Camp Reed Day 4 Report

In just one day, Captain Reed took my title as Queen of the Camp. I'm fairly ticked about it.

He drove the kids over to the Newport Aquarium in Cincinnati.

In the words of Alison Reed, "It was wicked cool."

There's no competing with that.

Walking in to the place, they went through a long tunnel that went through huge aquariums. Sharks swam around them and at one point, a fish rammed right into a shark right in front of them. They claim there was a sea turtle with a head as big as our TV. They got to pet sharks and sea stars and horse shoe crabs.

If that's not enough, on the way home, they stopped at the famous Cow Palace in downtown Shelbyville.

Alison has been a devoted fan of Dairy Queen ice cream ever since her Aunt Margaret talked me into buying her first cone there when she could barely walk. The Cow Palace is her newest love.

"It's the best ice cream I ever had!" declared the strictly vanilla lover. "Well, I guess I'd have to wedge it in between Boogie Burger and Dairy Queen. Right in the middle.

Hannah had Death by Chocolate. Alex had cherry and the captain had some sort of chocolate concoction. Ali kept going on and on about how great her ice cream was so I double checked to be sure she'd had her standard vanilla.

Yes, she'd stuck with it, but next time, she said, "I'm going to have bubble gum."

The only downside was that Ali didn't listen very well to her father on the way home and kept laying on one or the other of her seat mates. He's docked her allowance $1.

When I reported the incident to my co-workers, Paul (father of 3 boys) said, "Man, I'm glad he's not MY dad..."

Captain Reed's reputation grows....

Camp Reed Afternoon Report Day 3

I'm feeling pretty sad that my tour of duty at Camp Reed 2009 is over. Tomorrow, I go back to work and Captain Reed takes over.

The kids will love it. He's already set up a field for water gun fighting -- providing all kinds of crazy shelters for people to hide behind -- and he's thinking of taking them on a road trip.

Me? My nose will be firmly back to the grindstone. Heavy sigh.

Today we were stalled a bit as we waited for Village Plumbing to drop by and fix the clog in our basement drain and the leaks in our master bathroom. I'd missed the call that would have brought them early, and we were just coming onto Canterbury Park on a bike ride when the call came that they were 30 minutes out.

We opted for a quick spin and headed down the trail, with Alison scouting again. She and Hannah kept up a good pace and we made it to the edge of the State Fairgrounds before we headed back. We pulled up just as Tim the Plumber got to our house.

He was great, but the work took us through lunch. Right before it, our neighbor called, desperate for help with her 13.5-year-old dog who she thought was stroking out. I helped get Maddie (the dog) into Debbie's (the neighbor's) car and then added Chelsea to my camper list.

They were all happily watching a movie and munching on lunch when Debbie returned; harried but freshly convinced to prolong the dog's life. I'm not a dog hater, but Maddie is blind, deaf and prone to tremors. Debbie is a single divorcee, recently laid-off and caring for a special needs child.

I'm not sure I would have agreed to give Maddie another day. Another of Debbie's charges, Pearl the rabbit, hopped off into Bunny Neverland last week after 13 years. Frankly, I think the animal signals are clear and that Debbie needs a break.

After Tim had fixed all that ailed our pipes and faucets and I was able to tear the kids away from our Charlie Brown Special collection, we got back on the bikes and rode to Broad Ripple Park to try out the pool. (It wasn't up to the standards of the Jordan YMCA pool, according to the little otters.)

While they were happy to cool off, I'd just had my hair done. I could only dip my toes for fear of having my friend Julie from Ado disown me. She'd warned me away from chlorine when I left her Tuesday evening. She's not only a way better hair stylist than I deserve, she's a new mom and full of hormones. She probably would brand me with a curling iron if I dragged myself in there to get my freshly un-grayeed hair repaired.

Debbie's bad luck with animals seemed to follow us as we biked to the park pool.

"Aw! That poor chipmunk," Ali called, alerting everyone to the road kill. "Hey Hannah, my mom ran over a squirrel once."

"Mrs. Reed! How could you?!"

