two days in one

We woke up so early this morning it seems like so long ago that I was waking up children trying to get them moving towards our bagel bar and out the door. At 4:15 in the morning, an assortment of bagels and flavored cream cheeses were laid out for the kids to choose from before our mock competition at 6. We rolled into the parking lot around 5:30 where we announced running orders, routes, and the team did a warm up as if it were a legitimate comp. Well…as much of a warm up as anyone can do that early in the day.

Chad Bro Chill one his category and sent his top rope route, followed by Jessica in second and Kiara in third due to a tricky bottom section. Ellen, Amy, Terra, and Elizabeth fell on the same move through the crux of their route. 4 way tie, at least they’re consistent!? Dominic crushed his route and sent while Claire, Tiny, and Brendan fell at the crux. Rita fell at a powerful move in the bottom section but that category as a whole ‘competed’ with a solid mindset. Marisa climbed extremely smart and well on her pumpy route, followed by 8Lynn who really caught my attention with her good tempo. Unfortunately the start of the route was misleading and outsmarted Maggie, KDawg, Peyton, and Bethany. They hopped on again later though and figured out their mistake. John climbed his route amazingly and blew away his competition! The crux got the best of Dana, Durant, Gentry, and Lolo, leaving them flustered with a powerful section on bad holds. For the most part everyone competed well and took the morning seriously. After the mock-comp, it was time for speed practice and those competing ran a couple of laps. Dominic and John both made 4 second times! Very impressive. Our time at the gym neared its end and the kids each did 100 moves on the campus board to leave us finished by 9.

Just in time for some Sublime donuts of course!

On the way, it was discovered that one of the Cosmo Readers found a cute mirror picture of Durant and his twin sister. Being Team Texas, of course we have to do something absolutely ridiculous with this photo. Maybe like…have EVERY member on the team set the picture as their phone background in both vans during the drive from the gym to Sublime without Durant ever finding out. By the way, we accomplished this successfully. Even better I am almost positive he still has no clue hahaha classic shenanigans.

Our next plan for the day after refueling with donuts was to show our mad VBall skills at a sand volleyball court! However we are just way too broke and ended up having a pool day at the hotel instead. Those who were exhausted took naps while others bronzed and swam while others plotted to throw said nappers into the pool. This includes KDawg, Gentry, and 8Lynn. Gentry was not to happy to be woken up by older boys picking him up and taking off with him to the pool, only to throw him in! Same goes for KDawg and 8Lynn, but we all know somewhere deep inside they had a little fun 😀

The little girls and I watched Up and later we went to Jason’s Deli for dinner. After that it was time for the best part of the night-FROYO!!! Thank you Amy for being born today 19 years ago, we love you! I picked up Kyle from the airport and everyone is so exhausted that by the time we got back to the hotel, most everyone is already asleep (which never happens) I’m feeling pretty tired myself.

National Championship Countdown: 4 days!

KYLE IS GONE, PARTY AT THE MARRIOTT!

Hey Kyle if you are reading this, I want to apologize in advance for getting the kids to bed late, sneaking them all red bulls/candy, letting them walk over to the mall across the street, and hosting a raging party tonight in celebration of your absence as well as AMY’S BIRTHDAY TOMORROW! Don’t worry though, I’ll have them at the gym bright and early tomorrow to train.

Hehehe just kidding, just kidding! Kinda…

Kyle is gone for the night on some unfortunate business, but he will be back tomorrow afternoon. In his absence we DOMINATED a movie theater and saw Now You See it. It was pretty good! Me and some of the others are inspired and considering taking up magic. Watch for our progress at Nationals next week, I’m working on getting a show prepared with Chad as my assistant. Previous to the movie we woke up, snacked on some cereal, and got ready for the day.

