2 post in a row about me...what is this world coming to? (fear not, many many post of kids shortly to come)
First an foremost, all camp directs get a one way ticket to Heaven. Amen! A moment of silence for them. Amber, you are a saint.
Saint Amber and Me
Second, I never thought I'd spend my 9th anniversary at Girls camp or with Steve in Iowa for that matter. But none the less, the stars aligned and I found myself as the camp nurse to 90 Young Women recently.
One word. Hot.
No, two words, Flamin' HOT.
*A special note for all who attend girls camp in the future...the nurse has 1st class accommodations all the way. Air conditioned room, in shower suite, steps from the pantry, no duties but to nurture, etc. So least you've started feeling too sorry for me, you can stop now and save your energy.
I had been warned that my inner 12 year old girl would emerge. Maybe it's the whole "when in Rome..." syndrome or possibly mob mentality, but somewhere along the way I found my hair in pigtail braids, no make-up, a dew rag like bandanna on my head, prepubescent breakouts, a desire to jump in a lake, eating 5 midnight milky way mini's just before dinner (OK, maybe that wasn't a stretch from the Melissa we now know), making crafty necklaces out of bottle caps, etc. 
I regressed so far as to forget I had two young children at home and shimmied up a 20 ft ropes course, down a zip line, learned how to belay, and repelled down a 40 ft tower on more than one occasion. 
I regressed so far as to forget I had two young children at home and shimmied up a 20 ft ropes course, down a zip line, learned how to belay, and repelled down a 40 ft tower on more than one occasion. Yes, this harness does make my butt look big, but very few escape it's wrath.
But it's all fun and games, until somebody gets hurt. Sure we started off with the mellow dehydration, heat exhaustion, and ticks. But as camp progressed, so did the injuries. Multiple instances of bee's being trapped beneath flip flops, head injuries from climbing mossy waterfalls (really, you didn't see that one coming?) 
This is my "seriously guys" look and Amber's "monitor and adjust" look
but my favorite....glow stick juice to the eye. Unfortunately most of these injuries occurred during free time or after sunset, which meant I was actively treating until 1 am and my walkie talkie was always on.
The weirdest instance of all...me having a fabulous time! Aside from the constant sweat and lack of sleep, I came away rejuvenated from having a chance to use my nursing skills and tons of girl talk.
Check out my mad pancake flippin' skills. This griddle will one day grace my kitchen.
Please note the fly strip hanging over my shoulder to the right...note all the millions of black flies.
You got used to them, sort of.
I do have one suggestion for next year...it's a month called OCTOBER!
Dana and I noted lots of...what's the word...hostility, throughout the museum. Pretty soon, it started affecting us.
Just happened to be March 17
and accessorize with my golden flip flops that complimented my first pedicure ever. Note the color I chose shortly before departing for Mexico...Senorita 
After so much history we had to introduce Dana to the MOST DELICIOUS 
So we all laced up our Nike's, layered on SPF 70, slid on the shades and got to climbing. We made the pregnant one carry the backpack of water. 
We started climbing (it was mega steep) until a little security guard directed us to the stairs.
Somewhere along the way the fear of this....
conjured up some major nausea in Stacy and she bailed out.
Dana and I finally hit the summit of the Sun, just in time to take this pic of the moon in the background and meet a group of teens from Iowa. I liked them until they told me it was 25 degrees in Iowa and snowing. Teenagers are such downers. 
But they couldn't kill my spirit too long because I WAS IN MEXICO CLIMBING ANCIENT PYRAMIDS! 
on the way down we met back up with Stacy and Noelle ...
I climbed the pyramid of the moon alone. Had a few moments to myself to marvel at my surroundings, but not too long as I soon felt dizzy from the effects of dehydration, altitude, and heat. I loved it...so authentic!
That afternoon would bring a insane ride through the city with Victor in an attempt to reach the pewter store after I experience the flip side of buyers remorse...need more pewter remorse, which included getting lost in some areas that my native Mexico City driver described as scary and driving backwards, through traffic, on a 3 lane highway. Later that night included another stop at the 
Now I've never been claustrophobic before, but this city almost pushed me over the edge. Walls of silver and walls of people. I needed one of those monkey backpacks for Noelle to hold the leash so we didn't separated. Roaming fees made cellphones obsolete. 
After hours of searching and heckling, I had hit my wall, reached my max, found my limit and sat down for some birthday flan at this beautiful roof top restaurant in the 
