As mentioned previously, Mercer went on his mission trip called "Road Rules" - leaving at 7 am on Father's Day. (Todd slept in!) Once all of the middle- and high-schoolers were checked in, they went down to the youth room. The mission trip leaders brought us parents into the sanctuary and told us -- "in a couple of hours, your kids will be BOARDING A PLANE TO WASHINGTON DC." What?! You could hear all of the parents gasp! they continued: "Melissa & her daughter drove the vans up with the luggage on Friday" (Melissa is a former youth volunteer and her daughter just graduated college). I suppose the two of them spent a couple days in the DC area with the church vans - because they were there 'til Sunday when the kids got up there... (then they flew back?)
I messaged Melissa and thanked her for her service even though she's no longer a counselor and told her she was sneaky! She sent me this picture with the Washington Monument in the background as a reply on Sunday afternoon. (We got a parent message on Saturday to "turn off air tags" - as some of the teens are in a group chat with their leaders and started chatting about where the vans were!) Each and every experience is supposed to be a surprise... it's part of this 20-year Road Rules tradition.
They also told that the kids would be visiting stops along the way back home - Norfolk, camping in Hatteras, and Charleston. (I don't know if this was their actual route, but I wanted to get a sense of where all they had been - close to 1200 miles driven).
Each night, the kids wrote updates -- written (probably by the girls!) and sent to the youth director back here in Marietta. The "Red" group update was 1st - these were the high schoolers. The "Blue" group was next in writing - these were the middle schoolers. (They did wash the shirts part-way through!)
Here are the accounts of the trip from the updates:
Subject: Road Rules Day 1 Update
Sunday - 6/16/2024
Hello Parents!! This is the flaming red panda lobsters on fire tuning in! (Emma, Lily, Zoey, John Watson, Mercer, and Andrew; Mercer and Andrew are asleep for this email but here in spirit :).
We all ate Firehouse subs. Yum Yum! Then we went to the Lincoln Memorial! What a beautiful view! #gorg. We took many pictures so if you miss us here is a little touch of your sweet prized possessions. Then we headed to the Washington National Cathedral! What a lovely service. They really have a gift in the harmony department! We went to the evensong service and heard them sing! We even got to sing a little ourselves! Music to my ears! It is a beautiful church! Then we had a relay race and we won - obviously! Then we came to our home for the night - a fun Presbyterian church! We ate some super yummy Mexican food, and then came right over to write home to our parental figures back in the Old M Town. And that’s about it!!! Actually Emma has one last message that reads as follows: “Tell my mommy and daddy to water my grass please” and Lily chimed in and asked “Please water my plant in my windowsill as well.” That being said, I will now conclude our little bloggy chatty thing, and now we will go to bed.
Goodnight from John, Lily, Emma, Zoey, Mercer, and Andrew. Go Team Red!
Subject: Road Rules Day 2 Update
Monday - 6/17/2024
Dear Fam,
Today we woke up and headed to the Salvation Army in Montgomery county, Maryland.
We helped with organization of food and clothes, cleaned the sign and windows, picked up litter and trash outside and broke down boxes. On our ride home one of the van’s tires blew out.
We took a detour to the mall while we waited on a tow truck, where we shopped and did a white elephant gift exchange.
Afterwards we drove back to the church, had some yummy flautas for dinner, and went on a night tour of three monuments of Washington D.C..
Then we went back to the church and cleaned up from the day and had devotion.
Love,
Blue Team (Enzo, Aubrey, CeCe, Reese, Maggie, Shane, and Bennett)
Mercer said he vacuumed for 6 hours. (?? well, at least we know he can!) :)
OK - regarding the "van tire blow-out" mentioned above it was not told in the update how serious it was!! One of the counselors showed me the video she was taking from her phone -- why was she video-ing the van in front of them? But... BLESS the counselor (Ken) who was driving the front van and SAFELY got off of the highway to the exit. The wheel was toast! They had to come back in a rental (large SUV) and tow the van back to Marietta for multiple repairs including coolant line and axle. Here is an image I snapped from Mercer's journal - the counselors had one of those little digital photo printers on the road & had the kids journal / paste photos into their journal. He asked me not to read his journal, so I'm not snapping anymore photos b/c they're embedded in the words.
Look at that rim. wow!
