I feel so refreshed and so much closer to God. It's amazing what a couple of days away will do. All three of the kids stayed with Grandpa and Grandma while I was gone. They had a blast and completely wore out my parents. :) Allie talked Grandma into buying her a new pair of shoes (sparkly red) and Emmie asked for "blue underwear". What a goof.
At the retreat a couple of the other girls and I tried to find this elusive "challenge course" that we heard was on the grounds. It was quite an adventure. We spent about an hour hiking around trying to find it, then took a truck out. We ended up doing a little off-roading (Ethan was so proud when I told him) and we finally found it. Unfortunately, the road we took didn't leave any room to turn around so we had to back down the hill with twists and turns for about a quarter of a mile. It was intense. I wasn't driving, and it's hard to just trust someone you barely know when the margin for error is so small! But I'm alive, obviously, so all is well.
The girls have been celebrating because they only have one more day of their "no treats" ban. We had to lay down the law about three weeks ago when a package of Andies Mints went missing. They thought they were so sneaky but I found all the wrappers underneath their beds. I think this punishment has really sunk in. Now anytime I tell Emmie she can't have anything (like when she wanted to sleep with her balloon, for example) she just looks sad and says "Yeah cuz I ate Andies Mints." It's kind of funny, but I am looking forward to this punishment being over as much as they are! Pretty soon we will be back to their regular diet of candy, cookies, and junk (just kidding).
