Wooden Roller-coasters

The first full week of this month, we had two family reunions. The first one was at a campsite near a big lake. A very big lake. Here is one of the pics taken from said campsite:
Sorry if it is small. For a pic taken from my phone and when I was slightly swinging from being in my hammok swing... thing.... I think it is a pretty darn good pic. I took others like it, but I only sent this one to my e-mail address from my phone right away. I am too lazy to look for others. Trust me, they are very like the same. Bug was in a mood to pose. It was very cute, as you can see.

Then I think on Thursday we went down south to spend the rest of the weekend with Pro Boxer's family. It was nice. We went to a cave. I had to be sprayed down and "disinfected" as well as Bug as we both had been in a cave near the great big lake and there was some bat disease going on. I seriously debated just not going as most of my clothes I had worn in the previous cave. I'm glad I did anyway. And.... not so glad. The hike to the cave was... very long. And uphill the whole way. Bug was a trooper and made it all the way to the top by himself. I didn't get carried either. However, by the time I got to the bottom after we toured the cave (which stopped my complaint that all caves are all the same anyway, and why in the heck am I being sprayed with Lysol??) my lungs were really.... really not feeling well. I was panting almost the entire way back to the campsite, and felt worse there than I did right after we got in the car. I spent the rest of the afternoon in the car panting and trying to relax so my lungs could relax as well. It was quite disconcerting to be in such a situation and also be such a long drive away from a hospital as we were pretty much in the furthest campsite that the canyon could offer.

*Ahem...

Then onto the next weekend, Pro Boxer's family had yet another reunion. This time including his grandparents and cousins. Hence we went even further down south. Also after having two throw up moments in our car already in July. Our kids seem to take after both of us... which is a problem. Bug can *ahem* in a bowl, but Goof Ball isn't quite as talented as that.

The main excursion this family reunion was visiting the famous "Hole in the Rock" near another lake.

I feel to preface this with a story that has already (maybe) been posted. I can't remember. In any case, the July 4th reunions bring to light a different thing to remember. Pro Boxer and I got married June 25th (6 years ago of course). Exactly a week later, his family had gathered together to celebrate the 4th. His family is big into 4wheeling. Yes, you guessed it, Pro Boxer and I crashed. Quite epically in fact. We went up too steep a hill and the upper wheels went up and the whole thing rolled over us only once and we stayed on the ground as the 4wheeler rolled the rest of the way down. Thank the Holy Ghost for alerting practically all of Pro Boxer's family to look out the back window of the house they were in right at the time we rolled. I don't know how else we would have gotten off the mountain.

Whatever the case, we both survived, and neither of us had to even visit the hospital (though we both got adjusted by Pro Boxer's bro-in-law for free... he is nice and does things like that even if we aren't in an accident). We were exceptionally blessed. That doesn't even cover it.

Since then however, I have been practically terrified of steep hills. Even on paved roads. This "Hole in the Rock" is not just on a bumpy dirt road. It is on a 4wheeler worthy bumpy dirt road. In fact, in the middle of the drive the whole entourage stopped, and parked their cars somewhere so they could drive the rest of the way on 4wheelers. Sure our little CR-V was "built for things like this," but that didn't make me any less worried. I was terrified. To the point of hyperventilating. The road started off paved, but that ended quickly, and turned into the washboard road. That went on for a while, and then came the hills. Even the smaller ones terrified me because I saw in them all the big rocks and other things that might trip us up. Stupid irrational fears. Though, these ones maybe not have been all that irrational. Whatever the case, I was still terrified, and nothing that Pro Boxer could say would change that. It took all my courage to get back in the car to leave after we ate at the Hole.

And then I came up with a brilliant metaphor. Driving on those blasted bumpy roads, steep hills, and the way Pro Boxer, accelerated to get up said stupid hills, was very like a wooden roller-coaster. The car shuddered probably more than the carts on a roller-coaster would, but other than that, it was very like a wooden roller-coaster.

The rest of the trip back to blessed pavement consisted of me smiling every time we came to those dreaded hills.

And my kids! They slept most of the way anyway!! Grr... though I am glad that they didn't get nervous like I did. It still infuriated me. It was nice they slept though cause it might have prevented the throw up. Sadly it didn't work quite the way it was supposed to. Goof Ball threw up before we got back to grandma great's house.

And now that the month is almost over, I suddenly remember that I love the smell of fireworks and haven't been to a single show. *sigh...