This shit doesnt happen every day...

Maybe in my life it does but I would prefer that it not. I will start off by saying that Cami was officially diagnosed with ADD. Not like I didnt know this all along but at least now its on paper. The other "therapists" were claiming her as immature behavior. Yeah riiiight. They didnt have to live with her. And what can you really learn in an hour? Well this lady that we went to see on Friday night did just that. We did the paper testing and she read the journal that her teacher and I have been keeping. She talked alone with Cami and she came up with ADD. So now there are new meds for her to be on. This shit is going to be costing me a small fortune every month too. $120 worth to be exact.

So last night she had the night time one and she was out cold. She woke up bright and early at about 7am. Then she took her daytime one with breakfast at about 730. This kid was on the frigging ceiling all day. Her body wasnt moving on fast forward but her mouth sure was. She was talking like she worked in a fast food joint. I had to ask her several times to repeat things and to slow down. But at least she wasnt irritable and whiney. She took her night time one again at about 730pm and she was out by 8. Im hoping the day time one will slow her down. Time will tell.

On another note, my body still hasnt recovered from the multiple field trips I have been on lately. The week before last I went on the same one twice. Yeah.... Twice. I work with two 6th grade classes and they both did the same trip. Only thing is, they didnt do it together. I wished that they had though. Remember that hike that I wrote about? Well this was the same place and the same hike.

The first day, I was with one of the classes and we had no clue what we were supposed to do. I knew about the hike part but I didnt know about the Nature Center. It was funny because the teacher mentioned that we went past one that was also having road construction. We arrived at the hike location and the office there said we had to go to the center first. Well we got there and we couldnt get through because of the construction. So we called the school and things eventually worked out.

But because of this small delay, the hike was sort of rushed. Are you out of your mind? We were walking that trail really fast for part of it and then there was those damn stairs. Liek I need to run half a mile and then climb 60 to 70ft of stairs. Bull. I got to the top and nearly died. I had to use my inhaler and then there was the mile walk back to the bus. I used my inhaler there too. Thing is, I dont have asthma. Everything was fine after that and we had a nice lunch and went back to the school.

The next day I had to do this shit again. But this time I was smart. I had to stay at the end of the line because of safety reasons with any stragglers left. Trust me, these kids really didnt want to do this hike thing. Reread my other post about this place and you will find that reference to the city kids in there. It was pretty darn funny. These kids had fun but didnt want to walk it. Hell I didnt either after yesterday. My ass, back and legs were already killing me. Why did I want to make it worse. Ahhh... for the sake of science. lol. Really though, I did have a great time and I do enjoy that hike. I may do it again before they close the trail for the winter.

But this time I didnt need the inhaler. I paced it nice and rested with the others that straggled behind. I also did some learning stuff with them. We talked about the wooleybears and also the caves. They seemed to like the chats about the caves. There is one area where the kids went in one. I didnt do it on the second run because when I was on the first run, there was a huge spider in there. You wont get me in there again. Christy, dont read that part. Oops. Sorry, too late.

Also you will remember the precious post about my mom leaving for Florida. Well that package finally arrived for Cami. In it was her blanket and kitty. It arrived today so she was beyond thrilled. Its also a relief for me because I dont have to listen to the complaining that she cant sleep without her kitty. Not like she hasnt for the past couple of weeks. *rollseyes* But shes happy so that makes me happy. Also in the package was a new tshirt and this weird candy thing. Its a giant blue gummi rat. Yeah, like shes going to eat that. Well she will but Im not letting her right now. I cant even imagine her on candy too. She will go through the roof.

But there was another item in there. Mom knows how much I love to teach Cami new things. So she finds weird things for me to use as a learning tool. The beaver lodge was a great one. She even sent home a walking stick. Of the insect variety. Not the cane type. Yeah, what could I possibly teacher her about a cane. So anywho, this time it was pretty darn interesting. Mousie stopped along the road somewhere down south on the way to Florida. He hand picked a cotton bloom. Now mind you, I know what this is but I myself have never seen a real one.

So I let her see it and touch it. I went on line to show her what it looks like before it blooms open. Then I showed her how it was harvested. She was sort of confused with that. Online were stories about the machines used but also the slavery stuff. Not that I could really get into that yet so I had to make some stuff up. So we went into a huge history lesson as well. The one thing she just couldnt understand was what cotton was used for. She saw the whole cottonball and Qtip thing. Although she wanted to know why they are called Qtips. I couldnt explain that one yet. But she was shocked and stunned about her clothing. She just couldnt fathom that her shirt was made from a plant. And when I mentioned that her socks and underware were too, she went all wide-eyed. This was hilarious. But eventually she understood. I had to show her videos on how fabrics were made.

