Camp

A week after returning from South Dakota we swapped with Mom and Dad and headed up to camp for five days. That's three full days, the same number as we spent in the Black Hills. We managed to keep ourselves busy.

Here's the water in the morning before fog's burned off.

An annual chore is the sweeping off of the roof. This year, carefully and with much supervision, Sam was allowed to help out. He worked hard and was very proud of his pile of pine needles when finished.

Josh always wants to do what Sam does. Sometimes that's not an option. But he isn't without his guile. As Susan put it, "Josh was soooooo envious, watching his big brother up on the roof. He kept sidling over to the ladder and saying, "Gonna tell Daddy, bye now," and then climbing up as many rungs as I'd let him."

An anecdote from Susan:

Tim and I keep laughing about a weird moment from our weekend at the cabin. We were heading to the nearby state park; Tim had been driving all weekend, but this time I happened to be driving. Suddenly in the middle of our drive, Joshie cries out from his car seat, "No, Mommy! No driving! Is Daddy's turn!" 

Honestly, I'm a good driver. Nothing untoward was happening. None of us could figure out his concern! But later, as we headed back with Tim in the driver's seat, I turned to Josh before we started moving. "Josh, who should drive us back, Mommy or Daddy?" He responded very firmly, "Daddy drive!" 

Thanks for the vote of confidence, kid.

We made the annual pilgrimage to the Timequest Mini Golf, which has been around for over 25 years, according to the proud sign out front. We enjoy it a lot. It's clearly a labor of love and they do a great job keeping it up. Sam loves the mini golf and they both enjoy feeding the Bantam chickens, the ducks, and the goats.

Also made the annual hike along the Beaver Pond trail:

...and the Stone Valley trail (named, by the way, for Mr. Stone, not for all the stones in the river).

Finally, we also had a great time at the new playground at the nearby state park. Josh was especially thrilled with the sidewalks, and almost endlessly ran or rode along them

A good time was had by all. Sorry to be returning to reality, and the struggle for controlled thermonuclear fusion, tomorrow.