I launched into my speech about how I was certain the squirrel had committed suicide and used me horribly in its dastardly plot of self-destruction.

"I don't believe that for a minute," Hannah said.

"Yeah, Mom. You KILLED it," my offspring reminded me.

I battled them for a while before I reminded them that I could have let the squirrel live but taken evasive action such that Alison and I could have died in a firey crash. Alex, who loves me most when I'm pedalling him around on the tandem, jumped to my defense.

"I think it could have committed suicide," he said. "It shouldn't have run out in the road when a big car was coming. And besides, there are millions of squirrels. There aren't millions of Mrs. Reeds or Alisons."

I love that boy. He's so smart.

They played a little at the park before we came back home into the lovely air-conditioned house where they gorged on frozen yogurt and ice water before their parents came to whisk them away. (The basement drain problem was causing the a/c run-off to back up and pool on the floor but thanks to Tim, we're basking in the cool again.)

I may have to get sick Friday afternoon and have to go home early...

Camp Reed Afternoon Report

The tree cutters were amazing. In and out in less than 3 hours, they took down the sweet gum, trimmed the oak and took out an unsightly bush/tree out back.

I almost didn't recognize the yard.

The kids got bored after the first few cuts and spent most of the time in the back yard with the hose and Jeff's new Father's Day water guns. It was only after they were down to cutting what had the look of an uncarved totem pole that they thought it was kind of interesting. And then, they watched from the cool inside as the tree crew sweated in the muggy air. Wimps.


Complete Tree Care is my new favorite business. They come back on Friday to drill out the stumps. If they do then what they did today, they're going to get one sweet report on Angie's List...



Before the tree crew came, the four of us took a bike ride to Target. I needed a new seat for my bike and I've decided that Camp Reed has to have at least one component of physical exercise.

The girls were on their own bikes. Alex was on the tandem with me. We were zooming along when Ali missed a turn and we had to do a little cross-country to get over to the store.

"Geeze Mom! What are you doing?"

"We've got to get over there. It's just a little grass. You're good. Come on," I say as Alex and I push through the somewhat muddy field.

The girls got off their bikes and were pushing them across the grass. The plan was to cross an office parking lot, then the Lowe's lot, and over to Target.

"Follow me and stay close. Watch for traffic," I call, slowing down and circling to be sure they were going to make it.

"Alex, you are on the bike of doom!" Hannah calls out.

"Yeah, Alex, you're gonna die with that mad woman!" calls Ali.

I stop short. I look back. They're on their bikes. Sure, they're slow, but they're behind me. There are parked cars, but few are moving. I'm not sure what the problem is.

"Nice knowing you Alex," calls one.

"I don't believe you!" calls my defender. "I am NOT going to die."

"You know, Alex, she's a bad driver in the car AND on a bike," calls Ali.

"Well I think she's doing a good job," he says, pedaling like a champ.

I announce the winner of the My-Favorite-Camper award. I think he smiled. It's hard to see from the front seat.

Regardless, the girls do not relent. It wasn't even my fault we had to go off road. Alison missed the turn. In the end, we got safely across all the lots, to the store, to Taco Bell and back without a problem.

Camp Reed Day One was fun. I may never go back to work.

Camp Reed Morning Report

Day One of Camp Reed came early. I was up at 7, sweating from a really strange dream that involved vampires, the Indianapolis Star and a desperate search for a working pay phone.

I had intended to spend the morning in my neighbor's yard with three kids watching our sweet gum tree be felled. But I woke up to damp ground and a grim sky. For a moment, I considered whether Mother Nature was issuing one last warning about the planned destruction.

I actually thought about calling to cancel the tree guys. Instead, I decided I'd read too much trashy fiction and made myself some coffee.

The rain has forced Camp Reed in doors so far but it's been absolutely no problems for the campers who scampered downstairs seconds after they arrived.

They've got a laptop, a Mac, the television, movies and the Wii to keep them occupied. Perfect for the rain out.

The tree cutters are due around 2 p.m., so I think we'll have a short field trip but be back here in time to watch the thing come down.