Advocating for our kids: Let's allow them to use their own voice.

All too often, I've run into parents too concerned about speaking on behalf of their children.  Just today, we had a woman in with her daughter and she was speaking for her.

The daughter had the ability to speak.
The daughter used that ability to speak.
The mother continued to speak for her, but when the daughter was speaking she did pause her interruption.

I believe that the daughter was mildly learning disabled.  She spoke on her own behalf.  She made her needs known in appropriate ways.  She responded appropriately.

So why was mama speaking for her?  I believe that she has probably protected and advocated for her all of her life but since this young lady is probably ball parking 16, she is going to have to have mama loosen those communicative apron strings a bit.

As parents, letting those strings out can feel uncomfortable.  As parents, letting those strings out could also cause us more work.  As parents, we need our children to learn to live outside of our protective or hovering presence.

There was another young woman who came into work to inquire about a job.  As you can guess, mom was with her.  Mom ran her over, ran to the counter, interrupted her and was completely overbearing.  The child could not speak up for herself and she was 18 and going into college.

Parents, we can't do this to our kids.

We need to teach our children how to advocate for themselves.  We need them to learn to speak their needs, themselves, and to learn to be (as my kiddo would call) problem solvers.

I was just talking with M this evening and said that it was a blessing for K to move to a school system that I have not been all involved in.  At her elementary, every teacher knew me.  I was the PTA president, was there all of the time and wrote the monthly newsletter.  K was there with me all of the time schlepping tables for book fairs, decorating things, setting up different events and I think that in some small way, this earned her a bit of a communicative pass from some of her teachers.  Now this isn't to say that K didn't communicate at all, but she was far more shy about making her needs known.

Fast forward to 6th grade.

M and I dropped K off to a strange school with a building full of kids she did not know, no one knew her mama and she had to make it on her own.

Honestly, at the end of her 6th grade year, she fell flat on her face.  It was ugly.  We knew that it was happening because of a series of poor choices, but she needed to learn.  She was in big trouble.  (Lying and not turning work in.)  Her teacher allowed her to turn her work in late, but at a maximum of 50% score.  It sucked, but we had to let it happen.

She pulled through and in the end, open enrollment continued for her 7th grade year.  (We have to re-apply every year, making this mama quite nervous.)  K dusted herself off in middle school, found the book club, volunteered at the library, helped her Language Arts teacher during lunch (we didn't even know this until the end of the year) and was chosen to be Student of the Month for October.

She did this all on her own.

It's not to say that there weren't gaffs in 7th grade, but she really pulled herself up by her bootstraps and made her needs known.  She discussed some inappropriate speak that was going on with one of the young men, asked me my opinion and I gave her both sides.  The next morning she told me, "I've decided to go speak with Mr. L about it.  I know what can happen, but what is going on isn't right and I need someone to know."  Though retaliation was a definite possibility, she spoke with the Vice Principal about her concerns and throughout the remaining part of the year, he would check in on her and make sure that all was okay.

She did this all on her own.

Children's choices may not be our choices, but we need to allow them to make decisions.  We need to allow them to learn to effectively speak for themselves, make appropriate choices and speak out when wrongs need righted.  They need to know ramifications of poor decision making. (Clearly we need to make certain that they are safe and keeping others safe.)

We need to help them to model good behavior and good citizenship.

We need to be an example to them of:

  . . . love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control.  Galations 5:22-23

We need to allow them to use their voice.  We needn't speak for them.  We need to guide them.  We need to be there to listen.  We need to allow them to do it . . . on their own.

I swear that we still exist!

It's been a few months.  I promise we're still upright and all that.

We were all busy at the end of school just wrapping things up.  K moved on up to :sigh: going to middle school soon.  She ended 5th grade with perfect attendance for the year, honor roll and a President's Education Award.  We're busy adjusting to what middle school is going to mean and the changes that come with that.

My girlie in middle school.  Let's just sit on that for a second.  Every parent sits and says, "Just yesterday . . . "

I had the church rummage sale that ate most of June.

K has been volunteering at the local library twice a week and she's gone a few weeks with M to work to help him as a program volunteer.

My sister got married.  Wishing the union goes better than the felony charges that the two decided to rack up given their penchant for pot.

M and I have gone to a few more concerts.  You see, people usually go out to eat.  Since M can't eat a lot of what is out and about, we have just gone back to going to some occasional concerts.  We went to J Roddy Walston and the Business at Musica.  Oh, it was so good!  M got me a spot in the center front of the stage.  (Short girls up front!)

