Kanorado 2013

Last weekend, this cool cat...see amazing kid glasses for obtaining cool cat status...

and I took girls to KS for our yearly Kanorado.  This years theme was Living Water: Is it in you? and we camped at Pomona Lake reservoir, which is just south of Topeka.  Thursday, through powerful and scary winds, we drove the get-a-way van to Gridley where we spent the night with my Gma.  She had cookies and orange juice ready for us when we got there at 1am.  The girls were so tired, but they were troopers and stayed up long enough to have a midnight-yish snack.  I had the following conversation with one of the girls after:

Me: (sees girl sitting on couch with light on) Annie, are you going to bed?
Annie: Yes. (continues to sit upright on the couch)
Me:  Do you need help getting your bed made up?
Annie: (Throws head back) I'm so tired!!!
Me: (helps lay her down and put a sleeping bag over her as no motion was made by her to get in or on top of it)

Friday morning Gma made us a great breakfast and then we got everyone's hair braided up and traipsed out to the fish pond to see if the catfish were still alive.  Sadly, in the 3 minutes we were there, none showed up.  Yes, we were impatient. Once we arrived at Pomona Lake, the girls spent most of the rest of the afternoon swimming.  It was awesome to be able to swim in a lake and not freeze! Our crew was thoroughly sunburnt by the end of the day.  For supper we cooked pudgy pies which we filled with meat, tater tots, mushroom soup, veggies, and seasonings.  They were really good but took quite a while to cook.  Amy R, Malerie S, Lydia M, Kerry, Aeriel and I got tired of waiting and therefore made a little fire of our own in another pit.  Let me rephrase, I made another fire while they cheered me on and stood around and watched : D  Lydia and Malerie gave their testimonies later that evening and then we had our annual singing.  These girls are a huge blessing, I can't describe what it's like to be around them.  I captured 1 picture from Friday..

Why? I have no idea.

After breakfast and devotions Saturday morning, half of the group tried to go on a hike.  I so wish I would have had my camera for this!  We drove around for probably 20 minutes trying to find the path, stopped at what looked like a mowed trail, walked 50 feet, and then realized it was just a mowed path to a bird house.  I'm sure by-standers were confused why all 30 of us needed to see that birdhouse.  HA! We moseyed up the road a bit and walked along a path that was longer...but dead ended at a wheat field 3 minutes in.  It was at this point the girls started finding the ticks.  They were tiny and all over everyone's shoes.  It was quite gross, even though us older ones had to keep it together for the younger girls that were FREAKING out.  I have never seen that many ticks in my life.  One CO girl declared she hated KS and never wanted to come back : )

We ended up getting rained out early afternoon and so went back to Burlington for pizza and then to Gma's. The girls had a blast exploring the farm, catching frogs, and were still able to present their skits for Gma and us. Sunday we went to church in Lamont, changed at Aaron & Maria's, took some final pictures and then headed home.   In their words, "We got to do everything we like about Kanorado, sing, see everyone, swim, and even skits!" (see skit here)  I think that means success!

And then 5 hours in to the returning trip, I was text this picture.  Fail...