Our original plans on this fine rest day were decided as follows:

1) Zoo

2) Zoo (round two)

3) Aquarium

4) cool down at the Coca Cola factory

Unfortunately none of the above happened. Instead we went to Chipotle/Five Guys for lunch, the mall, target for groceries, and the movies. This new plan would’ve been fine if me and Momo hadn’t ALREADY had our safari outfits on for the ZOOS. We were VERY disappointed that we did not get to ride and tigers this morning. Oh well, maybe next rest day.

Its an early night tonight because tomorrow will be an extremely early morning when we train at the gym 6 am sharp. We will have a practice competition for the kids among other things on one of our last practices before Nationals! Everyone is looking great so far. It was apparent how tired everyone was at last night’s practice as it was their third day on and believe me when I say referring to these walls as tall is an understatement. I’m extremely impressed with the positive attitudes and endurance. I’m grouchy and exhausted without doing much of anything at all!

Spaghetti is on the way for dinner tonight thanks to Franny. Some of the girls are writing their *~*NoTeS*~* for their person tomorrow! We may no longer be at the Red but that doesn’t stop us from writing each other notes on rest days! I will not be posting this next one on the blog, but my note does involve Purple Soda. Hope this boy likes what I have in store for him mwahaha. Whoever Grace has is lucky, it looks like they will be getting cookies and a very nice note.

Its about time for everyone to get settled down and mentally prepare for the early morning ahead of them. As cruel as this sounds, I am pretty excited to be the one doing the early waking up this time! Sorry Jessica, Kiara, Momo, and Grace! After we climb tomorrow we will either go to Sublime for donuts or go out to lunch and then relax until we get Yogurtland for Amy’s 19th birthday-a Summer Trip tradition over the years. Yay froyo! Froyo will overpower ice cream from this day forward regardless of what Tiny and the Cosmo Readers say.

“No skateboarding indoors” Challenge Accepted.

Seriously after all the hours we spent at the gym yesterday, how is it possible for the little girls to wake up so early!? I don’t understand! I’m actually quite impressed…instead of having to get up though I fell back asleep for a few hours and we had a very casual and chill morning. Some of us went to Sports Authority where me, Durant, Andrew, Chris, Ellen, and Jessica may or may not have got yelled at for skateboarding through the isles. Maybe they shouldn’t leave such tempting toys out in the open amiright?! After we left and no one purchased anything, we went to target to get Kyle some fresh golfing threads. We chilled at the hotel, packed lunch, and off to Stone Summit we went for our second day of training. Today was a little bit more relaxed than yesterday now that we’re more in the swing of things, but waiting in lines for the always-crowded-lead wall drives us a bit crazy. It took me almost two hours just to climb two routes!

It started pouring down rain just in time for me and Franny to start up quesadilla night in the parking lot…so instead we waited until we were back at the hotel and cooked up lots of cheese quesadillas and pico-thank you for your help Ellen, Dominic, Wyatt, and Dana! It was delicious and followed by a perfectly harmonized Happy Birthday to Ellen and ice cream cones with mini cupcakes! The perfect ending to a hard day of climbing. It’s about that time now were the bros watch tv in one room, the girls in another, and the older people play cards. Oh, and I blog of course! If I can figure out how to post videos on here I will, if not I will on the Instagram tomorrow.

Sublime day

I woke up this morning to the sound of little girls snickering, and opened my eyes to see Jessica and Grace standing up next to my bed staring at me. Checked my phone and sure enough it was 6:30 PM. Death to all little girls! I told them to lay back down and sleep for like 10 more hours! But when I was woken up by a similar situation an hour later I finally said FINE and groggily took Lolo, Ellery, Kiara, Grace, Jessica, and Momo down to the lobby for breakfast. We watched the Atlanta morning news and learned that my idol Miley Cyrus IS HERE. Cancel all climbing plans-I am now in pursuit of Miley!!! Priorities right?

