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.