Rocks Are a Kids Best Friend

There was a lot of beautiful scenery on the way to Diamond Crater State Park, winding hilly roads, trees, and way off you could see the mountains, punctuated by the ever-present background music of four kids. "Are we there yet?" "How far is this place?" "When are we going to get there?" "Is that it?" And us singing along, "NO!" "We don't KNOW!" "Just a few MORE MINUTES!" "NO! Those are COWS!" Luckily it was only about a 15-20 minute drive.

Evidently there are a LOT of folks hoping to strike it rich at the Diamond Crater, because the parking lot was packed! They had a big info center so you could watch a video about the history and see some exhibits with examples of the kinds of rocks that you might find while digging. We did a cursory glance of the diamonds and went to the tool rental. We bought four hand shovels and rented one bucket and one set of screens. On the way out to the fields, we saw that three diamonds were found the day before and the pressure was on! Hmmm, thirty-seven acres, where to start? We let the kids pick a sight and then we got to digging. At least some of us did...

Two hours later, Peach had the bucket filled with potato sized rocks that were so heavy I could hardly pick the thing up and she was not willing to give up one of them. So on the way to the rock washing station, I lightened the load one rock at a time while she wasn't looking. We washed up, went out to the parking lot and unloaded food for a picnic. Up the hill to the picnic tables and I was so tired I didn't think I was going to make it. Unfortunately, no one was as tired as I was, after lunch they were refreshed and ready to get back to digging in a new spot. I'm too OCD for diamond digging. "What if there was a diamond in the old place I was digging and I just hadn't got to it yet? What if the diamonds are all over there? Or over there?" Again...I'm easily overwhelmed. We dug for another hour or so, till Ace pooped and a diaper change was necessary and believe me, once we trekked up that hill to the car again I was not going back!




They sold firewood at the visitor center and we picked up three bundles because we had heard it was supposed to be chilly that night and all the logs and sticks were wet from the night before. We headed back to camp and by 5:00 we were starting the charcoals for dinner. We had a very fine meal of grilled baja chicken, corn on the cob and some ranch style beans. Beans and a campfire, right? Finished up dinner enjoyed our fire for a little with more Smores on vanilla wafers and I was ready to hit the hay. Since I had slept in all my clothes the night before, I decided I would lighten up a little and put on my pajama pants, I dressed the Littles in their long john's. Peach wanted me to sleep next to her, so I took Charlie's place on the air-mattress, put Ace beside me so he could sleep in the crack. (Cause you know..with a big person on each side, he wasn't going to sink in.) It started to get cool, so I had Charlie bring me my sweatshirt and I put it on. Melee' slept in Ace's spot on the air mattress next to the tent wall as his mattress could not be repaired with duct tape. By midnight I had my sweatshirt hood pulled up and the drawstring closed tight enough that only my nose was sticking out and it was running. Charlie was complaining about having to sleep in the crack and we had some big laughs. He said "Your nose is running to keep it warm." and I said "Yeah, but it's making my ear cold." ewww :) At 4:30 Peach woke up and said "MOMMA, I HAVE TO GO TO THE BATHROOM!" "What?" "I HAVE TO GO TO THE BATHROOM!" "Can we go outside and squat by a tree?" "NOOOOO!" "Are you sure? It's really cold and it's a long way to the bathroom?" "NO MOMMA I HAVE TO GO THE BATHROOM! REAL BAD!" So we had to shod our feet, and put on jackets and we had to hike the one block gauntlet to the restrooms. Luckily we were able to warm up with the hand dryers for the walk back. "MOMMA, I'M REALLY COLD." "Shhhh, people are sleeping." "BUT I'M SHAKING!" "Shhhhh, I know baby, we're almost there." "LOOK MOMMA, LOOK AT ME SHAKING, CAN YOU HEAR MY TEETH SHAKING?" "Shhhhh, yes, everybody can hear you baby...." Back to bed and just as I drift off to sleep I hear something rustling in the leaves outside our tent. I jab Charlie "What's that!" "I think it's John, JOHN is that you?" "Yes, I'm getting my sweatshirt, I'm really cold." "Come in here and sleep with us."

