I saw this comic on Father's Day and just loved it.
As has become our tradition, we went to family camp and consider this our reset for the year and the kickoff to the summer. For different reasons - partly swim team for me and partly work for Jeff - we came into it rather stressed and stretched thin and had a hard time soaking in the rest and rejuvenation we needed until Wednesday or Thursday. That was disappointing. We'll try to change that for next year.
Also, we discovered my camera was broken when we got to camp, so we have less pictures than usual. I almost forgot, Jeff smashed his phone on a mountain bike ride partway through the week, so he wasn't taking any pictures, either. And, the pictures are all mixed up since they came from different sources. But, here they are, and we hope you enjoy them. I'm enjoying them, too, because the stress of the memories has faded away and only the enjoyment remains!
The wonderful camp photographer took these of our family. If this were a sending year and you were on our Christmas card list, you'd be receiving one. However, we're taking this year off of sending Christmas cards, so digital images will have to do!
Hikes in the woods near the creek are delightful and peaceful.
Love him!
A camp photographer captured this one as we walked down to the train. As you can see, our dear friends, Ryan and Ashley - and their kids - came with us again this year. We're happy to say that they're signed up for next year, too!
Our new friends Devin and Cameron and their kids were there, too, and we enjoyed getting to know them better.
This is the first year that we have had a spider problem, and I was a bit traumatized by it. We killed 2-3 of these giants daily in our little cabin. I have nothing good to say about it.
Seven of the nine kids who spent a lot of the week hanging out together!
They're cute, and they get along well together! Each kid doesn't have a counterpart in the other family since we have three kids and Ryan and Ashley have four, but they still get along really, really well.
Here we are on our way to camp!
Our kids and Ryan and Ashley's kids at a typical meal.
Since there was SO much rain this year, the poison oak was very happy. We had never been too concerned about it in years past, but this year, we all learned to identify it and avoid it.
The kids developed a habit of eating like this in the dining hall: Our kids, Ryan and Ashley's kids minus their youngest, and Devin and Cameron's kids. Sometimes Ryan and Ashley's youngest ate with us at the adult table, and sometimes Jonathan did. It worked great, but we missed eating with our family of five and made a point to do it more at the end of the week.
Walking down to the train!
Train day is a great day to see Dave and Jen and their girls. We're so thankful they suggested family camp in the first place and have enjoyed all the memories we've made with them there.
Ella and Dave are so cute, right?
This year, the weather was cool, and rather that spending time on the beach or at the boardwalk, we decided to have lunch and spend time on the pier.
Here we're visiting the seals.
We had lunch at this restaurant. Jonathan is a big fan of clam chowder, so he was very happy.
Love these three.
One more thing that we did differently this year: We rode indoors on a car with cushioned seats on the way back. We loved it.
One more camp photographer pic of the walk to the train.
The skits are always crowd pleasers and kid pleasers.
Our cabin overlooked the field, and I enjoyed watching the kids.
We enjoyed archery as a family this year, too.
