The Good, the Bad and the Camp

 I didn't think I'd have much to blog about. But I do. And some of it is very unfortunate. I'd rather not have had the experience.

I'll start with the good. Father's Day got off to a good start. Since two kids were going to work straight from morning church, we did presents with breakfast.

We steak, snap beans, corn on the cob, baked potatoes and mug cake with strawberries and whipped cream for lunch.

Buy two packages of cake mix. One must be Angel Food Cake (not my favorite) and one can be any flavor. We used lemon. Mix the two dry mixes together. Put three tablespoons of the dry mix in a large coffee mug. Add two tablespoons of water. Microwave uncovered for one minute.

And it's done. It's not fancy, but it's quick and inexpensive. You can store the rest of the mix for later .

Our house looks crazy right now. The twins are at camp. Jasmine and I are ready to leave for St. Louis Wednesday morning. We are going to sight see and then go to convention. Then we'll drive to Indiana and some of the others will meet us there. When we get back, it will only be a day or two until Adam leaves for basic training. 

We are changing the rooms around. Kaleb will move in with Tyler, who has always had his own room, so this will be quite an adjustment. But we have three girls in one room, and it doesn't make sense for two boys to have their own rooms while three girls are together.

So the two younger girls will move into Adam's room.

But right now, it looks like a cluttered mess as the rooms are being packed up, cleaned up and one of them repainted (almost the same color, but fresh).

Adam and Kaleb's room being converted to Jasmine and Kayla's room.

Tyler's room being cleaned in preparation for Kaleb to move in.

The area by all three rooms.

The girls' room being sorted out.

Next, the bad. I'm not going to say a lot about this because there are a lot of raw emotions and a lot of crying still going on here.

Remember our new little guy? Well, thankfully Caspian isn't afraid of him anymore and they play some now.

And when no one else was home one day, Scrappy even interacted with him a little. Scrappy is 14 and has health issues so isn't playful. In fact, he's downright grumpy so it was nice that he didn't growl at the puppy.

But this is his real playmate.

Unfortunately, we didn't know Kiara has food aggression. And Travis doesn't see a problem with food sharing. The dogs all eat out of each others' bowls in fact. But something happened with treats the dogs had been given. Kiara attacked Travis. I won't give details because it was ugly and scary. By time I got Travis away from Kiara, I thought he was dead. He had a hole in his throat and was bleeding, he was limp. By time I'd gotten him inside his tongue was swollen and sticking out, eyes were all black and wide open and I was hearing a rattle. Then it stopped and nothing. We all thought he was gone. Then he blinked.

Of course this happened on a Sunday evening and there were no vets near us open or that had emergency numbers we could find. So I wrapped him up and Rick, Tyler and Jasmine rushed him a half hour away (it is really a longer drive than that normally). I really thought he'd be dead by time they went a mile. But he made it there still alive.

They stopped the hemorrhaging and got him stabilized but didn't want to do surgery right then because he'd eaten and also he was so weak. So they let him sleep through the night and did surgery first thing this morning. And he made it. I cannot believe it. I guess it's youth. And strength. Because I was sure he was gone. I've held a small pet before who'd been attacked and died in my hands. Not a fun time. And last night was not either. There was a lot of trauma and tears (all of us!) And it didn't look good at all.

But Travis is home. He has stitches under his chin and a neck wrapped. The throat had to be sewn up and there are some holes that couldn't be sewn.

We are not through it yet because Kiara will be rehomed. There just isn't another way. Even though we were told it was caused by food aggression, we'd never feel at ease with them together again. Plus the attack was witnessed by neighbors who are very upset about Kiara's behavior. Really, she is a very gentle dog, but she does have this other side.  If we hadn't been alerted to the problem immediately, Travis would not be with us. But because of the behavior and having other people see that side of her, she is the one who will be leaving. That is not easy for anyone, especially Jessica.

It's kind of bad timing that this happened right before Jasmine and I are leaving, but he will be in good hands. The others will be here another week and after they drive to IN, Jessica will be here for summer classes so he will have good care. He has to be kenneled for ten days. I don't think that is going to happen, but she will keep him calm and resting. We just hope that once he's healed, he'll still have that joyful, bouncy, somewhat hyper spirit.


And on to camp. Rick drove the twins down Friday and dropped them off Saturday morning.

Possessions are transported to the tent site in wheel barrows.

Kaleb seems happy with his tent.