We finished and went back to the room, I laid down to go back to sleep just in time for Kyle to come busting in shouting it was time for Sublime Donuts. Ugh. Death to Kyle now. We met up with Ashton and Kaylie at Sublime and got our donut on. For those of you unfamiliar with Sublime, let me explain why we drive 35 minutes out of our way for something that seems somewhat ridiculous. Favors include: S’mores, Reese’s, cookies and cream, strawberry cream, butterfinger, etc. Worth the drive. We couldn’t leave until Tiny and Kyle had there annual “Horse” trashcan-basketball competition. Tiny finally admitted defeat and we headed back to the hotel. By the way, we gained Marisa and Dana today!! so psyched for more teammates to be here with me. Me, Franny, and Amy went to get groceries for the next couple of days while the rest of the crew got Starbucks and prepared themselves for training at Stone Summit. Lunches were packed, vans were loaded up, and off to the gym they went.

Tonight’s training consisted of a workout station, speed station, bouldering 4x4s, and difficulty station. There’s been some drama with speed but the kids competing are making the best of a bad situation. I believe in everyone’s ability to crush regardless! Everyone did well and battled through an exhausting day. Franny and I prepared Mac n cheese in the parking lot to feed the hungry kids and the workers of the gym cafe were nice enough to give us all their leftovers! Yay for chips and salsa! Dinner is not complete, however, without a game of football. We discovered Chad has hands like glue and caught pass after pass resulting (regrettably) in Kyle’s defeat over my team. Lame. Dibs on Chad next time.

Tomorrow we will be at the gym the same times as today but hopefully we will all get more sleep tonight! Everyone deserves it. Alsoooo HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELLEN!!! The guides have something ‘sweet’ in store for you tomorrow! They grow up so fast.

Check the team Instagram for a lot of pics!

Chillin at the holiday inn (Marriott)

I literally can’t believe today was the last day here at the Red. If only we had time to stay and continue crushing before Nationals! Just a couple more weeks pleeeeease?? Gotta work with the time we have here I guess, I’d say we did just that this past week.

Claire, Lolo, and Maggie made it RAAAINNN literally yesterday when they worked on their projects! LoLo and Rita made a ridiculous amount if progress on the Madness and attacked it fearlessly. Almost no tears! I’m extremely proud of them. I got to belay Maggie on her very last run of the trip: Tuna Town. She looked so strong and calm the whole way, but after a tiring two days the crux got the best of her. Next time for sure. Claire made a new highpoint on Omaha, but took an unfortunate fall into the roof. None of us thought that was physically possible, it’s so overhung! She handled it like a champ and tried it again one final time early this morning before we left for ATL. Close again, making progress every time! The other group went to Military wall where KDog and Ellery flashed Gung Ho (12b) wussup! Momo and Jessica sent Fuzzy Undercling. Classic route, reminds me of my youth. Franny grilled us some delish burgers for ALL ‘MERICA NIGHT for dinner and we drove to Miguel’s for dessert! Approximately 24 Ben & Jerry’s ice cream pints were purchased. Peyton and I recommend strawberry cheesecake! Most of the girls prefer half baked. This morning was very hectic while we cleaned up the vans, barn, trailer, and packed to hit the road for Atlanta. On the way out we made our final Miguel’s visit and got some pizza, then said goodbye to Slade, KY. Always such a sad day knowing we won’t be back for a year (except short trip in a few weeks).

Although ill miss Kentucky, we have officially ARRIVED at our hotel in Atlanta! We’ve gained Ellen from the airport and Stan literally from the side of the road yay! Only a couple of wallets were lost today, most of which have been found. I’m kind of impressed with the kid’s ability to lose their things multiple times a day. That means you Chad and Jessica! I’m helping the girls get settled and ready for bed so we can have plenty of rest before Sublime Donuts in the morning! Healthy eating during training! Speaking of training, we will be climbing at Stone Summit from 5-10 tomorrow and will climb everyday until our first rest day on Saturday. Last training stretch before nationals, so psyched for these kids!

SuNdAy FuNdAy!

