home from the Adirondacks...

It is always sad to start back into Real Life after vacation. Vacation ends pretty quickly for me when it is time to pack up the campsite. Six tents, a sun shelter with a few pretty blue tarps added on to make it bigger, rolling up the sleeping bags and bagging up the bedding. Oh, the towels and bathing suits and dirty clothes and all the stuff that accumulates on the picnic table...packing it all into the van and the truck....then bringing it all in when we get home. I asked the kids not to start putting their laundry in, it is smarter to consolidate when there is so much to do...

It was also dinner time. I made hot sausages and chicken and roasted cauliflower and squash from the garden, Aaron heated up some green beans from the garden.

There are still some bags of bedding, and two suitcases to unpack.

So here I am, back from vacation, all refreshed. ha.

I got stung by a bee yesterday and my hand is all swollen.

Of all things, I got my period the first day we were there. And it was no picnic. It was an awful one. The Running To The Bathroom Every Hour kind of awful one. I finally got to go swimming today, on our last day there. The water was absolutely wonderful. Cold and clean. I said to Mirielle, "I don't know what tomorrow will bring, and yesterday is past...but today, I am happy."

Favorite moments while camping:

We got flooded and soaked with rain the first night. It poured and poured. It sounded lovely drumming on the tent, but then my blanket started getting wetter and wetter. When morning came, Paul made eggs in the rain while Kathryn held a beach umbrella over him. When I pointed it out to Joseph, he didn't say anything but just had this look on his face, that he appreciated the cuteness of it.

Emily and I took a ride down the highway to the nearest big town to find a laundromat to dry some bedding. Well, would you believe that we found not just a laundromat, but a BAKERY laundromat??!!! Yup. Homemade donuts. Made right there in the little shop in the front. Yeah, we did have one. Cinnamon. Oh my goodness. We sat on the bench on the sidewalk in that pretty little Adirondack town, sipping our iced coffees and deciding to enjoy life, running in every little while to feed more quarters to the dryers. Emily is a nurse, and she specializes in death. Well, she sees it all the time, deals with the families, and knows alot about it. So she knows pretty well how precious and unpredictable life is, and she certainly knows how to make the most out of a situation.

We had campfires. We solved the mysteries of life, we talked about Israel, we spent at least an hour one evening telling fart stories, which got more and more funny simply because they were so stupid. All of the kids were there except for Benjamin (Army), Abigail (just had surgery), and Aaron, who had to work.

And yes, we had a second row of seats at the campfires. And yes, we played musical chairs.

We kept all the food in the back of the big van, because there ARE bears in the mountains.

We have two kayaks now, kept the kids busy at the beach.

They caught some fish.

I have lots of pictures on my phone, but....our internet is slow, and I am just a wee bit tired. I am glad to be home, glad that we still have some summertime left, glad to have had such a good time with Paul and the kids....