YMCA Camp Cullen

We had a wonderful weekend camping at the YMCA Camp Cullen in Trinity, TX this past weekend with 13 of the soccer team families. Friday, when we arrived, the weather was in the 70's and there was no cloud in the skies. You could see so many stars. We had to use flashlights to walk everywhere because the woods were so dark. We checked in and chose the first cabin we could find that wasn't occupied. We found the breaker and turned on the lights. There was bunk beds set up everywhere with enough beds for 16 people. We picked out our beds and set everything up. At least there was a wall unit with AC and heat. The bathhouse was in another building not too far from our cabin. We were joined in our cabin by another family, Julie and her two kids, Emma and Thomas. We all decided to walk down one of the trails to the rock quarry for the bonfire where all the other families were gathering. The kids had a blast doing skits and making smores. When we returned the kids and Dennis slid down these pipelines that had been set up by Marathon Oil. We finally made it back to the cabin for our good night's sleep on our one inch mattresses! The next morning after breakfast we had signed up for the Screamer.

It was so much fun to fly in the air although the weather was now at about 40 degrees. We then made our way to the archery range and the .22 rifle range. I could still shoot an arrow pretty good and Dennis seemed to enjoy the rifles more than any of us!
We had lunch later in the main hall and had to skip canoeing because it had gotten too cold to go out on Lake Livingston.
Before dinner we went on a horse trail ride. My butt hasn't hurt like this in so long! It was Brianna's first time to ride a horse by herself and she totally enjoyed it.

After our ride we had a dinner of chicken fried steak, green beans and mashed potatoes. I have to admit that the food at this camp was delicious, Dennis even asked the cook to go home with us! The kids went on a hay ride and made more smores at another bonfire. I stayed by the fireplace in the main hall because it was too cold for me! I was smarter this night and slept on two mattresses since all the beds were not being used. The next morning after breakfast we left for home even though the kids didn't want to leave. It turned out to be a fun mini-vacation.

We are still here!!!

I am so sorry I haven't been keeping you up to date with the Shaffer "goings on". Everything has been so hectic. I am working on a project from Hell and it is keeping me busy even after work hours. I go home and cook dinner, help the kids with homework, go to dance, CCE or piano with them and than after cleaning up I work from home until sometimes 1:00 am. I am not getting much sleep, but I keep ticking. Hopefully I will get back to my boring job! This is how it usually is here at work, I work really hard the first six months and than the last six months is easy. This weekend we are planning to go camping at the YMCA Camp Cullen in Trinity, TX. It should be fun mainly because there is no WiFi and I won't be able to work. Instead, Dennis and I will be doing all the camping things with the kids. It should be relaxing. I'll post the pics and tell you all about it as soon as we get back on Sunday night. Thanks to everyone who ordered Girl Scout cookies from Brianna. So far she has done very well and is still selling if you want more.

Brianna Joins Denise

Brianna has decided to take piano lessons with Denise and her teacher says she is a "natural". We will now spend an hour and a half at Mr. Richard's house on Wednesday evenings. So our family night has been extended. I think I will have to start bringing my PC with me! The big kids are still around and don't go back to Austin and Arlington until the 18th. I don't remember having such a big break when I was in college. Celeste was supposed to be running the Houston Marathon but it looks like her knees are still giving her problems when she runs especially for such a long distance. We won't be traveling this weekend so I have the chance to get my house in order. Our Christmas tree is still up, it just takes so long to put up all those ornaments and by the time I get home, make dinner and clean up, I'm too tired to even attempt.

Back to Normal

After loading up the car, we drove back home to Houston from Baton Rouge today. Luckily there wasn't too much traffic but we did get some rain along the way. It took us 4 hours and 45 minutes with one stop for gas and lunch at Wendy's. The extra load of pennies weighing at about 220 pounds in the car did not slow us down. Yesterday, Dennis and the kids unloaded half the wheat pennies out of the water bottle that Flash has been collecting them in so that we could lift the bottle without having the bottom break from the weight of the pennies. She has collected wheat pennies in a water bottle for each of her children. Gail, Greg and Brad have taken their pennies already, so Dennis was the last one.



After unpacking and catching up with the mail and newspapers we are back to normal and ready for school/work on Monday. It sure has been a very relaxing holiday from work. I guess I'm anxious to get back to the office and my regular routine of working out at lunch. I said I wasn't going to overeat, but I did!