Yep. I'm still alive.

The end of school was craziness. Sheer craziness! There was the Cub Scouts Blue & Gold Banquet (which required hours and hours of listing, purchasing, emailing and organizing awards), the Centennial Time Capsule (what can I say except, whew!), Greek Festival (the Minotaur and I are now intimate friends), the Teacher Appreciation Parties, the Parent Appreciation Parties, the Parent/Teacher Fellowship Appreciation Party (the host SHOT TURTLES!! WITH A GUN!!! TRAMA AND DRAMA ENSUED!!!!), the Reading Celebrations and the school assemblies and the birthday parties and the soccer games and the soccer banquets.....

Oh, my good heavens. It is a miracle I am still alive.

In the middle of that, we kicked off VBS. James and I are in charge of that, too. We are insane, I tell you. Insane!!!

And did I mention I have a JOB???? With deadlines???

So, that's where I was. When school was out we had a sudden surprise offer to visit friends in Colorado. We had only a few hours notice. We cleaned and packed and gassed the car and rescheduled things and packed and cleaned...and then the trip was canceled. (!!!) Well, we couldn't just stay home, could we? NO!!

The boys and I decided to head north to the Great Salt Plains to DIG CRYSTALS!!! Oh, there was excitement in the air about that. The boys had visions of beautiful, light saber crystals dancing in their heads! Perhaps even a large crystal to save for the wedding day? They could hardly contain themselves! As we left town I called my secretary to tell her about our change in plans and she said, "Oh, you don't want to go there! They found something there and the military closed it down!!"

The thought of potential Martian activity in the great state of Oklahoma was not enough to dry the tears of my two little boys. They were ready to go home and go straight to bed. Instead they got a lecture about family legacy and always seeing the bright side of things and never giving up. We would head WEST, young men! There would be Indians! and Canyons! and Camping In The Car!!

I took them to the Cherokee Trading Post where, lo and behold, there were colorful crystals for sale. Just the kind to make the most awesome of light sabers! And ARROW HEADS! And BLACK GOLD! Life was good again!

We spent the day at Red Rock Canyon climbing rocks, watching snakes, stringing Indian beads, hunting armadillos and building a camp fire. We slept in a van (down by the river) during a strong storm and the boys had the time of their life. The next morning we went on a hike in the jungle (which apparently looked just like Felucia) and then headed south for Dairy Queen and Indian City, U.S.A. (because nothing says Native American like Dairy Queen!)


I am officially the most awesome mom on the face of this planet.

So now we're left with VBS. We do VBS big. BIG I tell you! BIG!

This year the theme is Narnia and I am having a blast making all things Narnial. I can't wait to show you the photos. It will be a VBS to remember, I'm sure of that!