We stood in this line at Mayhem Fest for M to meet . . . 

 . . . The band members of Hellyeah.  

He's always wanted to meet Vinnie Paul and this opportunity made his day.

We've been a little bit of everywhere, and everywhere has been busy.  We still have one more month to chip away before the rigors of school kick back in.  

No school uniforms. 

Flip-flops.

Lightning bug and butterfly catching.

Mosquito bite itching.

Candy tossers in a parade. 

Birthday parties.  

Family walks at night.

Talks by the campfire.

Cool nights.

Hot days.

Swimming.

Goodies from the garden.

Time together.

:sigh:  

Walking side-by-side in marriage.

I had a customer in yesterday who really got under my skin.  He came in, I happily told him to let us know if he needs help with anything.  Truly.  That's what we're there for and we are happy to help.

He comes to me.  He starts talking.  It's a bit incoherent.

He speaks of a girl who asked him to marry her.  Of course he had to say yes.

He's married.

He's not married.

How could he marry?

He talks on about artists and art.  I engage in the conversation.  He talks about my boss.  I discuss certain aspects of the work.

He speaks of attending college.  I say something in regard to that and he tells me that he's illiterate.

:tip of the head with the attending college comment:

He continues to talk.  And talk.  And talk.  I can't fully understand him, but I give a bit of a grunt and nod from time to time.  (I can understand the idea he speaks of, but not details.)

Toni comes up.  She had been setting a jewelry case in the back.  He turns.  I kick her in the shin so she knows not to leave.  (I apologized later in case I bruised her.)  He rambles some more, then goes to look around next door.  Later, she told me that she had been keeping an eye on the situation and came to be with me on purpose.

I called next door just to have him followed a bit.  I didn't think he would steal anything, but I had no idea what he would do or what customer or coworker he would corner.  Matt was sent to hang with him.  He later told me, "I didn't know what you had against 'Duck Dynasty' until he opened his mouth.  Then I knew."

About 10 minutes later, the guy comes back through.  He talks of marriage.  He talks of marriage "Being a man and a woman, whites with whites, blacks with blacks and Muslims with Muslims."  :chewing on the inside of my cheek:

"Well, I think it's most important that people marry whoever makes them happy."

His response?  "I think that obedience is most important.  Obedience is more important that happiness, don't you think?"

I may have closed my eyes.

I may have taken a deep breath.

I picked up the phone and called a male coworker over.  He was over faster than I ever thought he could move.

He left almost immediately after Dan arrived.

Here's the thing, I don't pull that trigger all that often.  I'm not the girl to always have a man come to our rescue.  He seemed a little unhinged and I just didn't know which way things would go with him.

What do I think of obedience?  Well, it's great when you are a kid or an animal.  My thoughts and how we are structured in our marriage is that we're equal in this marriage.  My friend will say that she and her husband walk side-by-side.  She said that she doesn't walk behind, but doesn't walk in front, either.  M and I are that way.  There are times one takes the lead a bit more than the other, but we both take care of each other.

Happiness IS most important to both of us.

M's specification before marriage is that we had to enjoy our jobs.  If we didn't enjoy them, we had to move on.  Neither one of us have changed jobs that often in our 18+ years of marriage.  M moved from one permanent park position to another because of continual displeasure with his job.  I moved from the wedding boutique partially out of complete unhappiness and partly because I was trying to find a job art related.

We have a small house that we can manage because that brings happiness to us.  We love our neighborhood.  We love our little plot of earth.

We have basic vehicles that we take care of and own until they die because that brings happiness to us.  Shopping for cars stresses us out.

Neither one of us makes demands of the other.  Instead, we work together-- as a team.  There is no submissive wife.  (He knew that long before marriage.)  There is no submissive husband.  (I wouldn't want that.)  We are helpful mates to each other and I would want nothing more.
 

Renewed appreciation.

My husband and I have been married for 18 years.  We've hung out for 21.  We been through ups and downs, but nothing that has had us ever consider parting ways.

Ever.

We're lucky that way and I know it.

Recently, stories keep tumbling in my door about family members and friends in dire straights with marriage.  There has been infidelity, verbal abuse, growing apart and cases of mutual disrespect.

M and I were having a heart-to-heart last night.  I was regaling him with stories that were told to me of loves lost, hearts broken and those just trying to scrape it together to make it work.

