Kalahari; Mark, Lai, Slides, Chocolate Brown Curls & a Gold swimsuit

1 hour ago
3 min read

Rocky IV - one of Mark's BEST! Taurus Award Nomination. I bet that's actually Mark, not Stallone... (Video I saw on his Facebook page moments ago. I put the link after the story.)

Yesterday...

Mark: "Angel, where are you and Laileigh AT?!!!" I had just sent him a half dozen photos.

Angel: "KALAHARI. I SENT you the pictures. We're at the wave pool right now. Lai's out in the water. I'll see if I can call her over so she can say Hi!"

Mark: "OH KALAHARI. Has she done the slides?" When Lai and I took Mark to Kalahari about 3 years ago she had refused to do the slides. Mark had taken her to the tip top of the highest one in the kids section we were in, about 3 floors up and had told her to slide down. Lai had taken one look at the situation, used her OWN brain, and had said, "NOPE." She had then turned around and gone back DOWN the stairs, going against the flow of everyone in line, and come to me, sitting in my chair below. Ummm... read my stories about Texas Independence. We instill that on purpose.

Mark, coming down to find us, "Angel, TELL LAI I'm her COACH. She's supposed to do what I TELL HER."

Angel (I look at Lai's rebellious eyes, pleading for understanding and Mark's flabergasted expression): "Nope. She didn't want to. She doesn't have to. Hey, let's go do the wave pool (calming the situation with diversion. Lai hasn't forgotten, we were just talking about it. Mark hasn't forgotten, he just brought it up, what, 3, maybe 4 years later. LOL)

Yesterday...

Angel: "No, we didn't do the slides. But I'm keeping a close eye on her in the wave pool. She's very independent and I don't want her to get too deep. (She had begged and begged to take her life jacket off and I had let her. I began teaching her to swim when she was 3 months old. She swims like a fish. Still... gold swimsuit, beautiful chocolate ringlet curls... there she is... "She's too far away right now for me to call to her. But we love you. Wish you were here!"

Mark: "I just got home, I'm about to go in and get my dog and go for a walk. I have to take pepper spray. These dogs around here..." (One of my stories is about the time he was walking his same dog and they both got attacked by three HUGE aggressive dogs at once. Mark had saved Sophie's life (his dog) and Sophie had saved Mark's life. A truck driver had seen the situation and swerved over and opened his door to block the dogs from further attack. I think Mark spent $7,000. on Sophie's vet bills. He said she deserved it, she had stepped in and saved him from further harm. The dogs got him pretty good. When Lai had heard, she had demanded my phone, "Give me your phone, Grandmama, RIGHT NOW!!! I NEED TO CALL MARK and make SURE he's O.K.!!!" And she had.

Mark: "Well, call me back when ya'll leave (it was almost closing time.) I want to say Hi to Lai."

Angel: "Ok, I will, we love you! Bye!" Now... I fasten my eyes on chocolate ringlet curls and gold swimsuit... she's fine, only about half way to the deepest part, good girl...

45 minutes later, park is closed, we're in the changing rooms.... I call Mark as Lai is getting ready, it's COLD outside. I don't want her to get sick, I brought extra warm clothes...

Angel: "Mark, we're in the changing room, it's cold outside and warm in here and quieter..."

Mark: "LAILEIGH!!!! Hi, baby, did you do the slides?" Lai looks at me, picture it, lol.

Laileigh: "No, we did the wave pool..."

Angel: "AND the HOT SWIMMING POOL!!!" That's ALWAYS my favorite, hot anything, not cold, HOT.

Mark: "Give your Grandmama a hug for me." Laileigh immediately hugs me. "I wish I was with you guys. I'm walking Sophie. Angel, maybe we can do a Stunt Workshop soon down there, what do you think?"

Angel: "Lai keeps asking me to bring her to Dallas to Spa Castle. Maybe that. Or, yeah, maybe so here. Something. We'll figure it out.... Love you!"

Mark: "Laileigh, you take good care of your Grandmama, I love you!"

Laileigh: "I love you too!" We finish getting ready for the cold outside after hanging up. Then, back to "Swan," our beautiful white adventure van. Mark had asked about Swan, lol. He had called it our Beast. "Drive that Beast up here..." So much love from this special friendship. Thank you, Father. What a blessing. To us all. xo

Written March 17, 2026 at 8:36 am

(The day after Kalahari...)