Last day - July 2

Our last morning in our yurt was a whirlwind of packing.  The boys got in one last round of fishing before we finished packing our cars.  We also had a final romp on the playground before snapping some family pictures and giving our hugs goodbye.

It was a fun time and I'm sure we will all do it again...together...soon.
:-)

Tallies:
1 boatride

2 dozen worms used as bait

5 splinters pulled


Birds: Orioles, osprey, bald eagle, cardinals, geese, wood ducks, barn swallows, loons, pigeons, sparrows, robins, red-wing blackbirds

Animals: squirrels, chipmunks, woodchucks, skunk, red fox

Fish: Rock bass, perch, catfish, sun fish

Numerous smiles and laughs!

Day 4 in our Yurt - July 1

After another full day of excitement, everyone slept wonderfully.  Jude was actually the LAST one awake!  It rained again in the night and morning was overcast and cool.  Breakfast was a shared hearty affair between our family and Scott's.  All the boys at quickly and got off the decks to go play in nearby puddles.


All the guys were ready to try fishing again, but this time with live bait (worms).









 
Success!  Brian caught the first fish, a little perch.  He proceeded to tell the boys all about it and how you can identify a perch compared to other fish.

Quickly after Brian's catch, Tamlin caught a fish!  I think it was a rock bass?  Tam was uber proud and was very willing to help daddy toss the fish back into the water.  Scott got the third fish and then a few more for Brian and Scott.  Aaron had lots of nibbles on his line, but no fish reeled in.  Two of the fish had swallowed the hooks badly and were not so well off when thrown back into the water.  Brian told me that they watched an osprey swoop down and nab these injured fish right in front of them. Even Jude and I catch a fish!  I was quite surprised to feel the tug at the line while Jude was holding it in my lap. It had been Brian's line with a real hook and worm, and not Jude's little hookless bait...Brian had be unhooking the previous catch from another line.   I'm not sure if Jude was truly disgusted at the fish or just weirded out to see it up close and personal.

After lunch, we caravan over to the Pennsylvania side of the park to check out playgrounds and the dam.  The kids had fun playing on a different playground, this one old school, wooden, and had a fun bouncy drawbridge.  I taught them if they stood on one side of the bridge, and someone else jumps hard on the opposite side, they will be flung up into the air.  (Love physics!)  There was also a huge pile of sand here...perhaps even the same pile of sand that was here three years ago!  After repeatedly having to tell the boys NOT to throw/fling/sprinkle or otherwise place sand into the air, we left.  We then stopped at the dam, but were disappointed that we couldn't walk out on it because it was under construction.

The sun was hot by afternoon.  Shelly arrived again with the girls and we let everyone go to the beach for a refreshing swim.  We brought down the squirters and squirtguns...I even got in on the action with squirting all the kids with water.  We played in the water until dinnertime was called...a huge feast of burgers, brawts, hot dogs, chips, and soda.  We also had a smattering of vegetables just in case someone was trying to eat healthier. (Ha!)  I think we all ate until near bursting.

Early evening and it was time for another round of fishing.  Aaron desperately wanted to catch something.

Success at last for everyone!  Even Isiaac caught a fish or two, even though he was really only dropping his hook about a foot from the shore.  Aaron fish was the largest caught but Tam had a good size one too, caught with only a nibble of worm left on his hook.
Eveyone has smiles as we head to the showers for clean-up before s'mores.




A roaring fire to use the last of the wood.  S'mores for us all...enough marshmallows that I think Jude's brain was turning into pure sugar.  The kids all stayed up until full dark and then crashed into their beds.  A full moon shown down on us through the trees.  It was nice to see a clear sky instead of rain clouds.  We adults stayed out around the campfire until the bugs tried to carry us off.  Just sitting and swapping stories and eating marshmallows.

Day 3 at our Yurt - June 30

We had rain most of the night, which made me very thankful that the yurt is up on a deck and not down in the quagmired ground.  After breakfast, Brian and the boys headed down to the lake to try

their hands at fishing.   Tamlin had become pretty well at practice casting, so Brian gave him a real lure (frog-shaped) with a small hook.  Jude was still using the hook-less jitterbug.  

We threw our first casts off a little cement pier near the playground.  Tam got the hang of this very quickly.

