Girl's Camp, Saginaw, Broken Alternator

 On Monday I drove a few girls up to Girl's Camp and then stayed there until the evening. I was originally not asked to go but one of my yw was trying to flake out and I felt prompted that if I could take her and stay for the day, she would stay too. She did end up staying the whole time and even though she did try to get her mom to pick her up at one point, I still call it a success. For me, it was an exhausting day. The campsite was pretty far from the lot so I had to help girls haul a lot of things down. Then later that day there was long trek down to the lake to watch girls go kayaking. The kayaking didn't feel super worth between the tetris game of trying to fit a ton of kayaks on a trailer and the distance to the lake but I think the girls still enjoyed it. By the time evening came I was ready to go home. The long walk to my car through the darkened woods by myself was eerie and I accidentally killed a firefly which temporarily caused my hands to glow so that was all fun. But I am also glad I didn't have to spend the night in a tent so there's that.

On Tuesday I played catch up with life- laundry, groceries and other errand running. I also put together a care package for my friend's daughter who was getting surgery for her scoliosis. The girls and I got to drop that off and chat with them for a bit. Both mom and daughter were pretty anxious about the surgery but everything went well.

Tuesday night I had a puzzle night with friends at Grace's house. Overall good. They had a moment where they weren't so nice about someone and that wasn't my cup of tea but other than that conversation was good.

Wednesday I had to go back to girl's camp to teach a class and then help take girls home. I was running behind that morning and then my car wouldn't start so that was fun. I ended up taking my moms because Tyler and Steven were off at Deacon's camp. Unfortunately her car needed gas so that set me behind some more. Then I took a wrong turn and it took me a bit to realize and correct. While I had hoped to make it there super early, I ended up right on time. I guess at least I was on time. With all the events of the morning I was fairly flustered so I was a little nervous and shaky teaching the class and I didn't do a lot of teaching. Mostly the girls just doodled and colored but I think they enjoyed it.

After my class I sat with one of my yw (the one who hadn't wanted to come) and found out that she felt 80% of camp was fun. That's a win, right!? Then we had lunch and took down camp. I had the biggest struggle trying to help a girl put her sleeping bag in it's bag. That is not my strong suit. This time we got to load all our stuff up in someone's car and have it driven down to the parking lot so that made things easier.

Thursday I had my annual check up. That day I also found out that the Elementary had still not sent the kids records to our new school and so they still could not complete enrollment. So after my appt I went down to the District Office to complain and they were absolutely unhelpful. The whole thing gives me anxiety. Thankfully after a less than happy email to the new school, they said they would register my kids without the records...but they still want the records. So I guess the saga continues.

Thursday afternoon we hit up the Milford's Farmers Market and my mom was nice enough to buy all the kids cookies for later(except Steven who was still off at camp). And then she was even more nice and bought us Subway that night for dinner. It was nice to not have to stress about making dinner.

Friday I finally had no plans so I decided it was a good day for an adventure. We drove out to Saginaw and first toured the Castle Museum. It was definitely cool looking and the kids seemed to enjoy it. Especially cool was that this Museum used to be a Post Office and we got to go to a special room upstairs where the Boss could watch all his workers. We learned a lot about Saginaw and how it used to be a booming lumber town until there were no more trees to cut down.

It was a really nice day so we ate our lunch outside after we finished in the museum and then we headed to another museum, Marshall M Fredericks Sculpture Museum. This was like a much smaller (and free) version of the Sculpture Gardens in Grand Rapids. The kids still seemed impressed by the sculptures (and didn't get too wierded out by the naked sculptures). They always make me nervous in fancy museums but at least I have cultured them ;)

Friday evening, after our adventures in Saginaw, I ordered pizza for dinner. I went to go pick up the pizza and decided to use my car (Tyler had left camp to come jump start it the night before). It struggled to start but then it did so I figured it would be fine. Well it was NOT fine. I was sandwiched in a left turn lane during high traffic when it literally just died. I watched as the battery level went to zero. I was on the phone with Tyler and he told me to stay in the car and he would come but he was at camp 30 mins away. I called a close by friend and she said she would send her husband. I was waiting there, being honked at and trying to motion to people to move around me as my emergency lights flashed, when I saw my neighbor Christy come out of a car in front me. Such a tender mercy. She sent her husband and Jacob out and they helped push the car to a safe location (along with a couple strangers who jumped out and helped). I had the fun of trying to steer with no power steering and feeling stupid because I didn't know what direction to turn the wheel. I am not good in high stress situations. My friend's husband came near the end and was nice enough to drive me to pick up the pizza. Then when I got home Tyler was there and together we went back and he towed the car back while once again I had the joy of steering. And stomping on the breaks. So stressful.

Saturday I went back up to girl's camp to teach my hand lettering class to the second session of camp. There were only a handful of people in my class this time and it was honestly pretty nice to have a small class. It was less stressful. I did not stick around after since my yw weren't there and it just wasn't the same.