spring break, finally!

Spring Break! *cue McDonald's music* I'm lovin' it!

So far, it's been a pretty exciting break, for all that it's only been three days.

On Saturday, I attended a marimba competition (to watch, not compete). It was amazing! The best part: five of my friends were competing (though none placed) and the majority of the percussion studio from Truman were there to a) support those competing and b) they were the featured ensemble for the concert that night! The featured marimbist/guest judge was Mark Ford, who is a pretty big name in the marimba world. It was a great day of competition, and a fantastic concert that night! My only regret is that I'm no longer a part of the studio, and I wasn't on stage performing with them.

Yesterday, I pulled my bow out of storage. Since I can successfully do push ups, I thought shooting might be a tad bit easier than it was five-six years ago when I was first learning. (Note: I haven't shot in those five-six years.) I was surprised at how easy it was. Not that I was getting bulls-eyes or anything like that, but I was hitting the target more often than not and from further away than I was shooting before.

Camden was helping me by being my quiver. He'd hand me the arrows and help me fetch them. (I sent him after the once that missed the target. I'm lazy. I know.) He really wanted to shoot the bow. But at a 45 pound draw, that just wasn't happening, though he tried several different times. Poor guy.

After shooting today, he decided that he wanted to go deer hunting. So we took the bow and arrows and went for a walk in the woods. Climbed a tree; threw some rocks and sticks into the ponds; looked for some wild animals, but saw none.

Tomorrow, we're off to explore a cave! I say explore like we're strapping on head lamps and knee pads and crawling into some dark crevice... But, really, we're visiting a cave with nice smooth paths, hand rails, lights, and guided tours. It will be exciting anyway! Prolly more so than dark crevice exploration, considering that I have a great fear of enclosed dark places.

Camping

Have I posted about camping before? Possibly; it's on my mind a surprising amount. So, if I have, and if you've already read about it, I'm sorry. This might be more of the same. (But then, it might be entirely different! Who knows!)

When I was a kid, my family would go camping all the time. At least two times a year. Wow, okay, maybe that's not all the time. But still, it was a big part of my life growing up, and I always looked forward to it. We did what I refer to as "real camping." We didn't pay to stay in a managed campground. Excepting the last few years, we didn't bring a camper. We mostly cooked over the camp fire. The first few things we did on arriving at the campsite was mow the grass and dig a latrine. (Well, the first few thing my dad and brothers did. I jumped in the river!)

I miss those lazy weekends on the river, where the only worry was cottonmouths. (Hmm.. That's kind of a big worry, now that I think of it.) I miss spending the day trekking from camp, to the river, back to camp, back to the river. I miss the cheap soda we bought to bring along. I miss the frustration of putting up a tent with it's stupid bendy poles that never seem quite bendy or quite long enough. I miss the early mornings and watching steam rise off the river and the fish jumping for bugs.

I've finally decided that I am going to go camping again. Camden is old enough to truly enjoy it, I think. I'm finally brave enough to try doing it on my own. (Probably the biggest thing that has been holding me back.) I know that I'm not, and Camden's not, going to have the same experience. And that's okay. It's not about recreating my childhood, right? It's about forging ahead and creating our own traditions.

Now I just need a tent! Oh, and it needs to be summer.

Vacation

I've been visiting my parents for the last week or so. It's kinda nice to get out of NEMO with its wet. Of course, I came to SWMO with its HOT and DROUGHT-like conditions. But its nice to see the parentals, and I know Camden always has fun when we're down here. (Plus, I get to take care of dr's appointments.)

Anyway, we decided to do something a bit different for dinner tonight. We packed up some hotdogs + other campfire paraphernalia and took off for the river. We also called up my Aunt and Uncle and invited them to come roast on the riverbank with us. It was only around 98 degrees. Anyway, we had fun splashing around in the water and munching on hotdogs and chips.

And like I do anytime I'm near a place with running water, I looked for holey stones. And I found them! I found EIGHT! Talk about a treasure trove. Maybe it's just the type of rock down around here, or whatever. Now I just need to figure out what I'm going to do with them all! (I think if I manage to have another giveaway anytime soon, I'll put one in that.)

I also found a stone with a heart-shaped indention in it. It's cutesy and adorable and awesome all at the same time. lol

I promise more posts are forthcoming, once I make it back to the drowned lands, I mean NEMO.