But Jude's interest waned.  He started just dropping his jitterbug directly
 into the water in front of him and then pulling it out...then he just wanted to play with the rocks. Shortly after, Jude and I made a run to a grocery store in Greenville to get much needed donuts, forks, and hot dog buns. I had tried to find some type of larger grocery store closer, but failed.  Next time, I promise to look up where stores are BEFORE I visit a new town for a camping excursion.    Brian and Tamlin fished a bit longer, but didn't catch anything.

By mid-morning Scott and his boys were ready to try their hands at fishing too.  We all trooped back down to the shore-line and flung out our lines.

Aaron and Isaac both well at casting out their lines.  But alas, still no fish were caught. 

Issac and Jude gave up and started just playing with the hook-less jitterbug.  Jude had placed "her", for it was a "gril" according to him, into his little blue sand bucket.  He adds rocks and feeds her grass bits.  He calls her his "little fishy" and eventually totes the whole thing back to our yurt.

Around lunchtime, Shelly and the girls came over, later Mom and Dale arrived too.  It was a hoot to see all the kiddos playing together.   It seemed that Ciearra developed quite a little crush on Aaron.  Elizabeth was allowed to hang out on the deck with us.  She seemed just on the verge of crawling, especially toward tasty toy construction trucks placed just out of her reach.

We decide to all head out to the Spillway, especially since our kiddos hadn't seen it in several years and Scott's boys hadn't been there ever (I believe).   This time around I remembered to grab our stale bread to toss out to the birds and fish.  Oh - man.  Seeing those greedy gaping mouths is a bit science-fiction-like...a bit creepy. 

 Everyone, kids and grown-ups alike, had fun tossing bread bits out to the awaiting mouths of fish and birds.  Some of us would lob out great hunks of bread to see the roil of fins it caused.  Others, like Tam, would tear off teeny-tiny bits to feed single fish at a time.

 

Ciearra loses a shoe over the rail and into the mass of fish.  Oh the drama and tears!  However, a nice
 teenager climbed under the fence and retrieved it.  Lesson learned to everyone...no flip-flops away from camp.

 But overall, the day was pleasant and we all had a bit of inexpensive fun.



After the spillway, the sun comes out and it is warm enough to allow the kiddos to jump into the lake for a bit of swimming action.  It is a scant hour or so of wonderful sunniness during a day of grey overcast skies.  Even Elizabeth gets her toes wet in the water.  The kids all work together to build a complex river system complete with tributaries leading to the lake.  They had a good time watching the water flow through their rivers and trying to shore up falling banks.

We headed to Andover's Covered Bridge Pizzeria for dinner.  Great place for we could all be loud and it was lost in the general restaurant chaos.  We let the kids all eat together at a kids table, which let the adults carry on the own conversations in reasonable peace.  Lots of meandering topics from Magic card games to radishes to buying beef in bulk (or booze).  Good food for a reasonable price and kept us all dry out of the rain.  Afterwards, Shelly, Rick, Ciearra, and Elizabeth head homeward...but Ciearra did shed some tears at leaving all of us for the night (mainly Aaron!).

Back at camp, Brian, Scott, and Isiaac try their hand at fishing again with no luck.  I taught Aarron how to play munchkin, and we played with Jennifer before retiring to bed.  A fun little game for the boys, espcially helping them advance their reading/addition skills.  We saw a few lightning bugs before bed and unfortunately felt a few mosquitos.  Too late and damp for a fire this night.  I happily tucked all of the family into bed and let my soul fill with the peace.


It had been a good day, and hard to believe the vacation is flying by.  It has been mostly relaxing, with a few moments of stress with the kids.  I've tried to do as little planning as possible, and just enjoy the moments.  The kids are having a blast, despite having to dig a splinter out of Tam's hand (small tears but no screaming) and watching Jude tumble over a fallen scooter more than once.  Good thing I had packed many band-aids.



A couple of throw-back photos from 2012...Tamlin fishing for the first time and our family shot at the spillway.

