So yesterday's retreat was a lot of fun. We went out to Homer Lake, and it was very beautiful. I didn't even know Homer had a lake. That's central IL for you. There are a lot of things hidden around here, you never would guess. I got there early because I wanted to make sure I had time to get lost on my way there, but I didn't. So, I found the nearest trail and went for a jog. That was great! I haven't gotten to do any real trail running where you are in actual woods, and it was just nice. I would love to have somewhere like that nearby for running, but there just aren't any wooded trails around town. I saw two deer, some rabbits, and cranes on my drive in. The cranes were swooping in and out of the lake area all day. On the way out, I saw the Canadian geese we'd been hearing all day. They were further up the lake drive with all their chicks.



The morning was facilitated by two people from Campus Recreation. The younger of the two just graduated, and she is going to be a teacher in the Bronx. I think it was the Bronx, but it could've been Brooklyn. Either way, they took us through a personality type exercise called True Colors. We have all done the Myers-Briggs type tests before, so we are used to these sorts of things. It was interesting still though because it seemed to be more detailed, and the activities that followed finding out our types helped to emphasize the types and make you remember better who was what.



They had us split into the 4 color groups and use a big piece of paper to put down our ideal vacation. We had to complete a big puzzle with 3 people blindfolded, and the rest could see but couldn't touch the blindfolded people who were in charge of putting the puzzle together. They said we did very good, and maybe even the quickest they've ever seen a group do that one. Then, we did what they called Traffic Jam. It's the exercise where you have 9 marks on the floor, 4 people on each side facing eachother, and then one empty spot in the middle. You have to get the 4 left facing people and the 4 right facing people all the way to the opposite side. But, you can only move to an empty space in front of you or go around 1 person to an empty space. I had actually done this as a part of RA training at WSU, but we weren't allowed to speak to eachother. It took a while, but we got it figured out. : )



We had a cookout for lunch with way too much food and spent the rest of the day talking, going over our new phones, discussing projects and such. The day went by pretty fast, and I think everyone had a good time. They were ready to schedule the next retreat before we left, lol.



Jack had a bad day at school though. When I got there to pick him up, he was on the playground, and I could tell something was wrong. He was upset because he told one of the girls that he was going to throw a shovel at her, but he didn't mean it. It took a while to dig the story out, but apparently this is what happened. He and Girl 1 were playing. Girl 2 wanted Girl 1 to play with her and be only her friend, so Girl 2 told Girl 1 to go tell Jack she wasn't his friend. Of course, this upset Jack and he told me he said the mean thing because he wanted to hurt Girl 2's feelings. Of course he did. She hurt him, so he wants to hurt her. It's all very normal, but still. So, we talked a bit about how saying you want to hurt someone is just as bad as actually trying to hurt them. We talked about how as long as at the end of the day he can say he did his best to be a good person, then he shouldn't get so upset over what other people say. I also tried to get him to remember to talk to his friends when they hurt his feelings, or they will think they can do that whenever they want. James was gone yesterday, but I told him about it this morning. Girl 2 was not there yet, and I wanted to make sure Jack took the time today to tell her how she hurt his feelings. These girls are just ridiculous. Half of the time they want Jack to be their "boyfriend," and then the other half of the time they are just petty and cruel. No wonder I didn't like girls when I was their age.



Jack dressed himself this morning, and the poor thing, he loves these shorts that are bright yellow with green frogs all over. *LOL* He insisted on wearing them with his longsleeve purple and yellow number shirt. : ) I told him that the kids might laugh because they think he looks goofy, and he said that's okay. OK. Hopefully today will be a better day for him. The weather might actually reach 70 today, so it would be nice to spend some time outside after I pick him up. Our lawns aren't quite out of control yet, so that means the park is definitely an option.



Time to get some pictures scanned for work. Time consuming and repetitive, yay! ; )