"Makes you appreciate me a little more, doesn't it?" my man said to me with a grin.

I truly have been fortunate.  Tacky to say, but a lot of men would have left me after being told that I couldn't have children or risk a 90% chance at death.

M would tell you that he has been fortunate because a lot of women would have left him for his undiagnosed digestive ills that he's been battling for 12 1/2 years.

Never once have either one of us considered it.

M and I have always had a mutual respect for each other.  A coworker was talking a few weeks ago and I mentioned something.  She told me that the relationship that M and I have together isn't that typical and that we really were made for each other.

I know it.  So does he.

How fortunate I am.  How fortunate we both are.

Feeding the birds, travels through blizzard conditions, a trip to the pharmacy, being ID'd for shoe glue and other happenings.

The soundtrack you should be playing for this particular post would be Joseph Arthur.  :)  Just kidding.  It's just what I'm listening to while I write it.  I do highly recommend it if you haven't listened to it!  

Onward.

There have been busy weeks and days off for cold and all that.  

Last weekend, we traveled out to Alliance to hand feed chickadees at a park there.  We won't be giving free press to that particular park because the people working there had the personality of wallpaper paste.  It was much like the woman we encountered when we visited the NPS Johnstown Flood Memorial.  There are few parks we will NOT visit.  The few we have marked off the list are those with people who just don't care about the people visiting and helping them TO KEEP THEIR JOB.   My husband is a public servant and just doesn't understand why people can be so very crappy in that job.  He is thankful every single day that he has the job he has.  He knows that in this day and age of technology, he's a bit of a dinosaur that can easily be replaced by an app.  (Not in our eyes because he is truly VERY good at his job.  Still . . . ) 

At any rate, we tempted the thick layers of ice, hiked about 3/4 mile into the woods and found the site.  We didn't find the human handing out seed.  There were no signs.  It wasn't obvious to figure out what was going on.  We went into a little shack that they had and we may or may not have helped ourselves to the trash can of sunflower seeds.  We went out to start with the feeding and a somewhat disheveled woman, looking much like the bird lady from Mary Poppins, came up with a reused peanut butter jar of diced peanuts.  (I really though she'd say, "Tuppence a bag!")  Instead she said, "Oh, I see you brought your own seed!"  "Kind of."  

You have to stand still with your arm out.  It seems silly, but your arm starts to hurt rather quickly.

My girl had her handful.

M was the first with a visitor.  It turns out that he would be the only one of us.  Those chickadees are quick.  Not the greatest photo, but it's all I could do!

You see, there was a boy scout troop that came in ahead of us.  Now, this isn't to say anything against boy scout troops.  The boys do great things and can truly be wonderfully behaved.  These children were not those children.  They were loud.  They were running around.  They were throwing snowballs.  They scared all of the birds away.  In fact, we moved to the bridge to try to get away from them. 

My beautiful girl here trying to be patient.  Neither she or I corner the market on patience.  

In other news, these were hand-me-downs from my girl.  They are just slightly big on me.  I just figured this might the place I state that we can no longer share shoes.  Girlie wears an 8 1/2 and I wear a 6 1/2.  These happen to be Keens that run a half size small.  With thick socks, the 7 1/2's fit my feet just fine.  Still, girlie has such big feet!

I admit that we gave up.  K and I couldn't take the snowball fighting and screaming any longer.  I looked over at her and said, "If that were me, my mom would have beat my butt."  She smirked.  The ladies standing somewhat within earshot laughed and agreed.  

Yesterday was our 18th anniversary.  We had plans to go snowshoeing at The Wilderness Center.  We packed up the snowshoes.  We headed out.  People kept talking about how cold it was supposed to be.  We had planned for that.  What we hadn't planned for was this.  

The true white out photo is on my phone.  I had to stop a few times, put my hazards on and hope that no one hit us.  This photo is the same one as below.  They would come and in a minute or so, the white out would be gone.  Still, the driving was nasty.  

Add to that that we were in -- Amish County-- home to the unmarked 90 degree turns.

