Girls just wanna have fun!!!!

(Saturday night sunset)

--I am very sorry that this is long and hard to read...it's good story. :) I have been fighting with this over and over, but when I post it the paragraphs all run together. Ugh! I hope you have fun reading it though.--

This past weekend we packed up and headed to Family Camp. We had decided not to go due to our FL trip looming. But on Thursday we got a phone call from a dear friend who was asking us to pleeeeeeaaaaase come. So considering the fact that we are a spontaneous family and it doesn't take much to get us to go do fun things...we decided to go where the fun was going to be for the weekend. It was so wonderful to spend time with all of our old friends. It was uplifting and encouraging.

Saturday afternoon one of my friends asked if I wanted to go tubing with her. I, of course, wasn't about to miss out on something fun, so we lined up on the dock with all of the little kids who wanted to go tubing too. We're pathetic, deprived moms...does that help explain? Ok, so we climb in the boat while two little boys get on the tube. We watched with enthusiasm as they got dumped off the tube. Finally after the third spill for them, we told them it was our turn. We climbed out onto the tube...yes, both of us. We tightly gripped the handles, all the while explaining to the boy driving the boat that we represented 8 children and they really needed their mothers. He was not permitted to do anything that may cause bodily harm to either of us. Off we went...it was grand! We hit the waves and swung in and out of the wake. We screamed. we laughed...I ate a bug. Gross, I know...keep your mouth shut while going a gazillion miles an hour across a lake. The ride ended with no spills, dumps or injuries.

The afternoon continued on with lots of visiting, sun, sand, and pure enjoyment. I was busy visiting with another friend about photography when my friend Sheila comes back over and asks if I want to go again. Let's see here...I had a blast last time so "SURE!" Count me in. Sheila goes and stands on the dock with the kiddos again. The boat pulled up to the dock and she yells for me. I end my conversation and run quickly through the sand to get on that boat. I am cinching my life jacket nice and tight as I run. We climb out onto that tube, once again going over the fact that we represent numerous children, and the lives of our children depend upon us being able to function...blah, blah, blah. He agrees to treat us kindly, however our other friend is now riding in the front of the boat...co-captaining of sorts. He starts us out slowly, but then the friend in the front tells him that he has to dump us. Things begin to get blurry as we are whirling around that dumb lake. I am not sure what the moments were before this but all I remember was bouncing across the top of the lake like a skipping rock. Kah-pow Pow-pow! Splash! Our friend in the boat is laughing so hard she has a stomach ache. The driver apologizes and explains that she told him to. Enough water went up my nose to clear me out for the next 7 months. Shelia and I look up at each other, blow our noses into the water so we could breathe again, and climb back onto that dumb tube. Seriously!?!? I guess we are desperate. Ok, so there we go again...he starts us out slowly and within a nano-second we were going a thousand miles per hour. Being the punk driver that he was he saw the waves that the other boat was leaving behind, at this point I believe all of our talking about our children needing their mothers went out of his head. He headed full speed at those waves. We flew so high into the air that we hit some birds...ok, no just kidding we didn't. (that sure would have added to the story though, right!?!?) We did fly up and down like we were a bunch of rag dolls. It just kept coming...the waves, the water splashing into our eyes, the slamming of our bodies back down onto the tube. The smartest thing to do in these moments is to let go...but no, something inside you takes over and we were gripping the handles with white knuckles. Finally the boat stops...the punk actually stopped the boat to make sure we were ok. I looked at Shelia and her entire face was bright red...she had slammed it against the tube. His compassion returned to him, because he was very concerned about the well-being of the mothers he had just launched into the air. We said we were ok, but I think it was just because we've gone through child birth and didn't want to admit defeat upon an inflatable device. The motor starts up again with a whirl and we were off yet again. As we were getting going, I reassured Shelia that I had a bottle of Ibuprofen in my diaper bag and I would disperse it generously once we got off the ginormous inflatable thing. That was just about when he swung the boat around in a circle and I went flying off. Yes, I again skipped across the water. I get back on the tube to see both of our daughters cheering from the other boat. Our daughters were on the back of that boat riding the tube like they were Sunday afternoon grandmas. We laughed at how ridiculous it was that we were being thrown around like rag dolls and our young, resilient children were riding their tube like a lazy river. The punk kid brought us back into the dock...apologizing for dumping us. I can forgive him because he is going to go be a missionary in Africa. His heart was tender and passionate about the people of Cameroon...so I actually thought he was pretty flippin' cool!

My arms are now like rubber. I can not comb my hair or lift my son. The coffee mug being brought to my lips takes extreme effort. Was it worth it? Satisfying the kid that stills resides within me...YES! I will get dumped any day from a tube and live for the next week in extreme weakness for a few moments of exhilarating bliss! YES, siree I will!

I must go ice my arms now due to the over exurtion it took to document this for your reading pleasure.