Subject: Road Rules Day 3 Journal
Tuesday - 6/18/2024
Hey Parents!
It's the Red Team speaking once again. We did lots of good work today! We woke up at Chevy Chase Presbyterian Church, and packed up to move on. We went to the Salvation Army in a different part of D.C.
We helped pull weeds, organize a closet, move bags of food, and clean the facility.
We also made a new friend named JaxsOn who speaks Spanish and is from Venezuela. We spoke Spanish, danced, played knock out, and ate lunch with him! Best of luck JaxsOn!
Then we hit the road again and made a quick visit to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. We saw a lot of bones and they were very interesting. We hit the road and had a great time in our vans singing and playing car ride games.
We stopped twice in four hours! We got snacks for the road and had a great time in the vans! We arrived and had pizza and had fun!
We found ourselves at Norfolk, ready for another day of service and fun tomorrow. See you guys in 3 days!
Subject: Road Rules Day 4
Wednesday - 6/19/2024
Hey Fam,
Today we woke up in Norfolk and after breakfast we all hopped in the vans and headed towards North Carolina! On the way we went to the kitty hawk museum to see the site of the Wright brothers first flight and saw a giant hill that was really hard to climb up.
We arrived at our final destination for today - the Hatteras KOA in the Outer Banks.
There we went to the beach, pool, and on a blob-like trampoline where the blue team had a jumping competition against the red team!
After dinner around the campfire we will be sleeping in some tents and getting ready for the next day ahead!
Sincerely, Blue Team
Thursday - 6/21/2024 (this was sent around 2:30 am on the 21st - really this is a recap from the 20th!)
Hello Road Rules parents!
Today we got up and drove for about 7 hours into Charleston, South Carolina.
We unpacked our stuff and headed into the battery to eat our dinner.
Once we got back from dinner we just had fun and relaxed with pillow fights and other fun and games (Including newspaper fashion show).
It is hard to beat yesterday but today sure came close.
It has been a fun trip but we are all excited to get back home to Marietta tomorrow.
We hope you have a good rest of your night and will see you tomorrow!
Love, Blue Team
Poor Mercer (dressed in the newspaper "bird" costume) and poor Enzo (dressed in the newspaper dress)! I was wondering if they lost a bet? (Mercer said that he got out-voted.... that his whole team voted him to wear their creation!)
He said that - according to the others on the trip - was funny. They all said that. I'm glad he got to know his church-mates deeper and they got to see how goofy he can be!
I picked up Isabella from her camp around 11:30 on Friday morning. (Her camp post is below.)
I got a text that the Road Rules crew would be coming back around 4:30 on Friday afternoon. (here they are as they're pulling up in ONE of the church vans + the rental -- which you notice did not make it into the update!!)
______________________________
Isabella left the day after Mercer.
She was really excited even though she said no one from her class was going. As it turned out, once we got there, she saw 2 boys from her 5th grade class at MCAA..... but of course she wouldn't be in the same cabin.
After we checked her in / dropped off her luggage -- we stood in line to get on the correct bus. The girl behind us was in her cabin, so they were talking & the girl asked if they wanted to sit together on the bus. yay!
I didn't get as much of an update about Isabella on her trip. I wasn't sure what groups / activities she did because I didn't really see any pictures of her doing things. :(
This is the 1st picture where I found her... but her head is turned!
She told us when she came home what she did.... as it turned out: she was in archery. (but - she said she didn't wear her tennis shoes that day -- she wore her crocs and they wouldn't let her shoot with the bow & arrow) BUMMER!!
She was in the canoeing group. I didn't see her in a photo, so here are a couple of canoeing photos for context of the lake they canoed in.
We signed her up for herpetology (salamanders / amphibians) as her 1st choice and entomology (bugs) as her 2nd choice, then water ecology as her 3rd choice. Her printed schedule that she brought home says herpetology -- but she said they studied bird beaks instead. (??) She said that was OK and that she liked it.
There was a dance. (someone put her hair in buns! ha!)
There was a variety show that the counselors put on one night. They had a "history of Rock Eagle night"
Isabella is not necessarily in the next few photos, it's for context of what she did.
and they had a bonfire.
There was one day where they did water games. And - apparently there was swimming every day. (which is good because we're in a heat wave!!)
