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Audrial arrived on Saturday at around 2pm. We went to Cabellas, which is awesome. They have an absolutely huge store with all kinds of taxidermy exhibits. They also have a cool aquarium, and a laser shotgun range for kids. They even have a grill on the second floor where you can order bison burgers and venison brats, amongst other things. We had a good time there.

We got home and unpacked, and went over to the Looks so Audrial could play with the kids. We left there a little before they were getting ready to eat (since we’d already eaten) and went home to relax. We were both tired. On the way though, we stopped at the park.

Audrial and I played with the Speedminton rackets, serving back and forth. She was having a hard time with it, so I gave her some instruction and a couple of drills, and she started getting better (though she got a little frustrated). We swung on the swings, and she showed me her monkey bar stuff. We went home and just hung out, watching TV.

On Sunday, we went hiking at around 9 up on Mount Higby. We set up her Hennessy Scout hammock up there and she relaxed in it for a while. I’d tied one end to one tree to show her, and she’d done the other end, but hers was too low and she hadn’t pulled the ridgeline tight enough, so her end drooped quite a bit. I tensioned it properly and moved it up a little, and she was all set!

We continued our hike. We both used a single trekking pole. She was very timid going downhill. Her new Keen Catalina sandals didn’t rub her the wrong way, but – being used to insecure sandals – she kept on crimping her toes and this was tiring her feet out as we hiked up and down on the mountain.

She had her new backpack on, which weighed 7 lbs w/ water. It was largely empty, only holding her water bladder, camera, snacks, and hammock (w/ fly). She complained on the way down that it was getting “heavier” =) I adjusted it for her, tightened some straps and whatnot but it didn’t seem to help much. It was her first time hiking in a while though, and that’s bound to happen. In the future (on day-hikes) we’ll put her in a lighter pack . . . perhaps my Camelbak M.U.L.E.

We decided to turn around because we were running late, and in fact were late for church. After church we went home and hung out, then went to go see Kung-Fu Panda at the theater.

This was a good flick. I got a lot of laughs, though I was often the only person in the theater laughing. Some really fun martial arts sequences and good animation and wit.

After the movie we went to Goodwill to check for games. I also checked for some hiking shirts, and found that they had an number of nice work shirts there as well. I may head back there and pick some up some other time. Audrial picked up a pink t-shirt.

We got home and cooked up some brats and steak on my WoodGas Campstove. I’d made this cool grill for it: a circle of mesh with a square grill on top. The circle pretty much just acts as an elevator, and the square was the grill. When the fire was burning hot and high, the stand protected against charring. It all came out very well – even better than my normal grill! I think that’s because the heat shield on the gas grill will allow the drippings to flare up, whereas any grease that falls into this one is consumed by the fire.

After that we played some Speedminton. Audrial learned how to do a “natural swing”, essentially presenting her left side to me, directing her foot to me, and swinging her right arm in a natural fashion to serve the birdie. After a while she got good at serving, and was starting to return some of my volleys. In a couple of weeks we might be able to set up a court.

After the game was done, I had her wash and brush her hair. I told her “100 strokes”. “I’m not a princess!” she said. “You are to me! “
“50 strokes.”
“Okay, 90 strokes.”
“50 strokes.”
“No, we’re bargaining” I said. “You have to say 60 strokes or something.”
“50 strokes.”
“90 strokes.”
“50 strokes.”
“You have to go up! You go up, and I go down, and we meet in the middle somewhere. 80 strokes.”
“60 strokes.”
“75 strokes.”
“70 strokes.”
“Done!”

She looked at me a little bewildered. “70 strokes? I don’t like bargaining!”

Of course, later on, she ended up doing more than 70 strokes. That was a minimum, I told her. She needed to get all the tangles out of her hair. She did a good job with it.

While her hair was drying out more, we played a couple of games of Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation. She played as Sauron the first game and killed Frodo. I played as Sauron the second game and Frodo slipped past me. She enjoyed it!

We watched an episode of “New Amsterdam”, read a devotional, and then went to bed.