So that's how we ended at 7:00 in the morning. Five men deep on the king size air mattress and one little girl snug inside her Hello Kitty fleece sleeping bag. Good times.

The Great Outdoors

By the time we got to the Daisy State Park (Diamond Crater State Park was full) it was almost dark so we scrambled to get our tent set up and get some hot dogs cooked and get the new propane lantern put together and lit before it got dark. It was a little overcast so we put on the rain fly for just in case. Charlie, being the real outdoors man, said "I've never put the rain fly on before. Usually when John and I go with the boy scouts and it rains, I just sleep in the car." Way to be prepared Dad. We got it all done, air mattresses blown up, sleeping bags rolled out, duffel bags and pillows put in the tent and we even ate a couple of Smores. On vanilla wafers. Because I forgot the graham crackers. Way to be prepared Mom.

Off to bed I went with the Littles a little bit after 9:00. The boys stayed up playing with the fire till just after ten and then they retired for the evening. We have a large two "room" tent and then John brings his own small tent because he's a boyscout like that. Charlie and I have two twin air mattresses connected in the middle and I just cover the whole thing with sheets. Ace on the far left next to the wall of the tent, me in the middle, Charlie next. Then Peach has her own blow-up Hello Kitty sleeping bag/mattress combo and then Melee' on his own single air mattress on the far right wall. As soon as Charlie comes to bed, it starts to sprinkle. It rained. all. night. long. Thunder, lightning the works. (Remember why we didn't camp in Texas? That's right, rain.) It takes less than an hour before I'm sleeping in the crack of the mattresses. Every time the wind would pick up, I'd pray "Please Lord, don't let a tree fall on our tent, Amen" And at some point in the night I jabbed Charlie awake and said "What's that?" (I'm thinking, "Tornado?") and he says "That's just the logging trucks going by on the highway." "Oh. Okay." I got back to sleep and slept pretty well the rest of the night, in five minute increments.

When we woke up the next morning we found Melee's mattress had had a leak and he had slept in his sleeping bag on the concrete pad. Up at the crack of dawn, we slaved over a small propane stove for a hearty breakfast of ham and egg taquitos. The kids went down and explored the lake shore and the boys tried to catch a fish. Peach and Ace grabbed a couple of sticks and I think they were playing some sort of "Bridge to Terabithia" kind of game, but at one point I heard Peach say "ACE, GRAB A STICK AND HIT A BABY!" I only noticed it because she yelled it about three times and we were the only people up and awake in our area of the campground. Evidently they put us in the "retirement village" section. So I look over and they're crouched over some small bush and whacking at it mercilessly. I could see through the bush enough to know they weren't whacking at any wildlife, so I did what any good mother would do. I left them to it. It warmed up pretty quickly and after gathering all our food boxes, we loaded up and headed for the Diamond Crater.

The Simple Life IV or Spring Break 2007

The original plan was to go to Rusk and campout and then ride the train over to Palestine, picnic then back to Rusk for another night of camping. But as with most plans for Spring Break and three day weekends, it started to rain. It rained for four days and we decided against mudding it for the last half of the week. So instead, we came up with a much more ambitious plan that meant driving for at least six hours, all the way to Arkansas’ Diamond Crater State Park.

It would have been a six hour trip, but since I’m doing everything my trainer tells me, I continued with my daily water consumption of 16 oz of water every couple of hours, which of course, meant a potty stop every couple of hours. And really, that shouldn’t be any different than Charlie guzzling down Diet Dr. Pepper non-stop on every other trip we’ve taken, because we also have to stop often. The difference being that A) I’m more discriminating about where I want to stop and B) when everyone sees Momma get out of the car, EVERYONE wants to get out of the car. Then when Momma gets something new to drink, EVERYONE wants something new to drink and maybe a snack to go with. And C) since we gave up fast food for lent and I’m watching my waistline, we had to stop at a fine dining establishment (or Appleby’s) for lunch. Eight hours later we were in Arkansas. (Cue the Deliverence music.)

