I Need Your Love (Mohombi, Costi, Shaggy, Faydee)

The past week (and more, this post has been a long time coming) has been a whirlwind of blessings and fun. Monday is always a difficult day for anyone but coming from me that's almost a ridiculously ungrateful statement being a nanny, who has been known, at times, to be paid for napping. The boys and I have spent the past two weeks going to the park, the library, and the museum. Sometimes I struggle with being a nanny, in truth. I truly love working with children, particularly the family I have been blessed to work for, but the level of patience necessary is an ongoing learning experience for me. My friends Hannah, Lexie and Zach hiked the Butte with me last weekend which was a blast. It only took about five minutes for me to start huffing and puffing as though I were going to die and it must be admitted that jeans and a thick nonathletic Tshirt weren't exactly the smartest wardrobe choices, but nonetheless we straggled up the steep side of the Butte. 

There was a very defined order to the line of hikers as we ascended. First Zach, leaping forward like a five year old mountain goat, then Hannah, moving forward untheatrically as though she climbed mountains on a daily basis. Then me, a ways behind and pretending I wasn't panting like a madman and finally Lexie, who moved forward with the sensible grace that spoke plainly about the fact that she could go faster if she pleased, but wasn't about to run herself down for a faster ascent. I must say the sheer quantity of climbers surprised me, but the Butte was a beautiful sunny climb and when we reached the top we posed together for group photos. We attempted to escape the high winds by first sitting in a line on the bench, then laying on the ground, then hiding behind a piece of protruding rock, and finally gave up and descended. 

The following weekend started off with a sleepover at my lovely friend Ellen's house. We made pizza with turkey pepperoni, drove to Three Bears three times for ingredients, and by the time we were actually eating pizza it was sevenish and Dan was calling to invite us over for games and a possible bonfire. When we arrived on the scene thirty minutes later Dan was in company of Dani, Zach, and Josh; and the fire in the back yard pit was already quite visible when we pulled up. They had every game from Wits and Wagers to Cards Against Humanity, and we quickly settled around the fire playing. After the previously agreed time limit our friends decided to take the card games inside and as Ellen likes to rub in, I would have stayed later had she not practically taken my hand and dragged me out. After all, we had a date with Zac Efron on 17 Again. 

The rest of the weekend consisted of rock climbing at a local facility with Dani, Josh, Ellen, Jenny, and Hannah. The place was awesome and we all tried our hand at climbing the walls. They also had a tight rope of sorts set up with a very high tech looking pair of ratchet straps. Everyone took a turn hopping up on the line and trying to get as far as possible without the help of the line hanging from above to balance you, which, it was agreed, was for wimps. Upstairs we discovered an even more fun  invention which is the beloved Salmon Ladder. The Salmon Ladder, for the newbs out there, is an invention consisting of a couple of upright posts that have protruding notches of varying height. The athlete attempting to overcome the Salmon Ladder must take a pole held horizontally in front of them starting on the lowest of the rungs and attempt to pull themselves up and then swing the pole onto the next set of rungs. And the next. And the next. Until they either reach the top or fall. 

After our adventures at the rock climbing facility we decided to treat ourselves to some frozen yogurt. What followed was a round of game not necessarily recognizable to the average undiscerning game consumer. We started off on the tennis courts at the park with a volleyball, playing some combination of tennis, volleyball and kickball. When actual real life tennis players arrived on the scene to play tennis on the adjoining court we decided to take our somewhat volatile game of kickvolleyballtennis off the court before we harmed someone who might actually sue us and played frisbee in the rain instead. Despite my absolutely horrendous frisbee skills (Should've hit that frisbee clinic) everyone laughed it off with comments of "Oh, I thought we were playing BAD frisbee!" memorializing a previous bad bowling contest held between the usual suspects. 

Sunday night was taken up by the usual youth group, which was cut short by the not so usual sprint to the movies in time to make the 8:10 showing of Avengers. Much to the chagrin of my comrades I had already seen Avengers Friday night all on my own. To make matters even more comical I had been texted in group by Dan, Zach, and Ellen to watch a later showing with them the same night... The moment I arrived home from watching it by myself. Nonetheless I was more than willing to watch again with my friends on Sunday night ( I had developed more than a bit of a crush on Quicksilver) only to arrive at the theater and find the  8:10 showing sold out. So most of us bit the bullet, bought tickets to a later showing, and walked over to the nearby Walmart for movie snacks where we proceeded to act immature enough to be avoided by other customers, but not quite enough to be kicked out. Of Walmart.

On Monday I got my much anticipated first swim lesson. The Wasilla pool is a little intimidating, first because it's such a small affair and yet so much beloved, popular and crowded constantly. The most striking thing about the Wasilla Pool for me, though, is that it's actually the Wasilla High School Pool. That's right the pool for the entire town is on a high school campus, and they hold open swim hours during school hours. What even. 

Going in for the lesson was REALLY intimidating. They buzz you into the locker room where you take off your shoes at the door. Let me tell you, people in the pool locker room are not afraid to get naked in front of whoever the heck happens to walk in. The layout of the locker room is really open and the only private place to change are the actual bathroom stalls. Signs on the wall dictate that you douse yourself thoroughly in the open shower stalls before entering the pool and then you step out timidly for the first time into the pool area, soaking wet and cold. You wait on the so called deck for your instructor to find you and in my case, I was picked up by a loud lady who shouted across the pool area "MATTHEW!!! We got a student here for ya!" 

Matthew, as it turns out, was just a guy my age (admittedly good looking, in shape, and an excellent swimmer) who had been informed I was taking lessons in order to compete in a triathlon. Big mistake. Why did I admit I was going to train for the local triathlon? It only made me look more stupid when I started swallowing half the pool trying to do a simple breaststroke. All in all though, it can never be as mortifying as you originally imagine. I mean, wouldn't it be more mortifying if I didn't go and learn now? The sooner the better and as I am absolutely thrilled to be learning new skills all the time. Most definitely worth what humiliation I may endure. 

The party continued unexpectedly when I got off on my last day of work at one job and drove straight to my friends Ellen and Jenny's for a last minute movie night (Captain America: WInter Soldier) and sleepover/crash. Wednesday night I attended the Teen Group for a local church I've been attending with some friends, looking to get to know the people and take into consideration becoming a mentor of sorts. The people were cool, the pastor was awesome, and the overall vibe I was getting was actually quite amazing. I may even be sucked into blowing off my job for a week or two and mentoring at camp this year. 

Speaking of camp, I am just dying to go this year. And as much as possible. I mean, there are a lot of things I want to do this summer (ziplining, kayaking/rafting, paintballing, etc) but very very high on my list of things I want to do is camping. Every time I step outside and it's warm, I feel the hot sun, smell the unfrozen, wet earth smell, the trees, the slight breeze, even feel the rain... I'm ready to load up my car and go out into nature. I want to eat s'mores and play games by the fire, gamble for candy, exchange corny jokes, go for walks and hikes and create a thousand stupid inside jokes. I want the car trips in and out with awesome music and hilarious conversation and a mix of amazing and disgusting road snacks. I want swimming and dirty clothes, and meals that have been add-libbed at the last minute that we would never eat at home. I want it all, and I'm ready for it this summer. Great outdoors, here I come.