Lake Week

The most idyllic week of the year! We turtle hunted, we swan, we tubed (every day), we ate, we fished. Silas caught a baby trout and Skylar caught a big catfish. In all my life I have only ever seen blue gill caught off that dock, so it was a big year! Jane hosted 20 of us for the 4th. Nate rented a jet ski. Rory and Gigi made fudge. We did some rock painting and also painted some pavers to look like quit squares (adorable). There was the usual Andy's and Pizza Cellar. We all kept to (mostly) our beef jerky quota. Daron betrayed me in Secret Hitler again. Silas both won and lost a game of hearts. Malachi wore black dress pants all week.

   

Rock Bocce

We took a day trip and visited my old childhood camp. It just got bought and the new owners are trying to fix it up after 20 years of neglect. The property was still beautiful and had ample ticks! My mom worked for Camp Fire (owner of said camp) and has the giant reading rock there dedicated to her. It was pretty special to have several of her grandkids there to see it. Conn read everyone the story of Little Ole and Princess Fairy and then we tried to find their rock where we could grind some sandstone pixie dust. We found a rock that was mostly covered in moss and only had about a 10% likelihood of being the actual one, but we ground some dust anyways. As a camper, we used to leave notes for little Ole and he would write back, but they messages were backwards so you had to run to the bathhouse and read them in the mirror. Then the last night at the big council fire, Princess Fairy would illuminate from the woods and thank everyone for taking care of the forest. Kind of magic for a kid. I regaled my children with songs and stories of poison ivy, King Arthur the cook (terrifying), and other favorite memories. They were thrilled.

Conn's crew left on Wednesday and we went and jumped off a cliff. Silas has a challenge to finish 12 tasks as a 12-year-old for a kind of initiation to teendom. One task was to bluff dive at the lake and we checked it right off. Rory even did the small one! We also swam in a cove, went to the creek, and continued tubing our hearts out. The week always feels a bit bittersweet because it is such joy that it fells too beautiful to hold, like you are already living in nostalgia. I love that my kids have these people and this place to grow up with. Literally priceless.

 

 

June

This month began with Disney and had a big section of garage painting and organization. It also had Rory's birthday where he got a Kate Weatherall bucket (Mysterious Benedict Society) and Legos and rave goggles. We went swimming at the public pool where our game of find the sinky toys united everyone. This was part adorable and part made me wonder why I was entertaining all these people's children. 

We went to the Great Wolf Lodge with Lacy and Lizzy and had a good time. They introduced us to Waffle House and I was impressed. We also went to Neptune Island, so our waterpark boxes have been checked. 

Around the house, I am pretty proud of the croquet stand I made. The only thing my garden is producing is basil and I doubt anyone likes pesto this much. My tomatoes are still one foot tall and my cucumbers (mostly spherical and white) gave us enough for one salad and died. I used our grill for the first time and the kabobs turned out! Rory is trying to sleep in his own room instead of with Silas, so we got rid of his squeaky bunk bed and have a new one on the way. We jazzed it up with some galaxy lights and had a family camp out on his floor to sell the monster-free coziness of the space.