Claire is giving me one of the best back massages of my life while I write this and wait in line for pancakes (multitasking) the original dinner for tonight was spaghetti however it went by a lot faster than expected. After our busy day today I’m not too surprised!

We woke up at 7:30 for a speedy breakfast. After hiding notes in each other’s lunch (by the way, mine was a success! Dana somehow got service and loved it aww) we got on the road and onward to our areas. Today was about gettin stuff DONE! Tiny, Amy, and myself took a crew to the Motherlode and for the most part had the wall to ourselves. Rita and Lolo got on the Madness, my longtime project, for the first time! It’s a tough one but they got to the chains through some tears, and I’m very pleased I have new partners to work on it with! Dominic and Claire gave their flash runs on Omaha Beach today and both did amazing. There’s no doubt in my mind they can send. Maggie, KDog, and Gentry had a frustrating time with Tuna Town today but its only a matter of time. Gentry fell on literally the last hold! It’s all good-motivation to send next time bud. Peyton reached a new highpoint on Snooker and Andrew worked it as well with Durant. Tiny and Brendan had a fitness day on Transworld, and at the end of the day we all hopped on Chainsaw/Ale8 for Amy to take some sick pictures! I will do my best to post some soon! During said picture taking, Chris scared me half to death when i belayed him and he thought it’d be funny to climb as dangerously as possible. Those pictures ought to be interesting. We also got some video. One video in particular I laugh when thinking about. It’s of me delivering Durant his note from Amy. This note was written on paper and taped to a rubber snake which I lightly tossed onto his foot. Simply hilarious.

The other group went to Driveby which apparently was crowded. Don’t these people know Team Texas is in town..? I thought this was kinda understood…

Chad cleaned his second route ever! John got on a beautiful route called Kaleidoscope (13c). Grace, Kiara, and Momo lead climbed Fire and Brimstone and did awesome, it was like their second time to lead ever!  Wyatt climbed a lot of pitches and worked Primus Noctum, and Callie worked Easy Rider with Dana. Wyatt would also like me to mention that he still hates cleaning routes! You and me both Wyatt…Jessica almost pooped her pants on Check Your Grip, cried a bit, got back on and sent! Everyone left the wall today around 7 and kids were literally falling asleep in the van on the way back to the barn. It’s been an exhausting Sunday that’s for sure.

Aside from climbing me and the little girls played with a toy that was in my note from Terra aka “woman golf.” You have some very talented daughters that should consider taking up golf, let me tell ya. The Junior Guide groups were also filmed introducing their groups for our Summer Trip movie project…it is somewhat controversial. Might have to edit some clips here and there but they’re extremely entertaining so that’s good. Alright I am terribly sorry but I’m falling asleep while typing its been such a long and busy day. I am also sorry for spelling “Purchase” wrong in the title of my previous post. I would take responsibility but I’d rather blame the fact that I have to type all of these on an IPAD! Whatever it takes right!? Last day to climb here at the Red River Gorge tomorrow…now or never! Commence sending immediately!

Dear Dana Riddle,

Dana Riddle. Man oh man where do I begin…

I’ve known you almost my entire climbing life, which consumes over half of my actual life, so there are 2 things I am certain of right now. 1) I know right now you are livid to find a little piece of paper in your lunch with the link to this blog written on it and growing extremely impatient without service to read your note. Mwahaha 2) I know how much you love the sincere notes that get written sometimes but not as often as they should with the team. Well, today is your lucky day. Here it goes.

