I’ve decided to start posting my emails to Kayley at camp, since they practically read like a blog post anyway. I’ve been having trouble carving out time at night to blog (which is reflected in my traffic here!!) so maybe this will kick me in the ass to start writing again. Here you go:

Hi sweet pea! You’ve been on my mind nonstop since we spoke last night. I have to tell you, I’m SO pleased that you sounded so happy on the phone. I vividly remember LAST summer, when your first phone call home had a distinct “FML” vibe going on. I sensed none of that from you on the phone, though. Yay. I’m so glad you got a nice roomie who you sort of already know. Are you guys friends on Facebook too? (I want to stalk her! Haha!) I’ve had a few people ask about you. Somebody wanted you to babysit tonight!

Pablo and Mallory are all done with 1st grade. I know I mentioned it briefly on the phone, but on the day of their school party, Pablo got hurt on the playground. He was on top of that slide on the little kids’ playground, the one near where all the parents stand to pick up their kids. There’s a curved bar on top of it and he fell from that to the ground – about twelve feet. He banged his back on several ladder rungs on the way down, and was in major pain. The school nurse called me and sounded panicked – she said she was worried about cracked ribs. About stopped my heart, I’ll tell ya. I picked him up and we went to the ER down in Parker (after I was just there with Lexi and her crazy infected bug bite!) and he turned out to be fine. He was in pain for awhile, but no cracked ribs, and most importantly – no head injury. These kids – YOU kids, I should say – you’re giving me gray hair. And you ruined me for these guys – you were such a mellow, docile kid – you would never DREAM of climbing up on the roof of your playhouse or to the top of a tree. I was ill prepared for these wild little monkeys.

Over the weekend, we went to a birthday party up at this pool/park way up in Thornton. When Paul and I were trying to find the place, we were laughing a little because it was in the straight up ‘hood! Somebody even had a light-up statue of liberty figurine in their yard, which had obviously been stolen from a park or something. Hee! When we got to the pool, we were cracking up at how ghetto it was – the outside walls of the locker room and stuff were all tagged up. Yo, holmes! Let’s go tag the pool! Anyway. We were so pleasantly surprised when we realized the pool was FREAKIN’ AWESOME! It was similar to Pirate’s Cove – big waterslides, a lazy river, one of those huge bucket things that fills up and then dumps water on people in the pool – it was a blast. The kids had SO much fun. It was super clean once we were inside, too. And best of all, you can actually rent this place out, so the party guests were the only folks there. The water was shallow enough that the kids really didn’t even need their floaties. And you should have seen Pablo! He went down the BIG waterslide like fifty times. He loved it! Such a little daredevil. If you have a chance to get on Facebook, I uploaded a few pictures, and a short little video I took with my cell phone. I wish this place was closer to us! I doubt we’ll drive all the way across town and into the ‘hood to go to the pool, y’know?

Well, I’m going to wrap it up and say good night. I’m so tired – I swear, these kids are wearing me OUT. I need to keep them busy, though, or we’re all going to kill each other. I’m considering taking them out for a hike tomorrow! (Or, maybe we’ll stay home and color. So many choices!) Love you so, so, so very much. I really miss you. I’m glad you’re there, having fun, and kicking ass – but I sure do miss you. Be good – watch your mouth, stay out of trouble. Talk to you soon!

xoxoxo

Mommy

Whew, that wasn’t so hard! And now, you’re all updated on my life. You’re welcome.