Jude's Heart

At Jude's yearly appointment, back in May, he saw a new family doctor at our local clinic. We switched because this Dr. was closer to our home and a guy and could eventually see all of us.  (It was a least important to me to establish a relationship with a male doctor for more boys).  Anyways...Jude's check up was a-okay except for one small point.  The doc heard a small murmur in his heart, and he stressed very small.  He followed with saying this wasn't uncommon to hear in boys between 4 and 8 years of age and it usually wasn't anything to worry about.  I bet he saw the complete shock on my face at this new diagnosis.  He concluded with saying that if Jude was running, jumping, playing with other kiddos and not getting winded that he was likely fine but we should see the pediatric cardiologist "just in case". 

Today was that appointment with the specialist.
I had a slight worry (very slight) and was very positive as I took the little guy in to the office.  I recalled when Tamlin was in-utero and we had the scare from one of the early diagnositic tests that turned out to be nothing.  And Jude knew nothing except he was going to a doctor who was going to listen to his heart.

It was a quick visit.  Jude got an EKG which turned out perfectly normal. Jude was very unsure of all the stickers and electrodes attached to him, but the nurse was reassuring and fast.  The doctor was very nice and gave us the assurance that he was 95% sure that this little murmur was nothing and that Jude would out-grow it with time.  They'll keep a listen for it at his yearly check-ups but we shouldn't be concerned.  Great news.

On the way out, Jude told me the nice doctor listened to heart... and that Jesus was in there.
And that maybe he could hear Jesus.
Sure buddy...maybe, just maybe, the doc heard Jesus taking care of you in your heart :-)

Day 2 in the yurt - June 29

We slept fairly well...the boys slept much better than Brian or I (we just aren't as used to futon mattresses anymore).  The dawn light and the noisy birds woke us up from our slumber.  The campground is very peaceful at this time of day with very few people moving about.  It was a  beautiful dawn over the lake.

 
In the morning light, our boys are ready
 to go.  I walk down to let them goof off on the playground while our friends are still just waking   up.   A quick swipe of towel wiped off the dew from the slide. Jude loves playgrounds...since he is our .  monkey boy.  I remember Tamlin liked to hang around at this age too...but now Tamlin likes to race up and down the slides.

This is a picture of Tamlin making his "pirate" face.

 I let the kids run havoc for a bit before we headed to Tom and Rhonda's trailer.  It is a short 10 minute walk across the campground, but by the time we get there the boys are Starving.  Rhonda kindly obliges by whipping up eggs and bacon for everyone.  While sitting, chatting, and eating, we notice the variety of birds around...sparrows, robins, cardnials, and orioles!

 

 

Once back at the yurt, Brian got out the fishing gear and gave all the boys lessons.  Jude is using Tam's old rod.  Tamlin got an upgraded model for this trip.  Brian was letting both boys practice casting while using a jitterbug with no hooks...the same lure he had used to learn fishing way back when :-)  Jude took quite a liking to the jitterbug and wanted to play with it sans fishing rod.  After more than a few casts, we decided it was time to get licenses to try to fish for the real deal.  Licenses were had at a nearby baitshop...rubbery worms in sparkly colors were also chosen by the kiddos.

Later in the morning, Brian's mom and step-dad came to visit for a few hours.  We had a wonderful visit, just enjoying the company and relaxing.  Lunch was yummy chicken provided by Marge.  After, we decided to rent a pontoon boat to cruise around the lake.

We had to get the big boat in order to hold all 12 of us.  We had two hours to see the sights and enjoy the wind...but not much sun!  The boys all had fun alternating between eating cheesie-poofs and hanging out at the bow of the ship.

We let Jude steer the boat for a little while.   What a big grin!   I think he felt like a true captain! 

We didn't see a ton of wildlife beside other boats.  We did see a loon chilling on the shore and flocks of swallows nesting under the bridge.  The best was seeing a huge bald eagle perched in a tree along the shoreline.  Apparently there is a nest near campground and she had two fledglings.  Very cool.

Nearing the two hour mark, the boys were beginning to crash from too much fun and no naps.  Tamlin decided to chill out and meditate.  Jude crawled into Rhonda's arms and fell asleep.

 

 We got back to shore and back to the yurt right before another brief rain storm came across.  After dinners, the kids had fun playing with the water squirters.  Later, I taught Tam how to play a simplified version of Munchkin, which he enjoyed because he won :-)
The boys were both fairly exhausted from all the fresh air and slept well through the night, even with all the rain that pelted our yurt roof.