This note is about teeth. For as long as I can remember, your teeth are the number one thing you complained about. You remember-me talking about one day getting a nose job, you getting smaller teeth, wah wah wah. Why were we so crazy? I guess what I should say is why are* we so crazy. Anyway, back to teeth. I never understood that. You have always thought you have ‘big’ teeth. Always so self conscious just like me. I guess I should’ve reminded you more, but your smile is one of my favorite things about you. And you know what bigger teeth mean? A bigger smile. And your smile just happens to be four things that not many people’s smiles are fortunate enough to be. 1) insanely white 2) insanely beautiful 3) insanely refreshing to see after a long day of climbing and 4) big. I never understood it because from my perspective, seeing your pretty and happy grin means so much. To you its just another item on a long list of personal imperfections. Dana you are sorely mistaken, for your smile represents a lot. Like when we got away with doing 3 by 4s instead of 4 by 4s at practice and Kyle cluelessly congratulating us on a job well done. It means going for a ride on my jet ski, only to run out of gas in the very middle of Lake Grapevine, leaving us stranded. It means thinking its a good idea to try and teach you and Callie (oh God) how to drive in my first car…and quickly realizing it is a BAD idea. It means you just became the World Champion after months of training alongside each other, leaving me both jealous and proud. It means you eagerly telling me you had your first kiss. It’s me teaching you what every inappropriate word or phrase means in private while everyone else made up some random definition to try and confuse you. It’s Secret Sesh. It is meeting Wilco and then telling them they played too loud. it is you guessing the right band name. It’s the feeling of relief after opening up to each other about whatever crisis we are dealing with and can’t think of anyone else to turn to, especially the past two months. It’s the fake expression you wear when I do well on your project, and I wear it right back when YOU do well on mine. It’s you on our photoshoot. It is what you wear gold medal after gold medal as if you’ve never received one before. It’s you cracking up after trying to be angry when we make fun of you for pooping in a Hueco at Hueco Tanks that one time. It is you beating me in any sort of competition Kyle puts us in against each other, while I act like it doesn’t bother me at all (it really does). It is me still refusing to change your name in my phone from the cruel yet hilarious nickname I gave you a couple years ago. It means friendship.

It’s a reminder to me that everything will be okay, even if we have to fake it with a smile until we make it. It keeps me and the rest of team moving forward. It’s something I’ve looked forward to seeing every practice since I can remember, and something I look forward to seeing on the Texas A&M campus next year because seeing it in the summer isn’t enough.

Hopefully it is something that you are wearing right now.

Keep smiling big Dana 😀 it’s worth sharing.

Love, Shannon

P.S. thanks for everything

Must be 18 to purchas ninja stars

Did y’all know there’s a new video feature on the Instagram app?! Get excited for some sweet vids of the team @TeamTexas96 first vid was posted today!

The young-ins had a bittersweet awakening to the sound of Franny’s voice SCREAMING that pancakes were ready to be made to order! For the first time so far this trip, the kids rushed out of bed to get in line. Options for today? Blueberries, bananas, chocolate chip, peanut butter, and plain. All the little girls that wake up 3 hours before everyone else helped make the batter, and Dominic/Rita teamed up to flip everyone’s pancakes. I know I say this every year, but these were the best pancakes we’ve had on any trip. Ever. Thanks girls!

The junior guide groups got their chores done and the barn looked fantastic. Tiny and some of the other bigger boys changed a van’s tire, which we later replaced at Walmart. Before Walmart we stopped at a cafe for lunch and got some much needed laundry done. Unfortunately, I got stuck with the worst job on summer trip…doing Kyle’s laundry. Trips to the laundromat are always interesting with the team. Especially because next door is a thrift store. At this thrift store it seems Chad discovered ninja throwing stars. Not only did he discover them, he discovered he really really likes them. It’s simple math really:

Chad+Ninja Stars=Danger

Kyle promised Chad he could make the purchase if he asked his mom for permission. The answer was yes as long as we keep it away from him at all times! The purchase was made.

After one of the washing machines exploded with water it was time for us to peace out of there and get our groceries. Names for notes were drawn from a hat, as always on rest days. I feel like one of the younger girls because I get so excited eeeek! I will also be posting my note to _ _ _ _ on the blog. Sneaky sneaky huh? After Walmart and getting the tire fixed we went to Starbucks. Typical.