Oh, yes.  The 90 degree surprise turns about wiped us out.  The road suddenly disappeared.  "Where'd the road go?"  I asked M, then suddenly I found it.  "It's a curve!"  The traction alarm was going off.  We were sliding.  I was hanging onto the steering wheel with one hand, tempted to shift into neutral with my right.  My foot was on the break, but I didn't want to slam on it and cause it to be any worse. There was one very small, low arrow on a sign in the middle of the 90 degree turn.  Um, thanks for that.  I didn't want to shift into neutral because I thought the traction control wouldn't work.  It seemed like we were sliding for minutes, but truly, it was only seconds.  The traction control kicked in and stopped our sideways slide.  We weren't head first sliding.  Oh, that would be too easy.  we were sliding sideways across the turn with my drivers door clearly where the front end of my RAV should be.  She corrected it.  She pulled us all around.  She saved us from biting the ditch.  :shakes of the head:  Wow!  We did have a nice day and I was able to buy all of my spices in bulk.  I found that my spices were old and frankly, some were dead.  

Sunday brought us negative temperature weather.  I guess it got to -12 F last night.  What are my people doing today?  Oh, they are headed to the Columbus Zoo because it is free admission day.  :shakes of the head:  They wore so many clothes that K looked like Randy from A Christmas Story.  They promised to be down there for a few hours and to head back up before the storm hits.

I have a cold.  It isn't severe, but it's enough to make me feel a little funky.  Yesterday, we were stuck going to the Big Box of Blue.  M needed his cold drug of choice-- Advil Cold & Sinus.  I pop up and asked the pharmacy tech, "Can we get some Mucinex with that?"  "You have to purchase it separately with a different ID."  I told her that I understood.  She laughed and said, "Not that you guys look like you are a problem."  "We aren't.  I promise, I really do have a cold!  Besides, my teeth aren't rotting out of my face and my skin is surprisingly clear."  "Honey, you would be buying generic in the biggest box you could and would be faking a cough."  (To note, I bought the smallest box of Mucinex that they had.)  So we suited up with our cold remedies, K and I perused the leftover Valentine's items for Easter egg stuffings.  (I watch what I buy, but the kids don't care.)

M threw some shoe glue into the basket.  We were going as a line of ducklings towards the Kleenex.  M disappeared.  It's okay, because I had to stand and patiently wait for the tissue display.

There was a woman and her 9 year old daughter.  They had the entire display either blocked with the cart or the woman body blocking the rest of it as she dug through all of the boxes.  She looked up and saw me standing there.  I admit that a cold in combination with a delightful case of PMS may not have caused me to give her the loving look that our Lord would have preferred.  I think she was struck with a sick look combined with bewilderment.  "Oh, I just don't know why but I just had to dig through all of the designs!"  I reached over, grabbed the massive 4 pack and said, "Ma'am, I just need to wipe my nose."  Grant you, they are the marbly ugly Kleenex boxes, but I'm going through them so fast that it doesn't matter as long as the box doesn't empty out at the wrong time.

We went to the cash lane.  We obeyed the sign that talked about 20 items or less.  The girl flagged us and our basket over.  I was ID'd for the shoe glue.  "Are you 18?"  I laughed.  The gray streaks on the top of my head might suggest, but I told her, "I promise, we have shoes to repair.  No huffing at my house!"  She did laugh.  Just doing her job.  I get it.  She managed to somehow overcharge us for Airborne.  She caught it and charged us again.  She overcharged us by over $9.50.  She charged for 3 packages when we got 1.  Of course, I didn't find that out until we got to the car.  We schlepped everything back in.  They cheerfully refunded the money, but still . . . Rrrr.  I know, I know.  It's another reason of why I don't shop there.

K had a "snow" day on Friday for cold.  I think that they called that one too soon.  I envision another "snow" day for cold this week.  Never mind that they have today and Friday off anyhow.  I see Thursday being possible.  Who knows?

Finally, my husband handed me a bag of chocolate yesterday.  "No, really.  I bought this for you.  Please eat it.  If it runs out, I promise that I can buy you more.  Please.  Have chocolate."  Bless his heart.

Be warm!

Pearl Jam 10/1/14: Tales of rail and wine.

My man and I went to see my favorite band.  I've never had the opportunity to see the boys live.  I was so excited.

This adventure started a while ago.  A long while ago, Hubs and I kind of discontinued going out on dates because, well, we did the kiddo thing.  I know, I know.  We didn't need to stop living life.  We didn't, but we were ignoring being able to go out and have a fun time together as a two-piece instead of a three-piece.

Lightning Bolt came out last fall and the tour ran right when my busy season at work does.  There would be no way.

