Camping!

This past weekend we went camping with Tracy, Darb, Andrew, Jonathan, and Hannah. It was a very, very, very nice diversion from recent craziness at home. We ate, watched the kid's bike ride, hiked, rode horses on a trail ride (which Ruby was looking WAY forward to, but hasn't really talked about since =P), and, well, packed up a day early to avoid packing in the rain. =P It was a lovely, lovely time. I told David that packing to go camping is a lot of work, but I never regret it. Still true. =)

Some funny occurrences from camping:

Andrew taught the kids that they could eat lamb's quarters, so the kids were often gathering this weed from around the tree by the bathroom. Sanitary, 'eh? Anyways, one time, Ruby had gotten some, ate some, and then took it back to Andrew to see if it was really lamb's quarters. Next thing I know, Ruby is screaming, and I mean SCREAMING pitifully while holding her lamb's quarters. She said something to the effect of, "Andrew said this was poisonous and I ATE SOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Poor child thought she was about to keel over. She eventually calmed down once we discovered that Andrew was just telling her not to eat the stem of the plant. =P

Oh, man...I just thought of something else, and then I forgot. Wait. I remember now. While hiking, the 4 younger kids were up on a rock ledge. Some hikers went by and one of the men asked if he could get up there with them. Hannah said "no". The guy wondered out loud why the kids didn't like him and kept on going. After that, Ruby was a bit quiet (NOT NORMAL!) so I asked what was up. She sadly said, "that man said he doesn't like me!" (or something like that). We cleared that up. I think. I hope. I mean, I tried. =P

Since we packed up a day early from camping, our family went to a hotel with a pool and HOT TUB!!! The kids enjoyed jumping into the hot tub. Well, Ruby and Isaac did. Jadelyn hasn't been wanting much to do with large bodies of water. Just the bathtub. In which she holds her breath and gunks her head on the bottom of the tub. I digress. Anyways, on Monday morning, David and the girls were done eating breakfast, so headed back to the room to get ready to go swimming, and I got a mini "date" with my I-see. He chattered away about horses that rock by themselves when you put money in and hit a button (they got what was probably their first ride on a Meijers horse the day before), and about how he wanted one for home that would be small enough to fit kittie-cornered in his little closet. Then, he started talking about how the (real) milk at the hotel tasted different from the (soy)milk at home. Then, he asked, "is this from a cow?" and then wondered if there was hay, straw, or grass in it. Ha. Anyways, he'd chatter on and on and then say something like, "I want to just be quiet now" before cutting off the conversation. Man, that kid is SO like his Grandpa!

Today, Jadelyn was doing some amazing counting: "2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,14,16". I don't get why she doesn't get the "1" in there...but anyways, I was impressed. =)

I had 3 happy helpers in the garden today, harvesting orange peppers, okra, a few tomatoes, and TONS of jalapenos. It's nice when I'm not so crazy busy like I am in the summertime and can relax when the job isn't going as fast as I'd like. =P

We're playing the waiting game to see what's going on with Ruby's hips. The doctor wants to consult with some MORE doctors and still needs to look at the x-ray and video from last Friday, too. And the geneticist FINALLY go the x-rays from Shriner's, so hopefully his report will be coming in soon, too. We should know by Tuesday afternoon at the LATEST if Ruby is going to have to have surgery or not. At least I hope we find out then. I've been incapacitated the last few weeks - wandering around in circles and not accomplishing much at ALL. I just want to KNOW. We've been trying to get this figured out for oh, a year and 3 months? Just tell me already, people. Just tell me. What I read about the surgery and casting scares me. My skinny little poor-muscle-tone gal could pretty much have no muscle-tone if she's in a cast for 6 months. Ai yai yai. I just want it done and over with so I don't have to worry. Yeah, yeah...I know, and I'm not even the one having surgery done. =P

Hope the kids take LONG naps today. Ruby and Jadelyn, in particular, have been having a NOT REAL HAPPY day. Though at times they're fine. =P