Runnig Down A Dream*

This week someone is making everything go my way, it's so wonderful. Last weekend we spent in Champaign, Illinois, also known as the Home of the University of Illinois, also known as Where LP Went To School and We Heard All About It. "That's where I worked! That's where I lived! That's where I once had to tie my shoes!" I can appreciate it though, your college days are some of the best times you'll ever have, and it was probably really nice for him to get to go back and reminisce. Champaign is a very pretty town, and Sunday was gorgeous weather so we were able to spend some time on campus. One of the geology buildings had a small museum and the girls got to see some dinosaur bones up close. Thus solidifying their dorkiness, I made them pose in front of them. Al ran away, but Rug captured the moment superbly.



(Picture title: "Mom I'm going to act like a dork if you force me to take pictures with dinosaur bones")

Rug won 2nd place in her soccer tournament and scored the ONLY goal for her team in the championship game. I was so proud of her, because she is playing girls two years older than her and still did completely awesome.

On the way home, we did stop by MY Alma Mater, Eastern Illinois University. It took much less time to visit than the U of I campus. I did manage to take a pic of the dorm I lived in the four years I was there, aptly named "LSD":


On Monday I chaperoned Al on her field trip to Camp Ondessonk, a summer camp in southern Illinois. Most people may not be aware, but southern Illinois is quite beautiful and there are tons of rock formations and caves and what not. It was so pretty. The entire 5th grade went, and there were Silly String raids, and crying kids, and canoe tipping and scary stories and unfortunately for one girl, a trip to the hospital when she split her leg open on a rock. I got little to no sleep, all due to a full bladder and trying to decide if it was worth leaving the warmth of my sleeping bag and walking the distance to the outhouse (improperly coined the "Wide Open" as it was nothing but) just to go to the bathroom. Around 4 a.m. i decided yes, yes it was. Then of course we were all up by 7 a.m. for breakfast.
Here was the view from our cabin, I didn't have my camera but I took this with my iPhone:


So here I am, and it's raining and I couldn't be happier because it did not rain at all while we were down there, and since today I've got a ton of work to do inside, what better day for rain than this?

I will be back tomorrow for SPF, in the meantime I will leave you with a few tidbits overheard at camp:

"I can't feel my special place anymore" ---boy in cave pool

"Boys don't have any common sense at all" ---5th grade girl scaling huge rock

"My grandma has a ghost named George. He's always stealing her rings and leaving the toilet seat up" ---5th grader campfire story, more than likely in reality a cross-dressing sloppy grandpa

"When I went to camp last year, I didn't brush my teeth the whole time!" --5th grade girl, not quashing my apprehension of sending Al to camp

"I'm alright". ---Chaperoning Dad, immediately upon falling about 15 feet onto a rock, clearly not alright but maintaining his masculinity.

"God we didn't need to see THAT" ---5th grade boy upon seeing one of the girls emerge from the pool in a white t-shirt sans undergarments