Barbecue Chicken was a summer trip first for dinner tonight! I’m a vegetarian and even I think that smells good! The team needs maximum protein to send projects on our last two days at the Red. I can’t believe we leave so soon, but I know Atlanta will help prepare the team for Nationals even more! Getting PSYCHED

Also, Chris brought an absurd amount of hats which I have chosen to steal and rock for the past hour. Doesn’t look half bad if I do say so myself!

Snakes & Drive-Ins

I strongly regret complaining of snake attacks yesterday. It seems like nothing compared to the 4 snake attacks my crew experienced at the Motherlode today. Yes, 4! We are becoming WAY too comfortable around these things after growing to expect them at the wall. One attacked (and by attacked I mean slithered within 10 feet of) Durant, resulting in one of the most hilarious, high-pitched squeals from anyone over 5 ft. I have ever heard. I was literally crying from laughing so hard, you’ve never seen a boy move so fast in your life. Speaking of Durant, he hopped on his project Snooker (13a) and is sending it next go fasho! Same with KDog on Tuna Town. Gentry opened the send train on Chainsaw, making it look so easy! Ellery also sent Chainsaw looking relaxed the whole way and climbing super smart. I’m very proud of all these guys, and I’d like to give a shoutout to Peyton and Maggie for sticking the crux of 40 (13a)! That move is both hard and painful, I’m psyched for them and the whole crew. The day really turned around after KDog hiked up to the wall only to discover she packed Tiny’s lunch in her bag, and her lunch in his bag. She was sad because she had made sure she gave herself the bigger bag of cereal…or should I say have Tiny the bigger bag. After 3 hours she decided Tiny PROBABLY wasn’t going to hike out of his climbing area to ours and trade lunches, so she caved and ate his. After she cheered up, her and Durant showed off their impressive French-speaking abilities while the rest of us sat in amazement. This went on for a bit and at one point all of us were trying to say the Spanish alphabet at the same time…and failed miserably. We also failed at keeping the snakes a secret from Peyton aka the next crocodile hunter, and I literally had to block him from trying to play with them!
Meanwhile Kyle, Franny, Tiny, and Chris too the rest of the kids to the Gallery and Purgatory. Lolo did great and worked hard on my favorite route at the Red called Paradise Lost (13a)! Chad “was really scared, and did awesome” crying hysterically the entire way up his route-but got to the top nonetheless! John flashed and had an epic cleaning experience on a new 12a with Claire. Wyatt got on the route that was his very first outdoor lead climb ever back in the day! Awww, memories of his notorious freak-out so long ago! Tiny Franny and Kyle taught most of the little girls how to lead climb. They were so brave and barely got scared at all, which rarely happens even with the older experienced lead climbers! Chris and Jessica made the mistake of listening to Kyle for directions to the wall, getting them lost of course. They eventually found their way. Once they got there Jessica annihilated the Gallery! Chris one-fell Amarillo Sunset and Andrew one-fell Mosaic! They did a lot of pitches by the end of the day.
Miguel’s pizza was DELICIOUS as always, I got green peppers on mine! Pasta spirals are also a crowd favorite. To top off an already great day we went to the local drive in theater and saw Monsters University! Some of us (me included) made the mistake of seeing World War Z instead. Awful movie, although its always fun to see Tiny scared/question life after these types of films.

My apologies on posting yesterday’s post late, PLEASE FORGIVE ME FOLKS.