Christmas came and it was a very PJ Christmas.  Hubs bought me some merch from the band website and set me up with a bunch of stuff that I didn't have.  (Lightning Bolt-- I was waiting because I knew I'd get it as a gift.  PJ20 DVD and CDs among other things.)

Rumors were afoot about PJ doing another tour.  I signed on to the fan club. I should have done it a long time prior, but life happens.  The tour was announced.  A pre sale lottery would be held at the end of May for any of the Ten Club members.  Plunk in the venue you wish for, the type of seating that you'd want (1st & 2nd choice) and you sit to wait for the lottery magic to happen.  Magic happened!

Thank you, Discover Cash Back, for helping to offset the cost of our date.

Hooray!  I won!  What did I win?  GA tickets.  For those not in the know, GA = General Admission, AKA the pit.  :insert anxiety attack:  "Holy crap!  We just won PIT!"  Hubs wanted pit.  He said that the reserved seats on the floor would be bad for me.  We couldn't see.  :deep breath:  I came to a conclusion, I'm going in.

Over the next few months, I prepared.  I read.  I asked questions.  I wanted know what to do when the day arrived.

We dropped our kiddo off to school and made arrangements for her to be picked up and cared for that evening.  We arrived in Cincinnati at noon.  We made a beeline for the General Admission (GA/pit) line.  I hung out for a few with Hubs and headed on upstairs to stand in line for merch.  They were supposed to have a merch trailer on the street in front of our line and a tent upstairs.  We didn't get the trailer, but the tent was a 20x10 Easy Up.  The line was long.  It took an hour and a half, but we were standing in lines anyhow.  Hubs and I texted each other back and forth.

I got my merch (a poster/tube, a shirt, 2 buttons and three stickers) cruised back down and showed it to Hubs.  (Thanks to my in-law's for the birthday money.)  About 15 minutes later, I got a text from a PJ forum friend that the will call lines were starting and that they were getting long.  I dashed back up there to hang out in will call.  That took about another 1/2 hour.  I texted Hubs that I got the tickets and wrist bands, but was on the hunt for the loo.  I handled all that, then sent him for a scenic tour.  He needed to get out of line and stretch his legs a bit.  He did that twice and on the second time-- all hail the last bathroom stop, the line starts moving.  "RUN!"  I had no idea.  Crap.  What would we do if I end up getting sucked inside before him.  I could stand out of line, but that trashes standing in line all day.  Turns out that people collapsed their chairs, took their coolers to their cars and that's why the line moved in.  Hubs got back in time. :whew:

We had to go through a security check point.  The band requested that everyone be wanded and patted down before going in.  Eddie made a few people mad earlier this summer with comments he made about the fighting around Israel.  A few of us think that may be why they had heightened security.  It didn't take long.  We had to show our wristbands several times, but then voila!  We were in.

I had done a lot of reading.  I knew what I wanted, where I wanted and how this was going to play out.  (At least in my mind.)  People were clotted on Mike, Jeff & Ed's part of the stage.  Poor Stone.  He is the last place to fill up.  There was a hunk of rail (the barrier between the people and the band) open and WE GOT RAIL!  For someone short, this is far more important than most people would know.  We were near the end.  There was a stairway that led up and out.  We weren't corralled into a giant play yard like I thought!  Claustrophobia subsided.  It would be good!

Our rail spot before the show.  The security guards behind us?  The coolest security guards ever!  (And for whatever it is worth, my husband was crouched down a little when they took the picture.  I guess he didn't want me to look that short.)

My man told me to turn around.  He wanted to get a picture with the boys and me.  :)  You can't see Boom, but you can see everyone else!  Since we were in front of the speaker stack, we did wear ear plugs.  Hubs wore two.  He said that wearing one had him off balance.  I wore just on in the right-- the ear that was 7' from the speakers.  My left was fine.

During the concert, Eddie went to the side stage and started pouring wine out into people's cups.  Security went running with a sleeve of cups.  One security guard came around the corner and was standing in front of me with 4 cups of wine.  I reached my hand out.  He looked at me for a minute and said, "But you have to pass it."  I shook my head in agreement, glad that I had the cup before 100 lips were on it, then he said again, "But you have to pass it."  I took a big gulp to prove I wasn't hoarding it (dribbled some down my chin, too) and passed it to Hubs.  He had no idea what was going on, so he passed it on.  It was tasty.  A red wine and I have no idea what I was drinking.  I was the first one at it and it came from Eddie, so it was all good.