This then led to a discussion about wool and naked sheep but we wont go there.

Death Star Canteen

This is absolutely hilarious!!!

http://www.maniacworld.com/death-star-cafeteria.html

Bye Bye Birdy

It’s that time of the year again. You know, when the cold gets too much for the thin blooded. The ‘snow-birds’ head south for the winter. This also includes closing the camp up. I really hate this time of the year. Not so much that the camp is closed or that winter is coming. I’m just really sad to see my mom leaving for Florida . I don’t get to see her again until April. She leaves with her boyfriend and they have a great time while there. I just miss them. So does Cami.

So we spend the last three weeks or so cleaning, raking, plasticing, more raking, hammering, more raking.... You get the picture. But as the days go by, its more and more sadder. Is that a word? Its is now. For them to leave, this means I have to find something else to do on the weekends.

On Oct 6th, we celebrated a camp wide Thanksgiving Dinner. Last year it was so bitter cold that we had to scrounge up heaters. This year it was so warm that we were moving tables outside of the rec-hall. But we stuffed our faces and it was soon to be nap time. Isn’t that always what happens when you stuff yourself full of turkey? It does in my house. But this is a little different. You get to eat with about 70 total strangers. Some we know well though. Can’t get any stranger than they are. But they would say the same thing about my family too. It’s why we all get along.

After that dinner, we are pulling up in front of the house and Cami announced that she forgot her kitty and her blanket at the camp. This is not a good thing because we aren’t going to be going back down there til Spring. She wont last the night without Kitty. So I called mom to see if she could either leave them on the deck or mail them to Cami. She said that they are staying another few days extra and that we will meet on Friday for dinner. She will bring them then.

Friday rolls around and we meet at the mall for dinner. Mom pulls me aside and tells me that she forgot kitty and blanket. Uh oh. Cami is not going to like this when she finds out. So we decided to wait til after dinner to tell her. She didn’t take this too well at all. But the hard part was when grandma was pulling away in the van, Cami was crying that she wanted her kitty over and over. But as the van moved out of sight, she changed it from kitty to grandma. She was completely lost. This is so hard for her. Even though we explain to her that she will be able to call her on the phone, this is not good enough. I know this for a fact because I already miss my mommy. Shes not even in Florida yet.

I started to write this post on that Saturday after. I didntget a chance to finish it and its going to be posted up late. Ive just been so tired and there is more about that later in another post. On Sunday, I got a call to let me know that they reached Baltimore. They will be spending the night there and going to see some of the local attractions with one of Mousie's cousins. At least I know they made it to that point safe. Yeah I worry about them traveling. Not so much them getting in an accident but them getting in trouble. He he he.

So they stayed there for a couple of days and went to the beach and saw some other stuff like the space center and what not. Mom dropped her camera and broke it. Now how are they going to send me pictures without a camera? So I told her where to get a new one thats on sale. Did they buy it? Nope. Not yet.

They arrived in Florida. Have they bought a camera yet? Nope. But she said that all was fine there. Only thing they had a problem with was that all the patio stuff was covered in dust. Well duh. No one has used it since April. What did she think there were some cleaning fairies around? If so, then put them in a carrier and ship them overnight up here.

But all is well down there and all their friends were happy to see them. I was so miserable to see them go that I forgot to make my picks for the football pool. But at least Im not in last place. He he he.

I will keep you all posted on the fun adventures as they come to me. While we are up here freezing our asses off, think about how they are sweating theirs off down there. Oh and word has it that Mousie is going to build a home made water pond with a fountain. I wish I was there to see this one happen. LOLOL

For all the boyz and ghouls....

This is actually a post that I forgot to make. Sorry for the time lapse.

Friday night after school was a little crazy getting everything washed and packed for the next morning. Yes this may sound extremely weird to the more normal person, but we celebrate Halloween early at the campground. You see, we close the camps for the winter. So the closing date is the 14th of October. We have Christmas in July and we have Thanksgiving in October. Halloween is in September.

All the families get involved with all the activities. Almost every campsite is decorated. Some go to the extreme and create what we refer to as a walkthrough. These are pretty much the same type of thing as a haunted house but for that this is on someone’s front deck or yard. It’s a cover over with a tarp and all the good stuff is inside like a path set up. Ok that was a long way of putting it and I think I confused myself. Just picture a haunted trail. The teens get really involved with their parents. They are all dressed up and they do a great job of scaring people that are walking through.

