Grayson Returns From Camp

My G-rex is back home from Camp Classen in Davis, Oklahoma, where he spent a week swimming and crafting and all that camp stuff. He says he had a really good time.

It was so much easier dropping him off this year. Last year we left him with this sad puppy face. But this year he got to the cabin early, so he had his choice of bunks, and he was settled in and greeting his cabin-mates when we left. He barely thought to say goodbye.

I'm a bit frustrated with the camp because they failed to put him in the "Horseshoe Club" – the equestrian program I requested and paid for. I got a sad letter from him on Wednesday saying that his counselor had told him he was not in Horseshoe Club. So I called the camp and they assured me that he was on the list. I asked them to please check to see if he was actually showing up at the corral, and they told me they would do so. Of course, I never heard back from them.

I thought - well, maybe he wasn't on the counselor's list because we signed up late, but he'll be on the Horseshoe Club leader's list and they will have been looking for him. No. No, they just put him in another elective, so my boy spent the first day at camp crying because he didn't get to do what we told him he could.

At least they let me apply the money paid for the Horseshoe Club to his next year's camp. But I was steamed at them. Enough that I had to just walk away so I didn't embarrass Grayson by chewing their heads off. There were these two fat ladies who clearly didn't care that Grayson hadn't gotten the experience I had paid for, and barely bothered to say "sorry" in an offhand manner to me. Why are they working for a summer camp if they don't care about the kids? I felt the red curtain coming down, so I got out of there.

Grayson says it was a disappointment, but didn't spoil his experience, so I try to put it away. Breathe. Relax. He doesn't need me to be the Momma Bear over this.

He did at least get to ride one day. Here's a picture of him with his horse, "Tess." He loved riding, and my folks and I have promised him we'll take him to the riding stables here in Norman, and maybe get him some lessons, if they're not too expensive.

This week he's a latchkey child, hanging around the house on his own while I'm at work. It's the first time I've left him home alone for an extended period. I go home and check on him at lunch and make sure he eats something besides Cheezits. But I can tell I'm going to have to get him engaged in something else. I'm afraid he'll just hang around in his pajamas in front of the TV all summer, otherwise. So I'm sniffing around for things for him to do at least half the day in August.

The Unparallelled Joy of Air Conditioning

Oh Frabjous Day! I have air conditioning in my home again! Sort of.

Saturday I was informed that the receiver in charge of my house would not be replacing my defunct air conditioning unit. Instead, they would be putting in three window units. Great. I admit I was less than enthusiastic about this solution, but, since it was an unlivable 90 degrees in my house, I am more than willing to take whatever relief was offered.

Today, the long-awaited units were installed, and my house is cool again (if somewhat noisier). The dogs spent all day snoozing in the cool.

The other fabulous news of the day is that I got my chipped tooth fixed. It was driving me nuts, and I cannot adequately express the relief I felt when, the repair completed, I touched the back of the offending tooth with my tongue and felt... nothing. AH! Sweet relief from the compulsive rubbing of the rough spot that I have been unable to keep myself from doing virtually every waking hour since the tooth chipped last week!

In celebration, I stopped at Wendy's to get a Frosty on the way home. And this CHICKEN was parked under the sign. Yes, it's a real, live chicken. Well, of course, I got out of the car and made a complete ass of myself attempting to catch the chicken. What I thought I was going to do with it once I caught it, I'm not sure, considering the fact that the last chickens in my home were murdered by Roxy. But I tried. I chased it under the car and around the car and finally gave up and left it back where I found it, parked under the menu sign in the drive-through. I hope she finds her way home on her own.

In Which Grayson is on You Tube

Grayson occasionally gets hold of the camera and makes videos of himself. Mostly these are perfectly tedious, unless you happen to be his mom and think he's adorable no matter what he does.

Recently, however, while at his dad's house, Grayson created something that actually made me laugh out loud. It's partly because it's funny, and partly because he's so obviously in his own little world during the making of this video that it provides some insight into the peculiar workings of his nine-year-old brain. I would post it here, but you can view it on YouTube, and that way I don't have to upload it. So check it out:

Handzilla!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK7gHb1zSbU