The big guy beside me?  That would be Sean.  He and his girl, Elizabeth, were getting married that weekend.  Sean had been a security guard at US Bank Arena.  I was, at that point, the shortest one in a line of much taller people.  He sandwiched Elizabeth between him and Jay, her rail mate.  He sandwiched me between him and Hubs.  He told me that they would keep us girls safe.  They did!

Hubs watched out for me the whole time.  That's the kind of man he is.   :)  The next day, he asked, "Did you realize that the woman behind you was playing with your hair the whole time?"  Weird.  She was doodling with my backpack, too.  It was a stiff string backpack, so if she tried to get into it, I would have felt it.  Her friend weedled her way in next to Hubs and was smooshed up next to him the whole time.  Welcome to the GA pit! 

The concert was 14 ways of magical.  Truly.  The best. concert. ever.  (Trumps Pink Floyd at Cleveland Browns Stadium in 1994.)  The set list as posted by Sea, our fearless PJ Forum Moderator:

Pearl Jam
US Bank Arena
Cincinnati, OH
Set List
October 01, 2014

01. Pendulum
02. Nothingman
03. Of The Girl
04. Mind Your Manners
05. Lightning Bolt
(Notes how long since they last played Cincinnati and is glad to be back)
06. Corduroy
07. Spin The Black Circle
(“that goes out to the fine folks at WKRP”)
08. Got Some
09. Even Flow
10. Sirens
11. Love Boat Captain/Jumpin’ Jack Flash-(Jagger/Richards) {with new intro-similar to outro jam}.  Jumpin’ Jack Flash was one verse during the outro jam section
12. Present Tense
13. Daughter/Keep It In Motion-(Pollard)/Another Brick In The Wall Part 2-(Waters)
(Ed discusses the band rooming situation in the early days and playing at a local club called “Bogart’s” where the guy Ed was sharing a joint with “bogarted” it.)
14. State Of Love And Trust
(a story about Keith Richards’ knife)
15. Waiting On A Friend-(Jagger/Richards)
16. Jeremy
17. Comatose
(Ed introduces the next song and talks about the great band Guided By Voices)
18. Setting Forth
19. Porch (Ed stands on the barricade and sings)

Encore Break 1

20. Sleeping By Myself
(Ed talks about certain truth’s that the band are in agreement on like Climate Change and some sort of gun control.  There are many injustices in the world and while not as important as some, not having Pete Rose in the hall of fame is an injustice.  The next song is for Pete’s son as well as Pete)
21. Man Of The Hour
22. Parachutes
23. All Those Yesterdays
24. Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town-(played to the people behind the stage)
Ed asks for the lights to brought up so he can find and thank Gerry.  She is a nurse that works with patients suffering from Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB). 
25. Given To Fly
26. Unthought Known
27. Do The Evolution
(Ed dedicates the next song to his friend Sean (sp) and his wife Mandy.  “It doesn’t apply but I wanted to dedicate a song to them.”)
28. Better Man/Save It For Later-(Charley, Cox, Morton, Steele, Wakeling)
(Ed smashes his white Gibson SG at the end of the song)

Encore Break 2

29. Black
Dedicated to The Who and the families that had to live on with the terrible tragedy that happened in this building 35 years ago. Ed acknowledges that they have some experience with a tragedy like that and the guys from The Who reached out Pearl Jam after Roskilde.  Ed comments that is great to see so much positive energy here tonight.  “This is the last song they played that night.”
30. The Real Me-(Townshend)
32. Alive (Mike goes into the audience during the solo)
33. Rockin’ In The Free World-(Young)
34. Yellow Ledbetter/Star Spangled Banner

For 3 hours and 15 minutes, I danced, sang, bounced and jumped.  I left knowing that I gave PJ everything I had to give.  I was exhausted.

Again.  We'll go again.  We had a great time.  We keep talking about it.  Hubs, good with PJ but definitely not the intense PJ fan I am, seems to have turned a corner.  He is becoming a bit more and more PJ interested.  :)  Not a bad thing.  And yes, we will be purchasing the Cincy bootleg the day that PJ releases it.  I have a bootleg credit with my fan club membership & that will come in handy!

ETA:  The Cincinnati bootleg will be available 10/28!

The Camping Weekend: Lake Hope and Hocking Hills

We went on a weekend camping trip.  We were delayed by a day because of predicted severe weather.  We got out on Friday morning and started our adventure. 

We went to feed hummingbirds at the Lake Hope Nature Center.  I was the only one who got any action.  Hubs tried.  K had the magic behind the camera.