All of the photos below (in the blue shirt) are from day 4. (Before that I didn't see her in but only 1 photo!)
I did send little messages through their messaging system / they printed them out and gave to the kids at breakfast.... so she knows we were thinking of her!
She had "canteen" money so she could go to the camp store / get stuff and souvenirs (which she lost this green string ball that she bought!) as well as her beloved squirrel puppet. :(
They also did some sort of bird scavenger hunt (pictured here).... "winged wonders"
There were some photos from her cabin on the last day. Cabin mates from #39.
She's sitting between her two "besties" that she wanted me to meet when the bus came back. (McKenzie on the left and Ellie on the right) both of these girls are a year older than Isabella so she is sad they won't be at the camp next year. But they exchanged email addresses.
AND - there are pictures with her and some other girls making bracelets with the bracelet kit I packed that were posted (after I picked her up - glad to see her doing something with friends finally! I was getting concerned!).
She said they were supposed to be making leather bracelets but she said she didn't want to.
When I picked her up, she wanted me to meet her two new "besties." I did, but I only got a picture with one (because her aunt was taking a photo too as the two girls said goodbye. Hopefully they'll be able to keep up. They're close to each other distance-wise. They're all in the same county. (It's a 4H camp and it was run through the county extension program.)
She said she wants to go back next year and she'll be in the "blue-string" group / get to do more things (for older kids). We'll see.
The gang was all back as of Friday afternoon! They were both tired -- both really really HUNGRY (although Isabella said the food was amazing) -- and they both came home with LOTS of dirty laundry! :/ The dog enjoyed some peace and quiet, but was glad that the kids are back too!
It was a lot of work getting them there (two different packing lists going at the same time) and a lot of work once they came back home, but good memories were made and experiences had!
I went out to lunch with them as they had a gap during the 2nd game Mercer was playing.... and it was Alex's 17th birthday! :) Isabella chose to stay. Todd - of course - stays because he always runs the game changer app that keeps stats. (Here's a pic while Mercer is batting / Alex is catching) Of note, Mercer's team won. And they won the 2nd game -- which put them in a higher bracket on Sunday's remainder of the tournament, but they didn't win that game.
Mercer went straight back to work. His field trip this week was to the Atlanta Zoo. He didn't send any pictures, though.
Isabella had a pretty busy week too. She went on a one day 4H "service and fun day" event. I thought she may want to see some people that she went to the week-long camp with -- and it was good to get some service in. They did beautification projects at Atlanta Farmer's Market, Georgia Department of Agriculture and Buds Atlanta. (and she's given me some planting tips already!!) ha.
She had a horse lesson this week. (These pictures are from the previous lesson that were not posted - no - there aren't pictures at every lesson, but... she wanted me to take pics of her and Glory!) After the ride, she got to help Glory cool off by sponging her with water and squeegee-ing the water off.
And the BIG thing this week: we had her scheduled for an orthodontist consult (we bid on a basket at McKenna Farms where she rides -- in their Derby Day fundraiser).
Well, we got a pretty big "Certificate" towards service with our bid. We went for the consultation and they did confirm that she needed braces. (I always thought she had a nice smile, but - the dentist has mentioned it several times).... and after the 3D model that they did of her current teeth -- I could see where her mouth wasn't closing all the way at the back (the upper teeth were more "stacked" instead of fitting down together.
And there were some crowding on the upper & lower at the front (but you couldn't tell that there was a little crookedness by looking at her (in "elevation" view -- you have to look at the teeth in "plan" view - which no one ever does).
Both of these issues would cause tooth problems on down the road. So - we're getting it fixed.... and ALREADY getting started! They had an appointment today (Friday), and she really insisted that we go ahead to do it... so.... she now has braces!!
The 1st photo was taken around 8 am today.
The 2nd photo was taken around 9 am today and is going to be the "norm" for the next 1 1/2 years +/-
I had my temporary crown (that popped off a couple of days before my dentist visit) come off, but I just made-it-through 'til the real crown was put on -- the day between her 2 orthodontist visits) Mine is nothing fancy to look at though, so no pictures of the crown.
That's it for the ONE long, but oh-so-busy week! After unpacking, we were re-packing for our family vacation -- which will be on the NEXT blog post!
** ugh. you just never know how the blog is going to look when you copy things in from other sources - road rules newsletter for example. oh well! **
