Selin Gusto 101

To blog or sleep... That is usually the debate as blogging gets left in the dust of my everyday. But, this is a day for decompression and just taking it easy. So I'll write about an event where you can learn the most important things about the Selin clan. All the basics for this family are summed up here. We are passionate for whatever experience comes our way. Whether making it is surviving or letting loose, you'll see it done with gusto!

The reason for my relaxing day is that the three of us just got back from a four day "camping" trip in Kearney, Missouri. Since there are a total of nine siblings on Jon's side of the family, you can't really expect them all to remain in our little town in the state that some people don't even know exists. This year our goal was to find a good meeting ground to bring together as many sibling families as possible. Somewhat foolishly we choose Missouri and in the middle of July. Not our smartest move collectively, but hey! We're Selin's, we can put up with anything! So, traipse down to Missouri we did. Jon's parents and youngest sister and brother joined our happy crew in the Excursion and we rumbled on through Minnesota, Iowa and finally, Missouri.

We knew the heat index was supposed to be ridiculous, but as we plowed through state after state, we sat and watched our temperature rise higher and higher and higher... I think the top was 103. Ew. Technically it was a dry heat as our weather(dot)com phone ap said the humidity was 30%. Hah! Whatever weather people. All I know is that I was not dry when I got back from showering - and I stayed a nice slimy texture the whole rest of the night and day.

As it was so hot, I didn't even bother to get my camera out, except once in the early morning. Those pictures will follow this post eventually.

We all gathered for breakfast somewhere between 6-11am. Who knows how long it took to make the food, but it was all fantastic!!! We truly ate gourmet food the whole trip (save for the drive - no one eats good on the road).
Lunch usually happened when we were in town. All 20 of us would pile and stack into our cars and drive about 1 hour to find air conditioning for the hottest portions of each day. After an exciting time at Bass Pro Shop or the Mall we'd eventually find ourselves climbing and plopping very lethargically back into our heated cars only to beg that the air be turned up higher!


Back at our campsites we decided it was time to swim. BAD IDEA. The water - I kid you not- was nearly florescent green, and HOT. Ew x300! It was as if we were swimming in a petri dish. Gross. But, for whatever reason we splashed and played in the water for about 45 min -1 hour. It was often that for the sake of sanity we laughed at ourselves and plunged (literally) into whatever fun there was to be had.


The fun nearly ended when one of our nephews started showing signs of heat exhaustion. The 1 1/2 nurses in the family monitored his condition carefully and tried to hydrate him and pump in the electrolytes his body was lacking. In the wee-early hours of the morning, nurse 1 who happened to be the little buddy's momma felt prompted by the Lord to take his temperature. It was high and he was immediately brought to the ER. There they pumped more than a liter of liquids into his little body and discharged him. The next morning he didn't show any signs of getting better and we all encouraged them to get him out of the heat ASAP. Later on after packing up camp we all regrouped at a hotel. In the air conditioning we all felt better. We discussed how had it not been for our nephew, he and possibly others may have had a few trips to the hospital. We were so thankful for the Lord's direction!

The rest of the evening was spent in the COLD pool with CLEAR water. :-) and eating fantastic kabobs off the grill. Plenty of conversations and card games were had as well as coloring by the little people. As our trip and reunion was brought to a close, there were tearful good-byes and the promise that if we do this next year it won't be in the hottest month of summer. :-)

It was decided that everything we do, we do with gusto. We pack with gusto, we greet with gusto, we play and play hard with gusto, and we endure with gusto. The only thing we don't do with gusto is part ways. We are a tight knit family and staying close and in touch is nearly the top priority.