 Hubs set the tents up underneath tarps.  Heavy rain was predicted.  Normally the two tents aren't quite this close.  (We take a sleeping tent and a changing/bathing tent.)

The longest campsite we can find there.  Our favorite site! 

My people fished and I was taking pictures-- surprise, surprise.

I added a year.  My girlie made me a banana bread birthday cake.  They even remembered the candles! 

The two tents and the tarps.

The sleeping quarters.  Now, it says it is a 5 man tent.  As you can see, one queen sized air mattress and one cot fills it.  

We started our hiking at Ash Cave. 

We moved on to Cedar Falls.  Unfortunately, a number of trails and the main trailhead were closed permanently because of three deaths this spring.  People die in Hocking Hills every year.  Three people died at Cedar Falls because they tried to get too close and fell 100 feet.  If you follow the trails and stay on them, it isn't an issue.  Every single death was from people leaving the trail.  I might add, Ohio State Parks has a lot of signage and always has. 

We previously hiked this trail.  :(

Out of focus, but you can see that the trails aren't always very wide and the steps are covered in sand. Sometimes the steps are steep.  Keep in mind that most people we saw were hiking in flip flops.  I don't know how they did it.

On the quest for Old Man's Cave . . .

I just read that this bridge is slated for replacement this month.  Um, she was a bit bouncy and the deck definitely needs some love. 

Dinosaur Scale, if memory serves.  At least that's what Hubs called it.

Old Man's Cave. 

Drat it all.  Humans.  I was selfish and didn't want to share the view.  I wanted the joint to myself.  Is that too much to ask?  

The cable and post system that they have in some places is new.  It is because of the spring deaths.  

Watch your head, Hubs!

At Conkle's Hollow Nature Preserve, they had a field full of native wildflowers. K got the butterfly net out. 

'

She caught herself a monarch.

A trail that those with disabilities can enjoy.

The American Ninja Warrior challenge.  :)  She did end up with a wet foot after one of the passes. 

The ferns growing on the rock I thought was very interesting.

Rock House.  This is where we took our Christmas picture. 

A summer azure.

Hubs was on the hunt.

Got an azure. 

The sunset.

I swear that they hose the wood down before they sell it to us.  Hubs was struggling to get the fire going.  He was using a tote lid as billows. 

Dinner to the left, bathing water to the right.  I ended up throwing the corn on the cob into the fire.  It was wonderful!  We also had green beans in there and potatoes.  I picked them up from a farm market stand at a gas station.  

A young bull frog.

My birthday prize. It's a little guy that holds about 1000 songs and PJ took up 624 of those.  (Hubs preloaded it for me.)  I've since taken all of the 2000 PJ bootlegs out but one (Las Vegas), took the singles out and added Jack White, The Dead Weather, Raconteurs, The Afghan Whigs, The Misfits, CAKE, Fugazi, Talking Heads, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Chris Cornell, Temple of the Dog and The Pixies.  :)  I needed me some more music than just PJ.  Love PJ, but needed variety.  

Playing cards after dark.  

I won!

The net that held my many phone parts.  Phone parts you ask?  Why yes, Hubs ended up gutting my phone down as far as he could because my phone dropped out and into the bathing kettle of hot water.  He stripped it down (thank you Leatherman!) and left it to dry overnight.  It did work after the dunk.  We had dried it out the best we could.  About an hour later, the keyboard locked up.  The next morning, Hubs put it back together and it now works as good as ever.  Hooray!  :)  Hubs is my hero.

The morning view out of the foot window.  That would be our tent light hanging there. 

The blind photo camera picture out of the window above my head. 

My friend, Aimee, teases me about all of the bug spray and sunscreen in the back door.  Okay, we have four mostly used sunscreen containers, but we have 5 different versions of mosquito spray.  Different deet.  No deet. Outside, deep woods, sportsman.  We have it all.  After all of the teasing, Aimee admitted a need while attending a picnic.  I reminded her of all of the teasing.  

 Breaking down camp.  It's a lot of work.

Yes.  Yes, we are.  My lil iPod came to me loaded with all of my PJ CDs.  We even listened to the Mansfield, MA 2003 boot all the way home. 

We had a great time.  We even stopped by Sonic for the first time.  Never mind that I shut three of my child's ten digits in the door.  (She's okay.)  We all got slushies and got on our way.  Yumola!  :)