Well, we had an interesting activity for mutual last night. Our objective was to do a "Ding Dong Ditch" for a family in the ward that is less well off. So, last week we took the girls shopping and had them buy gifts for the family. Last night we started off by having the girls wrap the gifts, and make cookies to go along with it. Then the fun started. We piled into two cars (6 people in my Honda Civic, and about 9 in the other ladies Suburban) and headed into downtown Harrisburg. The objective of a Ding Dong Ditch is to pile the stuff on the doorstep as quietly as you can, then ring the bell and RUN so they don't know who it's from! It was a bit more complicated from the get-go! Getting closer to downtown harrisburg, it all runs downhill towards the river. The particular neighborhood we went to was kind of wierd. The street ran downhill, but the homes were built up higher along a retaining wall to protect them from flooding. So, we parked along the street, and very quietly scaled the 5 ft' retaining wall like little spider people. Well, actually, Emily my little 4'6 beehive could make it up the wall, so I had to lift her. But aside from that, getting UP the wall was fine. We sneakily made our way to the doorstep, which was at the top of about 10 steps, with a 90 degree turn half way up. So we had our 15 people crammed on the doorstep with our bags of goodies. We slowly backed down the steps, and Dymeah was left to "knock and run" because she's one of the sportier, more agile girls. Well turns out Dymeah is also a chicken, and she BARELY tapped on the door! So we are all freaking out, sprinting across a full parking lot trying to get out of there. In the meantime I had to throw emily over the wall and hope she didn't break her leg. Then I jumped down, lost a shoe (clogs were not a good choice for this activity), dropped my scarf in the middle of the road, and then FINALLY REALIZED we had jumped into oncoming traffic. Not quite the smartest thing I've ever done. So I grabbed emily, threw her on the sidewalk. Then I hopped back up on top of the retaining wall, and did the army crawl along the nasty ground to find my shoe. Once found I jumped back down onto the street, and went on a reconnasance (sp?) mission for my scarf. I found it in the middle of the road and snatched it up just in time to get out of the way of a speedy little coupe.
So, in all the commotion to avoid being detected, Dymeah finally tells us that she doesn't think she knocked hard enough. So, we decided to drive my packed little car back up by the house(there was a VERY TIGHT LITTLE ROAD at the top of the retaining wall right in front of the homes) to see if it was still sitting on the doorstep. This time I sat at the ready in the drivers seat while Tammy, the YW president, sprinted up the steps, and nearly broke the door down pounding on it so hard. She jumped in the car, and away we went!! I'm still not sure if they got it or not... hopefully they were home!!
So, mission accomplished. But the night was not over! Oh no... see, we were running a little late. Mutual is supposed to be over at 8, and most of the girls parents were waiting for them at the church. Well it was already 8 by the time we left from the DDD, so needless to say we were booking it back to the church. I was following Deann, driving the Suburban, when we got to the light on Union Deposit where it goes from two lanes, to one. Deann and I were side by side, and I thought it would be funny to rev my engine, and challenge her to a race. The girls started laughing their butts off! It was hilarious, and Deann and I were staring each other down. Then I was a total idiot, and got so caught up giving dirty looks, that I didn't realize the light turned green! I got burned... but it was fun!! That is, until little Emily spoke up! She started laughing and saying that she was going to tell her mother we had been drag racing all night! Joking, I told her she better not, or I'd tell her mom that Emily had skipped Mutual to go do drugs!!! Well wouldn't you know it, as soon as we get there, Emily runs to tell her mom about the drag racing, and warned her that I might tell her Emily was on drugs. Uh... she was not a happy mother. But after a few minutes of begging and pleading for her to calm down so I could explain, she finally stopped screaming and let me explain.
Ahhhh... it was fun:)
1 comment:
Too funny. You gotta be careful with the Beehive moms, they can be a little protective of their girls. That reminds me of a temple trip we went on last year. I was driving on the Interstate and just going along with traffic. I happened to be a passing lane, just going with the flow of the traffic and was probably going a bit faster than the 70mph speed limit and passed one of the other vans in our caravan. The next morning at PEC the 1st Counselor in the Bishopric, whom I had passed, had lots to say about my Mario Andretti-esque driving tactics.
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