Weekend Camping Trip at Falls Lake

We went camping this weekend at a State park called falls lake. We spent Friday night and then enjoyed the lake for a couple of hours Saturday. Mikayla and her daddy got in the water first. 

Daddy and Mikayla are sure enjoying the Lake - they did stop long enough to let me get a picture though. 

Mikayla and her camping buddy, Kirstyn get in and enjoy the water.

We went camping with another couple, the Cutler's. Their little girl is just about one. 

A closer look at the two of them enjoying the water. 

Time for just the onsie so she can really enjoy the water. We forgot her swimming suit. 

Kirstyn is striking a pose. 

Kirstyn is so cute. 

Mikayla and mom running in the water. 

Mikayla is hamming it up. 

Fun in the Pool

Look mom, I can do it all by myself - as long as I have the edge to hold onto that is.

We went to the pool with a couple of friends - since our pool at the apartment is closed until memorial day. (The outdoor pools are only open from memorial day to labor day here.) 

James and his mom Karen. They are from Ireland. This was James second time in a pool and he really enjoyed himself. 

Kirstyn and her mom Brooke.

Karen and Brooke's husbands are in the same department as Merrill, so we see them quite often. In fact, Brooke, Karen and I try to get together at least once a week. 

Mikayla and Julia Chillin' - little teenagers

Mikayla chilling with her good friend Julia. They were munching on crackers and talking about how good they tasted. I heard them while I was in the other room and when I looked in they reminded me of two teenagers sitting there yacking away. They are a little young, huh. 

This time they noticed the camera so I asked them to smile. Of course they both started hamming it up and moving all over the place, so sorry about the blurriness. 

Trip to the Fire Station

Several parents started up a pre-school for the 2.5 year-olds. They learned about safety and what policemen and firemen do the day before. Then we took a fieldtrip to the local fire station the next day. We were hoping some of the info would stick. Something stuck with Mikayla because the next day on the news when she saw all the flooding from the hurricanes, she said, "the firemen will come and help."

Left to right: (Sara, William, Julia, Mikayla, Lucy) 

Now let's be silly - you don't have to ask these kids twice. Sara and William are the biggest hams of the group.

Left to Right: (Sara, William, Julia, Mikayla, Lucy) 

Let's go for a ride. They were a little nervous about getting in the fire truck at first, but that soon wore off. 

Getting into the fire truck was a little intimidating, but as you can see with Julia, once they got to "drive," it all became quite fun. 

Mikayla at Home

Dora the Explorer is her new favorite thing and this is the expression we get while she's watching. 

How to make a "Mikayla Sandwich:"

Mikayla and daddy love to play this game. She'll get on our bed, grab two pillows and say, "Dad, Mikayla sandwich."  

Mikayla Mocking

On Friday, Cami took Mikayla to the park along with several other mothers. Mikayla was on one of her kicks and she was yelling at anyone who approached her...so the other children naturally stayed away. One time it was so bad that she made a poor little 8-month old start crying because she was scared by Mikayla's fit.

Well, on Saturday, Cami was taking Mikayla to another get-together and told Mikayla: "Now, let's be nice to the other kids and not yell at them like you did yesterday."

To which Mikayla replied chuckling: "Yeah, I yell at them AAAAHHHHH!!!!...and they run away...hee, hee...I yell AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!...and they run away...hee, hee...that was funny!" The little twirp knew what she was doing the entire time. Thankfully, she played much better with the kids at the Saturday gathering.

Duke Basketball Ticket Campout 2004!

Over 1500 students who have no sanity (myself included) camp for two nights in order to be entered into a lottery for the purchase of season basketball tickets. Most of the students in the Graduate School camp in tents, while most Professional Students (MBA, Law, Med Students) rent either RV's or U-Hauls to sleep in... I mean...party near or around.  

For the two nights/days that you campout, the Graduate Student Council members blow whistles at their whim...And everyone runs at their beckon call to "check-in." Everyone lines up behind the sign for their name (by alphabetical order) and makes sure they're name gets checked. These checks take place at any time of day or night. Over one time period on Saturday night, they blew the whistle at 1:45, 2:15, 2:45 and 3:00 a.m.

Richard Broadhead, the new Duke President paid a visit on Saturday afternoon. He commented that: "In the middle of our sociological experiment in mingling with the campers a whistle blew and a mass exodus took place in about 30 seconds. When I whistle on campus, nothing happens. This has the appearance of some kind of totalitarian summer camp." Of course all of the campers agreed. 

Many of the students who rented RV's and/or U-Hauls went all out. There were projection TV's hooked up to Direct TV satellites, plenty of mega-loud stereo systems, and all kinds of really loud people. Between them and the "checks," sleep was hard to come by.



 

Unfortunately, I was not drawn for tickets this year. But I'm in a ticket sharing group with about 11 other BME'ers. Four of the 12 were drawn, so each of us will get a ticket to 1 in 3 games, which is not a bad prospect. Also, we get these really cool t-shirts. 

And here's the back.