10 on the Tenth

This month I'm taking part in Meredith's "10 on the Tenth"  by listing 10 things I enjoyed about our week at the Arkansas Baptist Assembly in Siloam Springs.
1. Stopping to visit my family on the way. We had pizza and played Scattergories with my brother and his family Saturday night, then got up Sunday a.m. and went to our old church, where Mom still goes. Their choir always sings a salute to the armed forces which makes me cry. My dad always looked so handsome standing for the Navy anthem in his dress whites. Then we ate Chinese food for lunch, and sat around talking and waiting (im)patiently for it to get dark enough to set off fireworks. I love watching the fireworks and eating burgers and watermelon and "whole-made" ice cream! (as my nephew used to call it)

2. Scenery. As we drove up, I loved seeing the beautiful, green, rolling Ozark Mountains-covered in trees and wildflowers, with rock bluffs peeking out here and there.
3. Cooler weather. It was amazing how much cooler it was 6 hours north!
4. Worship. When we go to this camp, Mike is there mainly to steer future college students to the BCM. So aside from the pizza party for the seniors, there's nothing we're "required" to do or go to. Rebecca has always gone to her "pre-camp," as they call it, and loves it. She's had the same sweet teacher every year. The first time we went, Jessica and Mikayla went to the kids' camp, but since they're not with a group and don't know anyone, it's not a lot of fun. Jessica stayed with my mom this year, so the only part of kids' camp Mikayla went to was the nightly worship a couple of nights. Both there and at the youth camp I enjoyed the worship music--the Siloam band rocks! My favorite new (to me?) song was "Say, Say." Click here to listen.

5. The Snack Shack. Just kidding. That was the girls' favorite.
6. The cafeteria. But definitely NOT because of the food. I just enjoyed not having to cook or clean up!
7. The Dayspring Outlet. Every year I LOVE going to the Dayspring Outlet!! I stock up on a year's supply of greeting cards, and sometimes get some nice little gifts or decorations. This year they were having Christmas in July--all Christmas items were buy one get one free!!
8. Wild Wilderness Drive-Thru Safari. The camp has a new executive director, and he told us about this place 10 miles north of the camp. We drove through acres looking at animals. My favorites were the peacocks, the baby zebras, and the monkey that jumped on our van. We couldn't get it off! Parts of it made me sad--it was a far cry from the total freedom of Kruger or Yellowstone. All the predators and a lot of the primates were in cages, either pacing or sleeping. But at the end of the driving tour there were petting areas--I got to hold a monkey and pet a baby tiger, baby wolves, and kangaroos!! It was soooo cool. I have decided I don't like monkeys anymore, though. When I was a little girl I thought I'd love a pet monkey, like Curious George. But when we were at Kruger with Angie's hubby Charlie, the monkeys made me nervous, especially at night. I was afraid they would jump on my head. At Wild Wilderness, I went in the monkey cage and was talking to the monkey I saw, trying to get it to come to me, when another one jumped on my head!!! I gave the camera to Mike to get him to take a picture, but then it jumped on him! I left the cage when one bit Mike on the leg. (It didn't hurt, but still.) The feeling of it swinging from me to him by its tail around my arm was pretty cool, but I'm done with monkeys. But it was literally thrilling petting the kangaroos. They were so soft. I even liked when it jumped away with my hand on it's back!

Mikayla wasn't overly fond of the monkeys either. Especially when this one put his hand in her mouth!!

9. Swimming. We swam at an indoor pool at the Jones Center for Families. What a cool place--pool with a water slide, ice rink, playground, food court, chapel. It was amazing. It was cheap. And the best part was, we were there with...

I'm guessing the sun may have been bright in their eyes.

10. Old friends! We met my friend Holly and her 2 kids at the Center. Kate and Rebecca used to be best buds, and they picked up right where they left off. Holly and I didn't need any help talking, either. It was great spending time with them and catching up.
If you'd like to see more pictures of this week, I'll be putting some on facebook soon!