I don’t get out of the house much, much less the state of Texas, and while I’ve seen a lot of farms and ranches and long dirt roads, I found Arkansas to be (ahem) quite rural. But no matter how unstable your shack, evidently it must be garnished with a satellite dish.

Tomorrow’s Installment: “Digging for Diamonds”


(John has an undisplaced fracture of the distal radius. Cast on Thursday)

Back in the Swing

Wow! Have I been out of it or what! This morning when I decided to visit my poor neglected blog, Blogger would not let me go to my old comfortable place, it made me go to the NEW AND IMPROVED BLOGGER, and that's when I found all of you were just sitting here waiting for me! All those fun comments! (And a couple of advertisements I forgot to reject) You guys made my day!

So to recap, don't tell my Mom about the M.O.T.O.R.C.Y.C.L.E. And I've lost fourteen pounds, and found a few muscles I forgot I had lying around. Thank God I've been pressing forty pound toddlers and curling twenty pound grocery bags or I would have been in DEEP trouble. WARNING: Exercise NOW BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!!!!!! I always thought, "Hey, I'll eat a little less, walk around the block a couple of times this week." Well NO WONDER I HAVEN'T LOST ANY WEIGHT IN THE LAST TEN YEARS!! THIS STUFF IS HARD!!! John fell down while rollerblading in the street yesterday and we're waiting for the call from the Dr. to see if his arm is broken. (Cause I'm a looser Mom who doesn't insist on him wearing the proper saftey gear.)

I'll fill ya'll in on our Spring break. I've moved my workout to 5:00 a.m. (yea, you heard me right, all prayers would be greatly appreciated), so I'm hoping to have enough time to get back to my daily blog.

And finally, I'll leave you with this scene from bathtime the other night...

"Okay, Peach, stand up. Hold my hand and step out..."

"EWWW Momma, Ace tee-teed in the bathtub!"

"It's okay, tee-tee is sterile."

"Momma! Ace steriled in the bathtub!"


Thanks everybody, and have a good night!

Shopping for DUMMIES

Reason 582 Not To Take Toddlers Shopping In Stores That Don't Have Baskets

When you go in to the Lane Bryant in search of a Sports Bra, that is exactly like the one you already have but in a different color, they will hide in the middle of every rack you pass. Then they will take the arms of the mannequins and try to dance with them, and when you chase them away from the headless girls, the toddler boy will circle back around and start patting her on the butt. And when you see what he's doing you think to yourself "Please Lord, let that be a mannequin and not the saleslady!" Then you will drag them back to the lingerie department and when you momentarily let go of their hands, they will go over to the big circular table that has a thousand pair of perfectly fanned out panties spiraled around it and the girl toddler will say in her best outside voice "EEWWW are those UNDERWEAR!?" and you'll whisper "Yes, there nice new, clean underwear." Whereupon she will lean over the table grab a handful and start sniffing them.

Dueling Forties

It's hard to admit you're becoming middle age. I thought I was going to see it coming. I knew something was up because sometimes when I'm shopping in Lane Bryant I think "I'm too old to be buying this sparkly crap!", then I go next door to Catherine's and say "Oh my God! Is that seersucker capri-pants with an elastic waistband?! I'm too young to wear that!"

And then one morning you wake up and your husband has a new shiny red Kawasaki ZX-1430958 in the garage and you've just hired a young, cute personal trainer at the gym and you realize "WE'RE HAVING A MIDLIFE CRISIS!"

And every time he tells me how fast that dang motorcycle goes, I tell him how many push-ups I did that day. I haven't told him yet that my trainer is so short, I could put him in my pocket. Gotta keep him on his toes. I don't want him picking up any drunk women at the Plantersville Chevron who want to go for a ride on the bike. Plus it might keep those Valentine flowers showing up year-round! I think it really irritates him that my trainers name is Charlie too. It really irritates me when he pulls up videos on You-tube of smart-a** showoffs, videoing themselves riding those mortorcycles at ridiculous speeds, while weaving in and out of traffic. The plus side is that I've lost eleven pounds and if he brings home any drunk women from Plantersville, I'll be able to kick their butt!