a ride instead of her skiing. Which was fun until we were almost back to the house and it started to rain. For some reason, they all thought it funny to see my hidden completely under my towel to stay dry until it rained more and then mom and Abby did about the same (Maggie took shelter under the dash board). The thunder waited until we we'd docked the boat -- thankful for small blessings!

Today was our regular shopping trip. I'm really not much of a shopper -- I go to buy what I need, and don't like to "go shopping" to look around. I like to go with my sister -- we have a system -- we go into the store together, split up to find what we like, meet at the dressing room, and continue on. This year we included Maggie for the first time -- she's wearing "people" clothes and so she got invited (much to the dismay of Abby and Mackenzie -- her sister and cousin). Kris and I managed to buy a couple of the same things and all three of us bought the same shirt -- a dark purple knit tope with flowers on it. We managed to change before we got back to the house so that we could all walk in in the same shirt......

The girls and I head back home Saturday -- mom is flying with us as she's going to my aunt's house to help out after her surgery. The girls will go to a week of scrapbooking camp next week and then we've only 2 more before school starts. Yikes!

Hope your summer is going well and that you're enjoying it!

Sunday, July 4, 2010

2 days cruising the Niger River

Not anywhere close to any cruising I imagine any of you have done (aside from my dad and uncle, of course!). The first is a shot of the entire boat, taken actually where we docked on a sand shoal to spend the night (in tents). The second is a close up of the toilet -- basically an enclosed hole leading directly into the water. Hey, it worked! And you had to walk along the exterior of the boat in order to reach it.....




Before we'd gotten to the boat, we'd had breakfast with Mac and three girls from the Peace Crops. Interesting to hear what their experiences have been. Breakfast was VERY familiar looking to any American -- pancakes, french toast, maple syrup (REAL!), tea, coffee, and hot chocolate. After breakfast a small group of us went to see the bead museum -- lots of history on the beads. Then onto NO PLANNED ACTIVITY for 24 HOURS!!!!! Given that I was suffering pretty badly with what turned out to be bronchitis/sinus infection, I really needed the R&R. I basically spent the entire time on the pinasse (fancy name for the boat) horizontal, with my head propped up so I could breathe. Fun to see some of the activity going on down the river -- various villages and settlements, people riding down the river on other boats, women doing wash in the river (euw!). And nice to just lie there with my eyes closed, decompressing after an intense period of time! The next photo shows them cooking lunch -- 2 men "manned" the pinasse, one "driving" and one doing everything else. Cooking was on an open fire (safety shmafety).



We simply cruised along all day. A bit before dark we landed on our shoal and the boat people got out the tents. There were plenty, allowing most of us to have our own. Nice for dad as he didn't have to sleep with the "coughing wonder" that I'd become. And I didn't have to feel bad for tossing and turning all night. Up the next morning to continue along our way to meet back up with the cars to continue to Segou.

Despite being sick, I truly enjoyed the relaxation offered by the trip down the river. It also allowed a different view of the country than over-ground, especially with regards to the rather poor roads. We'd had quite an intense "immersion" in Konsango, and this 24 hours gave us all an opportunity to de-compress and assimilate it into ourselves as we transitioned back into "modern society".........