Kayla not so much. After the incidents of last summer's camp experience, I wrote a letter to the camp head explaining some of the issues we've been experiencing. I suggested that Kayla be put with an older, much larger tent mate due to her manipulation and her bullying. She hurts children, especially if she can't control them. Her tent is right next to the leader, and she does not have a tent mate (not sure if this was going to be for the whole week or just until they see how she does). She is not happy. Maybe it will help her see that her unkindness has consequences. 

She has a hard time when she can't control the situation, so there aren't a lot of  smiles here. Usually she turns it on for the camera, but these are the true looks. I'm sure she'll settle in and start having fun with her team. It will be easier for her if she just accepts she can't control the situation and goes along with the schedule and activities.

Ready for lunch.

Obstacle course. That's her sitting down. Looks like she's decided not to take part. But they'll get her to because each member has to take part and complete it correctly in order for the team to get points. Her competitive nature will probably win over her stubborn nature. This was still the first day.

Kaleb making his usual face. Sigh.

The first pictures were taken by Rick when he dropped them off, but the later ones were taken by camp staff and posted on their site. They are good about posting pictures so parents can see how the kids are doing. When our kids went before Internet and digital cameras, we just heard all about it after the fact and didn't have pictures.

So that's how our week went. The good, the bad (and heartbreaking) and camp.

Jasmine and I leave Wednesday a.m. for St.Louis. We will be doing sight seeing until Sunday when ICRS starts.It ends the next Wed and we will drive to Indiana and spend Thursday with Rick's daughter Ashley and her family. Her children are 9 and almost 6. Hopefully Rick and whoever is available will meet us there. Then on to Elkhart to spend a (very few) days with our families. We need to be back by the night of the 4th to have a get together for Adam on the 5th. Then he leaves early on the 7th.

So that's life here. How's life going for you guys?

Happy Father's Day

to my childrens' dad, Rick's dad (I just realized I never sent a card! Poo!) and to the adopted childrens' birthdads both known and unknown.

The twins' dad

My dad who died in 1988

Rick with Jessica

Rick's parents

And Happy Father's Day to the moms who also have to be dads.  That's a hard and sometimes lonely road.

One last cruise picture below. Yep, someone got mixed up on "wear flag colors," but at least everyone is looking at the camera and smiling.

This is in the final steps before it's available. Watch for it at the end of summer. I think this is going to be a fun devotional for both boys and girls. Check my other blog for more info.HERE

Cozumel

Cozumel was a good day for everyone. Rick was limited by his foot. He had surgery three months ago, and we had no idea he would still be having trouble with it. So he decided to just go into the shopping area near the dock. There is a lot to choose from there. The twins stayed with him so they could swim in the pool and go to kid's camp.

Tyler and Jessica went on an ATV/Snorkel excursion. They had a blast.

Jessica

Tyler

I don't know if you can see it,but Ty's legs and shoes are covered in mud. Maybe that's why they snorkel afterwards!

Adam went to a cool beach but forgot his camera. He thought he'd signed up for the same excursion as Jasmine and I, but he hadn't. 

Jasmine and I went to Chankanaab. It was okay but not what we thought it'd be.

It advertised that there was snorkeling, gardens, a buffet, kayaks, a pool and a sea lion show. The problem is that we did everything as a group and there wasn't time allotted for most of the stuff. We snorkeled, went to the buffet and toured the gardens. No free time to do the rest.

But I had fun sharing the time with Jasmine.

Jasmine decided not to snorkel. She went into the water but wasn't comfortable with the equipment so decided to wait on the beach.

The buffet was an "international" buffet but that just meant they had tacos, cold ,nasty spaghetti, egg rolls with a questionable filling, hamburgers and hot dogs and rice pudding. It was like they tried to have the stereo type food from several countries but it was all mediocre. It tasted like it had been sitting out all day. But it was included in the price, so we tried some of it. 

The garden tour was interesting, and the guide was very friendly and knowledgeable.

Adam was getting back just as we were getting back. We ran in to Tyler and Jessica who'd already been back on the ship and were venturing out to shop. We shopped for T shirts, but after we got back to the ship and I'd showered and changed, I decided to make a quick run back for two more T shirts for the twins. Adam decided to come with me because he wanted to get a tank top and hadn't found one he liked. We only had an hour to get there and back. As we were heading out, Tyler and Jessica were heading in from when we'd run into them earlier, so they turned around and went back to the shopping area for the third time!

No one really wanted to leave Cozumel and most of them said it was "the best day ever."

The next day was a day at sea and then we arrived in Miami the next morning.