We also have activities during the day for the little ones. Pumpkin painting and apple bobbing are on the list. I’m really surprised that they didn’t do the parade this year. Either that or someone forgot about it. Most of them never want to do that part though. This party seems to get bigger and bigger every year. Not only do we have the normal campers and seasonals, but we also gather more weekenders.

After the party, all the kids go back to their trailers and settle for lunch or whatnot. At 2pm, everyone makes sure that costumes are on and candy is in the bowls. It’s time for trick or treating. Yes we get to do that too. There are a lot of campers to get candy from.

So lets start with the costume. She wants to be Cleopatra. So Im going crazy looking for a white dress for her to wear and then I can just get the other accessories. This saves me alot of cash because the full costumes are so expensive. So we went to the mall to search. While there, we see all the cool accessories. Its going to cost a small fortune to do this. The only full costume is an adult one and well...thats not what I had planned. So she finds a Hannah Montana wig instead. Try talking her out of this one. Go ahead. Good luck. She just doesnt seem to understand that she herself has long blonde hair. She doesnt need the wig for that one. But she doesnt see to understand until she tries it on. She looked at herself and busted out laughing. Ok so we can now scrap that idea.

She then decides to be a tiger. But the tiger set up was a bit weird too. But there was this cute leopard one. It was just the ears and a tail. She found a bell collar too. And there was a nose piece of a rabbit but we could cut the teeth off and it would be cute. She agrees and off we go to the register.

Once at the camp though, she had other ideas. She wanted makeup. So I put some eye makeup on her and she was happy. So after getting all fixed up, we headed up to the party. She picked out a pumpkin and started to paint it and put all these spooky stickers on it. Then she chowed down on some super sugary stuff. This should be fun and keep her going for a little while.

After all that, we went back to the camp and helped Mouse set up the goodies. We have a couple of torso manequines. Please dont ask me to spell check that one because I really dont feel like it right now. But you have the idea of what Im talking about. One of them was the same one used in the Fourth of July Parade. Go back and check the spelling there.

So now we have two. Both have heads but no arms. Doesnt matter. We can fix that. So for one of them, we put clothes on and made it look like he had a lower body. Shoes and all. We put a mask on him that was actually Bill Clinton with the tongue out. You know, from his Monica days. The other one, we sat behind a table and put a wolfman mask on. We made arms for him and gave him a knife. On the table were some hands and a full arm.

Cami helped put fake blood all over everything. We figured that this would get her used to what she will expect in the walk throughs. We also set up the fog machine and the strobe lights. We put some of those Halloween Scene Setters up on the front of the deck. This was really looking cool. Now to wait until dark.

The trick or treating also has now begun. So my mom and I take Cami around the park. We made a killing on candy. Also we ran into some really funny and scary costumes. We got to see some of the cool decorations. Im serious when I say that everyone goes all out for this.

After the candy fetching is over, I want her to take a nap. Shes exhausted and whiney by now. So am I for that matter. After an hour of that, she settles down for dinner and we wait til dark.

We take a ride up to the rec hall and wait in line for the hayride. We board this buckboard trailer and ride to the first walk through. Cami goes in with us and ends up scared shitless. Im serious. I had to carry her the rest of the way out. What an awesome job they did on this. Kudos to them. The next trip was quick and it wasnt as scary. It was a nice ride though.

Then we hit a couple more but one stood out from all the rest. We went through a tunnel of sorts and they did an awesome job. Then mom and I come to an open room where this nurse in a bloody uniform comes out. I knew who it was but she did a great job playing the part. She tells mom to sit and rest while the doctor comes. He pops out of nowhere and scares the crap out of mom. Then Nurse Hatchet takes us to the next room. Here mom gets to be pulled around by two witches. This was hysterical because these ladies are her friends. How appropriate huh? They got the kids involved with masks too and it was a blast. So on to the next one.

After we were done, we went back to the camp and watched the next rides go by. I took Mouse to see the one with all our friends and he got some ideas for next year. But the doctor wouldnt leave me alone. Not like this hasnt happened before. But this one was an old man. Not my type if you ask me. But we had alot of fun.

We all slept good that night and I went home the next afternoon. I was exhausted. The next weekend is Thanksgiving. How much fun could we possibly have. We will have to wait and see.