Thrilling Thursday

Climbing with my group today was quite thrilling indeed! Me and Amy took a group of Dana, Gentry, Peyton, Ellery, KDog, Maggie, 8Lyn, and Durant to the Motherlode to get on some of the tallest routes at the Red. I was kind of worried when we showed up to the wall and Gentry immediately got his finger stuck in an Ale8 bottle…but my crew was on their A-Game today. KDog did amazing and sent Chainsaw (12a) and made it look so easy! She and Ellery worked on Tuna Town (12b) and gave it super impressive efforts, as did Maggie and Gentry. Peyton casually mentioned to me that there was a massive black snake approximately 5 feet from MY feet…this is not something to be casual about! While he tried to convince me to let him pet and hold the snake the rest of us took cover as far away as possible! No worries, no snakes or children were harmed. Later on, Peyton tried his old project Snooker while Gentry belayed him. From across the canyon I hear “uhh..Shannon? There’s a rat over here!” After being practically eaten by the snake, a rat did not sound too intimidating so I brushed him off. It wasn’t until I saw this GIANT rat for myself that I completely understood his fear. Once again, the kids got a large dose of wildlife at the wall! By the way, my note was written by Callie and was SO SO sweet (: it really brightened my day! Dana and Durant got some fitness working on Snooker, 40, and the Madness. I thought it was cute because Dana had written Durant his note, which included TWO extra sandwiches in his lunch! I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen him so excited. 8Lynn looked so strong on Chainsaw today and got on Tuna Town in the blazing sun. My group worked so hard today I’m still so proud!

Tiny and Chris took Brendan, Callie, LoLo, Claire, Andrew, John, Jessica, Rita, Dominic, and Chris to a new area called the Brightside and apparently this wall is amazing. I’m so jealous they got to climb there! Tiny got on pretty much everything and Dominic and Brendan worked the new routes too. LoLo unfortunately hurt her knee and couldn’t climb at all. Hopefully she will be back to her crushing ways tomorrow! Claire warmed up and on sighted a 12c, and John got sooo close and tried hard all day. Rita crushed EVERYTHING and worked her butt off! I know the older guys are psyched with her! Jessica, Chris, and Andrew on sighted and worked a couple cool 11s at the wall. Other than Andrew and Callie getting lost on the hike out (classic), it sounds like they had a good day and loved the new wall.

The third group was led by Kyle and Franny, which consisted of Terra, Kiara, Momo, Chad, Wyatt, and Grace. Chad on sighted every route he got on today and is so psyched! He absolutely crushed. I’m standing here asking Grace, Kiara, and Momo how they did today and if they had fun. Their response: “hehehe umm I don’t know hehehe I sent but I don’t know what hahahehehe it was fun!” They are so cute half the time I don’t know what they’re saying but I LOVE THEM THEY’RE SO DANG CUTE PLEASE KEEP GIGGLING. Even if they did nothing today no one would care or be mad I mean really, have you seen the little girls? They act all cute on purpose I swear. And it works 100% of the time. Wyatt and Terra had a fun day getting to try some new routes.

Overall day: Success.

Some interesting note stories:

-Tiny’s note was written on a Watermelon from Claire

-Claire had to climb in an IronMan mask before reading her note from Dominic

-Franny received giant “Franny Granny Panties” from Claire as an extra note

-Gentry got a Ducks Dynasty poster with a note from Momo written upside down on the back

-Ellery’s note was from Terra was written on a giant beach ball and sour patch kids candy

-Chad wore the safety vest that Ellery gave him with her note “so he wouldn’t get lost”

-Jessica’s note was written on a cupcake from LoLo

-Lolo got a very sweet note and Ale8 from Brendan

-John also got a very sweet note from Chris (LoCrasto)

-Maggie got an EXTREMELY “sweet” note from gentry involving a giant bag of sugar!

-Momo’s note was from Peyton and written on a cute stuffed pig

-Callie FAILED to receive her note at all from Kyle because Tiny FAILED at being a delivery boy. Typical

Today has been a very thrilling Thursday from snakes to stuffed pigs, but it has settled down as the kids finished up their chores and we had Taco night for dinner. In the barn right now: Jessica is teaching the other little girls how to finger-knit, John is playing chess with Gentry, Dominic, and Peyton, and Lolo is chatting with Ellery. The bros are chilling on the porch and it’s almost bedtime. Kyle claims tomorrow will be an “early” morning…challenge accepted!