Head Shots, Hot Shots and Heart Shots

Aye, yai, yai my girls are crazy.

Last night Greer curled Reese's hair, picked a dress out of her closet

and set outside in the heat for a full on photo shoot.

 Reese turns 11 next week and

the girls figured she needed to make her "eleven year old debut".

 So enjoy--

Reese's posing

And Greer's mad photo skills.

The three Barkettes' headed off to Camp Rainbow Gold's Sibling Camp

this morning.

They are gone about a week.

 Wow, is it ever going to be quiet around here.

J.O.Y.

This may come across more than a little crazy... but

cancer can be oh, so beautiful.

Case in point.

We got home tonight from a little slice of heaven.

We spent the past four days with seventeen other cancer families

at Camp Rainbow Gold's Family Retreat on Lake Perkins.

I can't begin to tell you how much we love this place, these

people or this experience.

(Byron took this picture first thing this morning-- eat your heart out Ansel Adams).

My pictures and words are so inadequate.

From the minute we arrive at camp, it is a joy to watch 

my children join with others to play, laugh and cut loose.

Even Kean.

He gets in the middle of things and does "his thing".

 The first night is dinner, music...

 and carnival.

 I'm talking a full-on carnival with more activities than are in 

this picture, lots of dancing and way too much cotton candy and other treats.

 Nirvana for kids

and once again, joy for moms to watch such smiles.

 Our days were pretty packed-- with archery...

 and watching our mountain goats climb the wall.

This is Reese but Holland set a speed record--

she got to the top in 27 seconds.

 We went Geo-Catching with other families...

 Had lots of down time to laugh (and sing...remember we had Greer with us).

 One of our favorite activities was solving the mysteries

in an "Escape Room".

 Every night was filled with music-- talent shows, silly jokes...

 and crazy karaoke.

 On Saturday, the beautiful weather fled and was replaced by snow.

Snow in June!

That didn't stop the fun...

we moved inside for crafts, games and general silliness.

 Superman - above, Jason Hosick is one of our favorites.

He wears a new wig about every hour (or at least every few hours).

I don't know of any child who does not love Jason, including Kean.

 Before every meal, we all gather and make a huge circle,

hold hands to sing a silly, little song about what we are thankful

for.  For some reason, Kean won't stand with his family or in the 

circle but has his special spot in the middle of things.

He goes to the same exact spot before every meal!

 After every meal, it is Shine Time.

A hat, the crazier, the better, is passed around with the microphone

where whoever wants to-- shows their gratitude by
"shining" for someone or something.

I think Reese shined every meal.

Oh, how we love these crazy folks who do so much for our families.

This is Camp Director, Steve England-- who happens to be a Lieutenant in the

Haley Police Department.  Wouldn't you love to have him pull you over?

 Our final night at camp, Holland and Greer sang a duet as part

of the talent show...

 There's nothing better than watching your kids thrive 

and enjoy every minute while being together as a family.

 The night ends with the Pine Cone ceremony where every family

(some who have lost children and the rest of us, who have had

children forever scarred by cancer) tie written "wishes" on 

pine cones, throw them into the fire and send them to heaven.

It is the most somber moment of camp-- highly emotional and

incredibly touching.

 We woke up this morning to glorious weather.

Of course, it was the day we said our goodbyes.

We did get in a family hike before breakfast.

We came home tired, dirty, loaded up with laundry and

even better, loaded up with memories we'll never forget

and experiences that will recharge us and keep us going.

We love everything about Camp Rainbow Gold-- especially the love.

A Slice of Heaven Served up With a Side of Hell

Excuse me while I scream.

We were back in the doctor's office tonight.

Kean has, yep, two more ear infections.

His third set in a months time.

Who knows if they are the same ear infections that never cleared up.

All I know is he's miserable.

Those are his toes sticking above his shoulder while we waited.

 He's on antibiotic number three (a stronger one for a longer time).

and we've been ordered to see his ENT.  Today's doc suspects

an underlying sinus infection is to blame.

Well at least we had a few days break.

We went up to Sun Valley for the weekend-- mostly

so I could testify at a hearing on behalf of Camp Rainbow Gold.

They are trying to build their own camp on a pristine

piece of property up a canyon.

Unfortunately, the uber rich neighbors don't want it in their backyard.

 It was a long, long and depressing experience.

It's a good thing we made up for it in fun the rest of the weekend with the family.

The snow was unbelievable-- cars and homes buried.

 We saw signs of avalanches everywhere-- even Baldy,

the big ski resort was closed down for a few days while they

set off charges to trigger avalanches.

We spent one day with our favorite Camp Rainbow Gold counselor,

Jaime and her family.  The girls couldn't get enough of her

little baby, Maeve.

 She took us up this amazing sledding hill...

 where, I'm not sure if we talked more or sledded more.

 That night we all relaxed at the hotel.

 On Saturday, we took a leap and got Byron back in skates and on ice.

The last time he tried skating, he skewered his leg, got a metal plate,

10 pins and was on crutches for months and months.

 He said it was playing with his mind-- but after a few minutes

he settled in and boy, did we have fun.

 Kean sat in that little chair for a whopping 1 and a half hours

while we took turns pushing him around.

 He was in heaven.

 Hopefully, he's hanging on to all those fun memories while

he feels so lousy.

Poor kid.

Kean's First School Yard Brawl!

Today was one doozy of a day.

We got up with the sun to pick berries and

then get Kean off to his last day of "Extended

School Year".  He went four weeks this summer

and seemed to do okay--

 Until today, that is.

He was fine taking off on the bus.

 But I got a call from his teacher at the end of his three hour session-

telling me some 1st grader had clocked him in the face with his fist.

She said the boy has behavioral problems and that Kean didn't do

anything to provoke, he just happened to be standing in the wrong place

when this kid went off.

Kean came home with a bit of blood on his shorts but other than a rosy

cheek, I can't see anything wrong.  And other than being a little

grumpy (who wouldn't be?), he was fine.

 So, on top of Kean getting hit,

both dogs limping (and Lola moping around all depressed)...

 there is Reese.

The girls had three of their closest friends over

from Siblings Cancer camp- Camp Rainbow Gold all day yesterday.

And while Reese was all smiles most of the time,

 she got kicked in the head while playing a game in the swimming pool Monday night.

 She screamed in pain for quite some time, has had clear fluid

constantly coming out of it-- so we figured she broke her ear drum.

She was still in quite a bit of pain today, so I took her to the doc.

Because, hey, you know that's my favorite thing in the world to do, right?

There's a lot of fluid and gunk. But no big sign of a tear or problem.

We go back in a week after the antibiotics have had a chance to work.

And that was only half of the crazy stuff that happened today.

I swear, never a dull moment around here.

I'm off to bed!