On Sunday, July 8, Evie's long awaited week at Camp Hallawasa arrived. We got her checked in, met her counselor, and set up her bed in the tent with Shekinah. Get out of there Ezra...
There. Happy girls with no brothers. Come to think of it, both of these girls have three brothers. I can't imagine why they'd be glad for a break from them. 😂
She was only too ready to start on her camp adventure and we didn't hang around long.
Since we had already driven a whole hour to get to camp, I convinced Terry it was a good idea to make more of our time and go bike riding down Crazy Horse hill like we did when Samuel was Ezra's age and Terry and Jazmin were training for their second half marathon.
Ezra had just learned how to pedal a couple weeks prior and he needed some practice. Here we are just starting and about to go through the tunnel that goes under the road into Crazy Horse.
Here's a video of Ezra going through the tunnel. It was so fun to revisit this again after the bike trip.
Right after we came out of the tunnel Ezra and Samuel wrecked. I began to have some regrets at that point since I was by myself. Terry had dropped us off at the top of the hill, driven half way down, and was going to bike back up to us. But I got them both going again and I don't think we had another wreck like that. I love those trees so much. We should come back in the fall last last time.
Coming up to his first bridge.
I was a curious to see how he'd do on the bridge. They're pretty bumpy.
He did great!
Taking a look back at mommy, but that wasn't encouraged because he would inevitably turn his handle bars and nearly crash.
It wasn't long at all before Terry came pedaling up towards us.
Pretty soon after our reunion Terry gave Ezra a little lesson about how to start his own pedaling (we always had to start him). A big part of why I wanted to do this again was because it worked so well to teach Samuel how to start himself.
Little boys.
We had to take another picture at the trail's halfway point just like we did on the bike trip.
Rewind to the bike trip!
Just before this Terry had loaded up his bike again and started to drive further down the trail, but at the time I didn't know how far he'd go. He went all the way to Hill City!
This was soon after Terry left and this area is right after where the marathon relay teams hand off the baton for the last time. It super beautiful with a high wooded wall on one side and a lovely little stream on the other.
We did about five miles before we found Terry again, not long before the big bridge over the highway.
And again, per bike trip style, we stopped and took some pictures on the bridge.
There's the bridge...
Much like the selfie I took on the bike trip!
It was so beautiful out. Just perfect.
After daddy left us the second time Ezra started wearing out, wanting to take constant breaks and drink his water.
This was one of our last breaks before we finally got to town and loaded up.
From there we went to a Rapid City Christian Cross Country summer running meeting. We've been talking about putting Noah on the team for several years and we're finally doing it. The very next morning was their first run, a trail run, and Terry went along. He sent me back this Marco Polo.
That night or the next my flower garden was really starting to look good. I can never remember what these flowers are called though...
The zinnias have done amazing here this year. The ones I planted in the front are terrible though. Not sure what's wrong with those front boxes we made.
And joy of joys, my first dahlias were so close to blooming! My sister in Washington is quite obsessed with them and gave about ten of them to me as a gift.
So close!
Zinnias are so pretty too though.
Another what's-it-called.
My hydrangeas do so well in the front bed.
The following morning we got a call early at 5:30am that Evie was sick at camp with the stomach flu. Apparently a lot of kids were and we found out later that it was Norovirus, a really bad bug. They ended up having to close the camp. Terry got up there around 7am and she still threw up three times in the car. She likes to tell the story of how she threw up ten times all together. Apparently she was seeing things that weren't there. So for the whole day she just slept on the floor in her room (she has a loft and we didn't want her to fall) and gradually we added in water, juice, broth, crackers, and soup.
Even the next day she was still pretty droopy, ala Wilted Flower.
Shortly after she said, "Holding a cat makes everything better." They all sure love their kitty.
So we watched The 10th Kingdom all day! Ah, 10th Kingdom, you are the perfect sick day movie. It's a six hour long silly made-for-TV movie made the early 2000s that my family just loves. We used to watch it all the time when Terry and I were engaged and we'd sit in my parents living room playing Settlers of Catan with it playing in the background.
That afternoon I got my hair chopped again. I love it this length. I just look best with it like this.
I think it was only two nights later that I had my first dahlia bloom!
I had two!
By Thursday Evie was mostly recovered and we went for a walk. Trouncer followed us halfway up the street meowing! It was so strange!
Post hair walk. This is what it looks like when I put stuff in it to make it appear that it has waves. Really it's just all product.
