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Sunday, July 5, 2009

Free Hugs, Just Ask!


I love the 4th of July.  It always conjures up memories of watermelon and Shasta Cola and Twilight Zone marathons.  

Today I was excited to find out there actually was a Twilight Zone marathon on the Sci Fi channel (soon to be Sy Fy channel)(what's up with that? Why is Sci Fi trying to go all cutesy?)  I tried to watch it, but you know what?  The Twilight Zone is kinda weird.

Today I was going to tell my favorite poetic 4th of July story about how John Adams and Thomas Jefferson (best buds) actually died on the same day (the 4th of July) exactly 50 years after they drafted and signed the great divorce papers from England, but since we've all been talking about camp in my comment box I'm going to talk about camp instead. 

It doesn't matter where you go for camp.  It's who you go with that matters.  People make memories, not places.  

That being said, guess where our stake goes for girls camp?  A big empty field in our back yard.  

A big ole' empty field.  

A big ole' empty stinkin' HOT field.  

Iwa, back me up on this.  

It seriously is right in our back yard.  I could be there in 10 minutes on foot and 3 minutes on my sons skateboard.

I know it doesn't matter where you go for camp because people make memories, not places, but seriously, it really is a big ole' stinkin' hot field in my back yard.  

The stake puts up a whole bunch of easy corners and girls camp commences. 

I'm not trying to make you feel sorry for me.   I've never spent three days at girls camp in that stinkin' hot field, but I did spend two hours there once for scout day camp and I had to be hauled off in a straight jacket.

Ward camp makes up for it though.  Here in Laie every ward spends a week together on the beach.  This is what Iwa said about it in my comment box: 

It's wonderful.. we bring our couches, our beds, x-boxes.  Before when our ward camped two weeks people would bring their refrigerators, and last year someone brought a kitchen sink (no kidding!)

I can confirm this.  I was in shock and awe the first time I went.  I wish I had photographic evidence of the full living room sets, compete with entertainment centers, rugs and big screen t.v.s.  I've laid eyes on at ward camp.  

There's an element of culture shock in the Hawaii camping experience.  

Culture shock is when you are normal and everyone else is koo koo for cocoNUTS.

The biggest culture shock for me was scout camp.   Last night was parent night at scout camp. 

Why doesn't anybody warn you that showing up at scout camp cold can be trippy? 

It's just that in real life you don't see leaders with pink hair singing "I'm a little teapot" and giving away free hugs.

Do other scout camps gives away free hugs?


Don't tell anyone, but my son's troop changed this sign to Free Bugs.

Here is a photo of my twins watching flag ceremony.


They look like they could use a free hug, don't you think?

22 comments:

The Songer said...

Hah! FIrst and i even read the whole thing!

The Songer said...

I Iwa, do solemnly swear that Crash is telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth… (in this post!)

The Songer said...

Our Stakes YW girls camp is at a place called The Cricket Field... not because when no one in camping there that is the only thing you here.... but because that is the only place that the samoan's in Laie could find to Play the game Cricket and eat TimTamSLams!

acutally that was a total lie.. i have no idea why it is called the cricket field... but it is a deseret field on the way up to Laie Falls in the back of Laie and Yes samoan play cricket there!

The Songer said...

and Crash is so right about it being who you camp with.....

Dont ever camp with my mother... She is a neurotic Over Achieving Camper! She decorates her camp site every year according to a theme! She also got the whole ward this year to make family Flags to post at your campsite, so when you walk into their site to relax on a white leather couch and play some x box, you know who's couch you'll be sitting on!.... They even made it into a contest!

The Songer said...

I just got back from the best 4th of July ever and am high on Coke... just the bottle stuff... not the real stuff from mcdonalds... so i can go on forever about camping!

wv: belen...it ryhmes with helen! My sister is Helen... we use to tease her Helen smellin the water melon! haha!

The Songer said...

hah.... just read comment three and I spelled here wrong.. I meant Hear!

The Songer said...

So more about my 4th! It was the best... I may just blog about it! Nothing Patriotic... but I figured out my Heartsong... really.... and I saw my favorite live singer... it was awesome! be still my heart! Im still smiling!

The Songer said...

Which ward was giving out free hugs?.... was it 1st ward?... it just seems like something Martha would do! I know it wasn't 7th ward.... was it?

I bet your sons were giggling the whole time they changed it to bugs!

The Crash Test Dummy said...

ha ha You made me laugh about your mom. I do solemnly swear Iwa is telling the whole truth about the flags.

I ate Sugarland watermelon today because of your mom and your sister who taught me at ward camp that Sugarland watermelon is the BEST! Always sweet! They were right. I ate two of them.

I can't wait to read your post about your favorite live singer. I hope his name starts with a J and ends with an ack.

The Songer said...

Maybe Im high on Spam... This morning i made 40 musubi ... Im spamed out... will not be trying the TimTamSpamSlam anytime soon!

The Crash Test Dummy said...

Oh my goodness, twice! 40 musubi????

It wasn't a ward. It was the health tent who was giving out free hugs. Hugs heal all wounds. So do bugs.

The Songer said...

Mj heal too... last night we went Karaoke(ing) and this girl sang every MJ song... after her 3rd song i wanted to wrap the mic cord around her neck... but then she sang Heal the world and I just smiled and felt like MJ was hugging me! haha!

Unknown said...

I was going to comment but it seems like I'm interrupting something...

Oh, well, I do that from time to time. One year in Puerto Rico our girls camp took place in our YW President's living room. They "hiked" the shopping district of Old San Juan, and built a fire on the beach before returning to their condo. That's my kinda camping!

And I'm thinking the 'free hugs' thing sounds a little girls campy to me.

And your ward's 'week on the beach'? I got nothin'. Never seen such a thing. Where do they plug in their big screen TVs?

Heidi said...

I love it when twins turn out looking like their mom and dad--that is to say, one of each. My twin sister and I just look like each other. Boring!

The Crash Test Dummy said...

Ha ha DeNae, That tops my stake's girls camp story.

Miss Heidi, I'm so impressed that you noticed. I always thought having someone who looked just like me would be cool. Then I wouldn't have to look in the mirror to find out if I looked wierd.

AW Cake! said...

Are you giving out hugs? *sniff* Can I have one?
(I l.o.v.e. girls camp, btw - we can have fun in Idaho too. LOL!)

Barbaloot said...

Did you know they didn't even show "A More Perfect Union" on TV like they usually do EVERY year? What the heck?

Martha said...

Did you know at our ward camp they shut down the movie night? They said that after Kung Fu Panda ended that was it, because we were not obeying copyright laws. Showing the movie to all the campers was not "personal home use".

I only saw a few couches this year. One family with little kids had an area about 20' x 20' of baby gates so their little pumpkins wouldn't escape.

Mariko said...

I saw Martha at Foodland and tried to catch her eye, but she only said hi to Austin. What a snob!
(I'm totally kidding, Martha. It was mostly that I felt embarassed about not VERBALLY getting your attention, and by the time I wasn't catching your attention, I felt kind of dumb.)

So anyway, I want to point out that I think all ward camps are this way, even in Oregon, where we're all tree hugger types. We bring our entire kitchens in our trailers, except me, because we didn't have a trailer. So we were not as cool.

April said...

How rude about the Kung Fu Panda! I think someone needs a huuuuug!!!

Amber Lynae said...

We don't even have ward campouts. I mean there is the girls camp and scout camps which I have no idea what happens in them because i'm stuck in primary and my child is still WAY too little. A ward campout would be nice.... and by campout I mean a stay in a nice resort. :)

Unknown said...

For me it looks some different.