RMNP

RMNP at sunset
Thunder Lake
The guys on a rest stop
I caught a fish!

Ryan called me and asked me to write my side of the Rocky Mountain National Park trip, and so, here goes.

The first day we hiked in from the trail head. It seemed like it took us a long time to get going, partially because we had a hard time getting the trip permit, but we finally managed it. I think that I managed the first 1/3 of the six-mile, up-hill-all-the-way, hike quite well. It started raining part way through, but that didn't bother me too much. I had a poncho, and it was actually kind of fun jumping over the stream that had once been a trail and splashing in the puddles. However, after we stopped for lunch, I started getting really tired. For the whole rest of the hike, I was pretty much just keeping my head down, and going, going, going. It took forever. Then, when we finally got to our campsite, I started getting really cold. My feet were soaked, and even my sleeping bag had gotten wet (despite the fact that it was covered in a trash bag.) I changed my socks, and huddled up in Rob's sleeping bag. I was feeling pretty miserable at that point.

The next morning, was much better. I had slept okay, despite the fact that my toes never did warm up. I was, however, very stiff and sore. We stayed in camp for two days, and during that time, I read (I finished Oliver Twist on this trip--Good book!!), I played my Nintendo DS (until the batteries ran down), I went down to Thunder Lake and fished (I caught 2 fish!), I played cards (31 with the family, and solitaire alone), and I memorized my lines for A Midsummer Night's Dream. It was kind of a neat experience to be memorizing those lines in the woods, because for most of the play my character is lost in the woods. Reed, Rich, Rob, and Dad all went on one or more hikes during that time, but I was kind of hiked out. Mom and I also had a camping cook-off. Reed had bought several dehydrated dinners for the trip. Most of them were of the "add two cups boiling water" variety, but two of them had to be cooked in a pan over the stove. Mom went first and made brownies. It didn't go particularly well. The trouble is that it is very difficult to achieve a low heat with the kind of stove that Dad and Rob brought along. For my cooking challenge, I made "I can't believe it's sausage pizza!", for which you have to cook the crust. It actually went quite well, despite the fact that everyone else stood around giving me advice the whole time I was cooking. So, needless to say, I won the cooking contest.

The final day we hiked down from the mountain. This was a verrryyy bad experience for me. I had slept very poorly the past couple of nights, and when I woke up that morning, I had one of my back/neck aches. It was a pretty bad one, too. I just could not imagine wearing 30 pounds on my back with it already hurting this much! However, I took 4 extra-strength Tylenol, got Mom to coat me down with Bio-Freeze, grit my teeth, and started heading down. Because the trail had been all up-hill on the way in, it was all down-hill on the way out. I just started off at a pretty good clip and refused to stop until I got to the bottom. I did stop to take a couple of drinks of water, but I didn't sit down to rest once. Actually, my back did pretty well, although I did have to take off my left shoulder strap periodically when it started hurting.

All in all, it was a pretty fun trip. It definitely wasn't my idea of a fun vacation, but it was really nice to be with the family (except for Ryan *pout*), and it was a beautiful location that I could never have seen otherwise.

Fun in the Sun

Today we had fun playing outside. It was really hot, 95, so I just wanted to stay inside, but Dusty got the girls into their swimming suits and took them out to play in the wading pool/sprinkler. Also, I had bought some new sidewalk chalk paints (just like sidewalk chalk, only paint) and Petra wanted to do that so I went outside to set them up. Well, it was so nice that I decided to get on my own suit and come out to play, too. The living room didn't get cleaned up, but, hey, we all had a lot of fun!

Current Health Crisis

Last night, I had just barely fallen asleep when I suddenly woke up in the worst pain that I have ever experienced (excepting perhaps when Talia was born.) I had a fireball in my throat and my entire chest and upper back hurt. I took three Tums, but that didn't do anything, and then I threw up. I was still in agony for several minutes more when I couldn't take it anymore.

I woke up Dusty. He gave me two pepto-bismal tablets, but that didn't do anything, either. Finally, I asked him to take me to the emergency room. We ended up waiting there for three hours before they finally saw me. I was, of course, completely miserable, and I felt awful for Dusty because he was obviously exhausted. The only thing the doctor did was to give me some strong painkiller and anti-nausea medicine, as well as an antacid with a throat numbing medicine in it. It did help quite a lot. But now, I need to go in and have a camera stuck down my throat to see if I have ulcers. I have suffered from frequent heartburn for a long time now--I've even been on medication for it for a while--but this was absolutely beyond anything that I have ever experienced before.

Dusty and I didn't get home until 6 AM (fortunately, my mom came down and slept in our bed in case the kids had any problems--thanks, Mom!) I went straight to bed and slept until noon. Poor Dusty, I don't even know how much longer he got to sleep, but I'm pretty sure it was only a couple of hours. He has been so tired all day, and I feel really badly about that.

*sigh I am twenty-two, I would like to remind the universe. Twenty-two! I have seven children and a body that is falling apart, and I'm only twenty-two. I really hate to think what sixty is going to look like.

My Brothers Would Be Proud

Today I patched a bicycle tube all by myself. Dusty was in favor of just putting in a new tube, but I knew how to fix it (from my dad) and even had a patch kit (from my brother, Ryan). I was actually pretty proud of myself. Felt like I might have a little Abbott in me after all.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

I have been really missing the theatre. It's been a while since I did a play, and I have missed it, and the people, so much that I have even been dreaming about it. That's why, when I found out that they were doing A Midsummer Night's Dream, I decided that I had to try out. Well, the long and the short of it is that I got the part of Hermia, who is the leading role!! I can't quite believe it! I am really, really, reeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaalllllllllllyyyyyyyyyyy excited!!!!!

New Things

Today, I got two new things. First, I got a new pair of hiking boots, actually, my first pair of hiking boots ever!

For some silly reason, this program put the picture up sideways! Well, you get the idea. They are Merrells, and they are the second most expensive pair of footwear I have ever bought (the first being my fencing shoes--but not by much!) Anyway, I got them in preparation for our Rocky Mountain trip this summer. I am so excited! I got them nice and early so that I will have time to break them in.

The second new thing I got, was a new haircut! This picture shows the front, and the back is really, really short. What do you think? I just couldn't stand long hair with the heat we've had the last couple of days. I've never had short hair before, but I think I like it really well.

Graduation

We had two graduations in our family last week. On Thursday, Sarah graduated from Kindergarten.

And on Friday, Petra graduated from Pre-School.

Of course, since Petra's not old enough to go to kindergarten yet, she will have another year of pre-school. But it was quite fun to see her graduate! I loved the garbage bag 'gowns'!