A Nice Surprise

When Bob and I were loading the car to leave for pastors' retreat I had planned on not taking my laptop because I was certain we wouldn't have Internet service, we can hardly get a signal for our cell phones. We were both in the car, and I decided that I needed to bring my computer, so I ran back into the house, up the stairs, and grabbed cords and the computer and threw them in the bag, ran back down the stairs, and jumped in the car and we were off. Bob was driving and I was chattering away and looking around not paying much attention if Bob was listening to me or not. Then all of a sudden, Bob pulled over and I stopped my conversation in mid-sentence to hear Bob say, "I'm too tired to drive!" What? We've only gone twenty miles and you're tired? So we switched places and I drove. I drove the whole four hours. Well, maybe it was just 3 1/2 hours. Bob nodded in agreement to whatever I was doing most of the way to the camp. We arrived 20 minutes before the meetings started, and my boss was pacing the floor in the cafeteria. He came out to the car and told me that he was glad I was there because he could now relax and enjoy the evening. To my surprise, there is Internet access available in the cafeteria. So I'm sitting in the dark cafeteria while the meetings are going on in the lodge and blogging.

It rained all day today and I was thankful that Bob had packed one of our larger umbrellas. It is so beautiful here that it doesn't really matter what the weather is, we have a great time. The sleeping accommodations aren't much, but thankfully we have our eyes closed most of the time that we are in the room, so you forget how bad the rooms really are. I remember the first year we came and I got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom which was shared by five families and while sitting a little mouse poked its head up the floor through a hole. I still cannot believe that I was able to hold back the screaming that I so much wanted to do. After that year, we have taken our travel trailer and I enjoy staying in my little house on wheels. Everything is clean to my specifications and that makes me very happy. However, this year we have the trailer at the house we are working on and Ryan stays there during the week so his commute to work isn't so long. Anyway, we are staying in one of the rooms here at the camp. They put us in the Infirmary, because we have so many people here we are short on rooms. It's interesting.

Even though it rained today, there were many brave souls that went canoe-ing and paddle boating. Tomorrow my friend from Buffalo, Gina, and I are going to go out in one of the paddle boats together.

This swings looks so inviting. Can't wait to try it out.

Picture taken looking out from the back porch of the house that we are staying in.

Another great place to sit and relax.

This is the house we are staying in along with twelve other families. It's a very busy house. There are only three showers. It's very interesting in the morning. This morning I had a trickle of cool water for my shower.

This is the craft house and the young lady that pours and prepares all the ceramic pieces for everyone to paint. Then she fires everything. I went and talked to her and asked her if I could paint some ceramic Christmas ornaments that my daughter had made and sent to me. She said that would be fine and she didn't mind firing them, so I'm hoping to have my Christmas ornaments completed when I return home at the end of the week.

This morning, the pastors' wives had a craft-social time together. We made these notepads and I'm really happy with the one I made. This picture doesn't do it justice, but maybe you can get the idea.

After lunch, Bob and I headed for Lake Placid to do some shopping for the banquet that I have to decorate for this Wednesday evening. I'm really excited about what I'm planning to do and hope it turns out as nice as I'm thinking it will. I'll give you more info about what I'm going to do in a later post, but I'll tell you about one idea I'm going to use. As we were driving out of town, a great idea came to my mind about what to serve for dessert. And I needed a fish cookie cutter. Bob had to turn around and we headed back into town. We stopped at several stores, with no luck. As we were driving down another street, I saw a gift shop and told Bob to "Stop!" So he pulled over and parked and we jumped out and ran down the street. It was 5:30 p.m. and I was afraid they might be closing. I told the lady I was on a mission and I needed a fish cookie cutter. She told me she didn't have one, but would call another store two blocks down and see if they had one. They did! But they were closed!!! The clerk told the lady with the cookie cutter that she would send me right down and just hand the cookie cutter to me and she would pay her tomorrow. So Bob and I went running down the street, (I left Bob trailing behind - I was surprised to know that I could run pretty fast if I needed to). When I reached the store the lady opened the door, handed me the cookie cutter, and I turned around and ran back to the other store. I paid her for the cutter and Bob and I were soon on our way back to camp.

These were some cute little cabins that are available to rent at Lake Placid.

Tomorrow will be a very busy day. I have many ideas that I need to have Bob materialize for me for the banquet and then in the evening we have the corn and hot dog roast, and rodeo. I think I should close and go to bed. Another busy day is just a few hours away.