I got pulled over, saw Old Faithful and stayed in a tiny cabin!!! Love life :-)

The day I left my job Daniel planned a short vacation up to Yellowstone National Park.  We left late due to some unexpected set backs but we were on the road and headed north for our short get away.  I drove about half of the drive or maybe a little more, I don't really remember but I do remember seeing blue and red lights in the black of night behind me. 

I automatically was just like "oooo, he got me."  I knew I was speeding but not sure how fast I was going.  The speed limit was 75 mph in that particular desolate area and I was flying past everyone so yea... Well, the very kind officer came to Daniel's side and we put down the window.  Daniel automatically had his hands up and in clear view of the officer (black man living in America, smh).  The cop was like, "That's not necessary."  He informed me that he had been in the other direction and clocked me going between 86-95mph between then and catching up to me.  I just pretty much said okay because it was highly probable, I really wasn't paying attention to my speed and was seriously flying past er'body.  He said that he would site me for my lowest speed and asked if that was fair?  How sweet!?!  I went along with it and as he took my license and information back to his car I could not stop smiling for whatever Camille reason there was.  He came back after a few minutes and said "This is your lucky day, someone is choking.  Slow down and use your cruise control."  He simultaneously was handing me back my license and walked away.  True story!

Now about Yellowstone... I really enjoyed the park.  I was once again grumpy towards Daniel because I was so tired.  (I worked a full week and then we drove 8 hours the previous night to arrive at our motel at like 1am only to get up at 530am to be out of the door by 6am to get to the park at a decent time before it got too much traffic.) Our first stop along the way was taking pictures of the Grand Teton Mountain Range at sunrise.  We then proceeded on to see Old Faithful,  and several other hot springs and natural sites.  We saw some wild buffalo, elk, deer, and Daniel saw a bear way off in the distance which he only saw because we randomly were in traffic with people out of their cars with binoculars. 

That night we stayed at the best little cabin ever!  Daniel knows me well because I was in love with it.  All refurbished, recycled type wood, barn doors for the bedroom and bathroom, perfect soft (real) leather couch, simply decorated perfection.  It was very quaint and just in a row of other little cabins.  I slept very well and took like 3 showers in the 12 hours we were there because it was so relaxing. 

Great experience overall and definitely recommend people going to site see there, enjoy the pictures :-)

Sunrise!!!

This lone buffalo was right by Old Faithful

Probably one of my favorite pictures!

There was a 1/2 mile hike to get this view of it...

Erupting :-)

This was my view as Old Faithful was erupting.

Daniel was irritated with the buffalo herd crossing the road... lol

How cute, right?!?

Great mini vacation.  Wish we could have stayed a little bit longer.  Not so much for site seeing as for just relaxing ;-)

Colorado's Hanging Lake

Gorgeous place that people say as you are on your way up "don't worry, it's worth it."  That shows you right there-- this is a fairly challenging climb pretty much the majority of the way.  Most of it is okay and not too hard but the last little piece only one person can be going up or coming down at a time because it is so narrow, there are rails there to help though.  The parking here is atrocious.  I think that we waited about 30 minutes to get a spot and that wasn't considered bad. 

But as you an see it really is pretty up there and hard to take a bad picture :-)

 

ENJOY PRECIUOS PEOPLE!!!

 

 

The day I realized I am grumpy during the strenuous part of exercise...

So Daniel and I have been on a decent amount of hikes in various parks since being out here in CO.  I have a much slower pace than him but he is patient with me and won't go too far ahead.  Sometimes he has me lead so that he won't get away too much and he can help me if I get tripped up.  Well, on one particular trip I realized that I am not pleasant to hike with, especially during the inclines or if I am hungry.  I become very short and have an attitude.  I will passive aggressively stop when he is ahead of me without letting him know because seeing him move fast irritates me LOL.  He is typically very kind and encouraging and will help me if he thinks that I will accept the help. 

There is always a complete turn around once we are headed back down an incline.  I am more talkative and pleasant.  I can keep up with him better so I feel more athletic and coordinated.  These pictures are from the day that I realized this... At the sand dunes in Colorado 8/2015!

 

I was not happy.  This was a tough climb with the ground slipping from beneath my feet and all, argh!

 

Here we had made it to the top of the 2nd highest one so now I am smiling...

 

 

"Rainbows. Unicorns. Butterflies. Tutus. Flowers. Hearts. Smiley faces."

I had my last day of work on 10/9/15.  It was not as emotional as leaving my previous job but still a tough time.  As stressful as the job was at times and as much of a struggle I had with some clients at times it was a good experience overall.  I do believe that I helped some of the kiddos and even a couple of families even if I don't get to see the results or know the ultimate outcomes.

I cut "the rope" on 10/8/15 in group.  I did therapy groups on one of the boys units.  They had an activity where each new person ties a not on the rope which is supposed to represent the community on that unit.  When tying the knot you state a personal goal and a community goal.  Then when you leave, successfully, you cut a knot from the rope.  I got the chance to cut a knot and take it with me.  I thought that it was going to be a lot more powerful than it was LOL...  Typically there is an opportunity to accept feedback from the other people and to offer it as well.  Most of the boys weren't even paying attention and I was already in a bad mood because their attitudes were whack that group.  I was seriously expecting to hear some like powerful heartfelt words for whatever reason I suppose I saw too many therapeutic movies, Freedom Writers. 

Anyway the title of this post is something that I used to say to the boys on a pretty daily basis.  Some of the most angry looking young men got the most annoying happy me just to help spread some joy.  It got to the point that with a couple of them it became a game to come up with something else super cheesy to try to sort of one up the other person's kindness level.  It was funny to see these "tough" kids start cracking a smiling at the corniness of it all.  The same kids needing to be restrained, locked up for assault or burglary or drugs or theft or whatever... those boys smiling at hearing "rainbows, unicorns, butterflies and tutus."  There are still children in there even if what we see is "criminal."

I will miss some of them and some of the parents too.  I wish that it was the type of career that you could keep in touch with the clients to know how they are doing and be able to offer some support even if from a distance, but it is not and so I will just hope and pray that they turn their lives around.  It was always real and never dull, thank you ladies and gentlemen for the growing and learning experience from these last 13 months :-)

See ya, Miss ya, Love ya,
Camille

This was a gift I received from one of the girls and her mom. It stayed at the front lobby for everyone to be able to enjoy... So pretty and so thoughtful :-)