We survived Girls Camp! And had a great time doing it. It's true, the two-man tent was a little "snug". I woke up a few times in awkward positions (Gunnar's feet on my head, his nose in my armpit, his bottom on my nose) and we pitched the tent on a gradient so Chris got a little squished but we made it through the night!
And we will never, ever attempt such a thing in that tiny tent again.
Girls Camp was so wonderful. I really wish we could have been there all week. The transformation that the girls make is always miraculous to me.
And there are always fun things to do at camp. Like swimming in a murky seaweed ridden lake and getting soap and grass stains on unmentionable areas via an impromptu slip-n-slide.
Gunnar even got a little ride. It kind of freaked him out but he had fun.
The next morning, after our two-man tent adventure, Chris and I packed up camp while Gunnar dressed up as a grass monster.
Then Chris dressed up as a real monster (in case you didn't know, he does this often. Last year after scout camp one of the boys bore their testimony saying their favorite thing about scouting was when Bishop dressed up like a giant witch.)
He scared the CRAP out of all the girls. Even in broad daylight.
Gunnar was introduced to 'Scary Daddy' for the first time too.
And must have thought the monster ate his daddy when he heard Chris' voice coming out of the face.
But he survived. We all did. Our Girls Camp '08 adventure was pretty interesting and fun.
Right now we're on a Lake Palmer adventure. Write more soon...
No hints, but one of these pictures really is Chris. Your choices are:
A.) Flock of Seagulls boy
B.) Death
C.) One of these two handsome devils
D.) A Sandwich
E.) Chewie
Or
F.) The front end of this guy
Good luck!
P.S. We're leaving for Girls' Camp early this morning. It's about a 2 hour drive from the city so we're borrowing a car from one of our friends. I'm really excited about spending some time with the girls we volunteer with and almost equally excited about eating several s'mores (and at least that many hot dogs).
P.S.S. Chris, Gunnar and I are all going to be sleeping in a teeny weeny two man tent. It's just for one night but when I went to camp two years ago I stayed in the same tent and had to sleep with the flap open because I kept waking up and feeling claustrophobic. And that was by myself. Also, both Chris and Gunnar are 'rollers' and 'kickers'. And if I eat anything dairy after 10:00 pm, I have horrible nightmares like my dad where I talk and freak out and do crazy things like dive head first off our bed. Sometimes I don't even remember what I do the night before. It's kind of like being a werewolf. Once when I was a kid, I remember waking up to my dad yelling something about saving someone and the next thing I knew he was at the end of the driveway in his underwear holding a shotgun (not loaded thankfully). Anyway, I have a feeling tomorrow night's going to be an adventure for Los Peterson. Cross your fingers that no one wets the bed or gets a black eye!
Pop quiz: Which of these photos is Renae's real high school senior portrait? (prize for the one who gets it right)
Choice A:
Choice B:
Choice C:
Choice D:
Choice E:
I guess it's the time of year. A couple of weeks ago our niece Samantha got married and last week my brother Andrew did the same. Due to the current cost of airfare, I went to Andrew's (in SLC) and Chris went to Samantha's (in LA).
Weddings are so interesting.
And I mean that in the good interesting kind of way. Watching two (almost always) very different families come together is always interesting. And weird. How can it not be? Every family has it's own traditions and culture and belief system. Even in cases where the two soon-to-be's family's share the same religion, there are always stark differences.
And that is what I LOVE to watch! I've always enjoyed seeing what happens when different kinds of people come together. Doesn't everyone?
I know that when Chris and I got married it was probably weird for our families. At the time, of course, I don't think either Chris or I were particularly aware of this. I know I was mostly concerned about the fact that my hairdresser had gone to a rave the night before and was obviously still high on something when he fashioned my hair into an up-do that looked like I was attempting to hide a giant tumor on the left side of my head (not joking or exaggerating - ask Chris).
I guess if we were aware of any weirdness, we didn't care. It was our day and if someone was feeling weird, they would have had to suck it up and deal (I think most married couples are of the same opinion on their wedding day).
Regardless of any and all weirdness though, we are really, really happy for all of our loved ones who are in love and getting married right now. We congratulate them and say, "bring on the cake!" and "hooray for the guy without any rhythm dancing in the middle of everyone!" and "OK . . . I'll hug you . . . even though I just met you 2 hours ago." Besides, what else aside from the marriage of two people could bring so many weirdos together in celebration? And anyway, we all know that one person's weirdo is another person's aunt. Am I right?
Which reminds me - I really need to end this post now so I can get back to watching the Olympics. I am so glad I listened to the Dalai Lama and decided not to boycott them this year. It would have been tooooo hard not to watch them!
P.S. For those of you who only read our blog "for the pictures", patience please - I'll put some up soon.
Yesterday I took Gunnar to Morningside Park. It's only 2 blocks from our apt. and has a beautiful little pond with a waterfall, lots of turtles and Gunnar's new favorite: Canadian Geese.
Right before we got there someone had dumped an entire bag of rice on the sidewalk, which attracted quite a feathery little crowd. When I took Gunnar out of the stroller he just sat on the grass and stared at them for a good 30 seconds (this is a long time for him to just sit still).
And then he decided to get closer.
At first he was a little hesitant. I have to admit, I was too. Some of those geese were twice his size and water birds don't usually have the reputation of being 'easy going' (remind me to tell you about the time a swan almost ripped my thumb off). But they're city birds and like most of us here, have apparently become used to people barging into their personal space without warning.
And that's just what Gunnar did.
Over and over and over again.
He LOVED making the birds fly away. And thankfully, no one got hurt in the process.
Well, no one except for the pigeon below that Gunnar accidentally tripped over and then sat on. You can see it flailing and trying desperately to get away from him. Poor little winged rat. But Gunnar was just as alarmed to find himself sitting on top of a flapping, freaked out bird. It was pretty funny . . . and gross. I ended up 'Purelling' him from the waist down. What an adventure!
I think Gunnar might need a pet. This morning when he woke up I found him standing in his crib and pointing all around the room saying "Badee! Badee!" So cute.
Chris (a.k.a Obispo Peterson) performed his very first wedding on Saturday.
A young couple in our congregation with a little baby boy decided that they wanted to be legally married to each other and asked Chris to perform the wedding. So cool. He was kinda nervous (they asked him to do the whole thing in Spanish) but I thought it was absolutely perfect.
Weddings are always wonderful. Receptions on the other hand . . . not always so. I'll be honest, I'm not a big fan of the ones where you have to wait in a really, really long line (in high heels) and make uncomfortable small talk with strangers just to say hi for 5 seconds to the bride and/or groom. Sorry to any of you who may have had one of those receptions.
George and Lia on the other hand, (that's the couple) had an incredibly festive reception. Very fun. Lot's of the very delicious Dominican beans, rice, chicken and other dishes I don't know the names for, lots of awesome dancing, and lots and LOTS of love. Everyone in the congregation pitched in with decorations, a cake, food, flowers and most of the other things one needs when getting hitched.
Chris contributed a lot too. He's too humble to post about it himself but in addition to marrying them, he was also their photographer, DJ and the janitor at the end of the night.
It was a lot of work, but what an honor to be part of something so special and wonderful. Congratulations guys! We love you!
