...I do love me my comforts of home...namely, hot showers, real toilets, a blow dryer, a curling iron, makeup, and some hairspray. But...there is something to be said for having to jump in the lake for your baths, and for shaving your legs off the side of the dock. There's something to be said for sunkissed skin as opposed to blush and lipstick...and for letting your hair be wildly dried in the breeze as opposed to being cooped up in a steamy bathroom with a blow dryer.
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| Life jacket, round 2. The first one she hated with a passion. This one she loves... |
It kind of appeals to me...
In fact, Kev and I are talking about hiking the "100 Mile Wilderness" for our 15 year Anniversary next year. We shall see. I'm not quite sure if I'm hippie crunchy enough for that one or not yet. But I think it could make for a pretty fun adventure some day.
Speaking of adventures....
My friend Rachael and her family spend their family vacations at this same camp. Rachael is my Father-in-Law's granddaughter....so that makes Kev her uncle by marriage. Awww. Uncle Kevy.... Anyway, for the past two summers, we have tried to overlap our stay just a bit. My three older boys and her three older girls love hanging out...and we love hanging out...so it's delightful. Last year, we overlapped a couple of days and a night. This year, I have a two month old baby girl, and she has one year old toddler twin boys...so it makes for a "hairy-er" vacation for both of our families. So, this time we just overlapped a few hours. Maybe next year, we can make it happen for a little bit longer.
Anyway, we were chitchatting about what our family's week (that is comprised mostly of boys) looks like as opposed to what their family's week (that is comprised mostly of girls) looks like while here at camp. We were swapping notes, so to speak. When her family goes to town, her Lovelies enjoy walking the entire strip of stores, peeking into each one, and finding fun little treasures to purchase as souvenirs of their time in Rangeley. When our family goes to town, the boys like to hit: the candy shop, the pizza shop, and the ice cream store...and not necessarily in that order. And the only store that they even remotely care to shop at is the tackle shop...and that's only if they've lost a lure on a fishing trip.
My boys wake up talking about fishing, and they go to sleep with plans the next morning to go fishing. And if we decide to go on any sort of adventure...the major question at play is: "Can we do any fishing there?" They are also quite enthused if there are any cliffs or huge rocks that they can jump off....or any locations where lots of people have not fished before. And whilst I do love me my adventures, as well...when I am "on vacation," I really don't want to do anything that even remotely looks like work. I like to think of myself as a "dock sitter." Nothing makes me happier than to slow roast on the dock with a fantastic book in hand, enjoying the sights and the silence around me, when I get hot I'll jump in for a little dip, and then I'll come back out...wash, rinse, repeat for all the live long day.
Kevy can sit still for approximately 30 minutes. If I am lucky. And that's why he's the favorite parent.
Mama is boring.
And so our days were a mix of vegging and fishing, boating and fishing, hanging at camp and fishing, boating to town and fishing, swimming and fishing. Exploring and fishing. And going on adventures. And fishing.
And we also did a little fishing.
Wee little London, I fear, is a bit more like her Daddy than her Mama, and so our best days at camp were actually the ones where we were out and about. That baby took more naps on the boat, and on a hike, and in my Snugli, and on some cliff somewhere then she ever did in her bed back at camp. And I nursed that wee baby in more precarious positions this week than I ever have all three baby boys combined. Such is going to be her life, methinks. But she didn't complain.
I may or may not have once or twice...
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| See my boys? Waaaaay down there. London ate her lunch at the top of this ledge. glory be. |
So we balanced our fun to meet the needs of all six of us the best that we could. Some of the boys are as hard-core as Daddy, and some are not so much. There were days when Jesse looked over at me in the boat and said wryly: "Fishing is so boring, isn't it Mama?" So, those were the times that we threw him off the side of the boat and let him boogie board on back to relieve said boredom. And there were nights when Kevy took all three Hoolies along with him so that Mama could have some semblance of silence back at the camp for just a couple of hours. There were days when I willingly hiked in the drizzle and nursed London on top of some ledge somewhere so that someone could hook their prize trout in a deep hole somewhere. And there were days when we went to town for the sole purpose of getting an icecream. Just because I wanted one. There were naps where Ransom sprawled on me in the boat, and there were fishing expeditions where whoever was bored was allowed to eat a boatload of candy for appeasement.
Whatever worked, was kind of my motto.
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| Final count: 2 big salmon and 4 trout. Not too shabby. |
And so, now we are back to the real world of:
No, you may not have candy right after breakfast. (to Jesse & Ransom)
No, you may not sleep every single nap on my chest. (to London)
No, we are not going fishing tonight when Daddy gets home from work. (to Kaden)
And no, we are not having ice cream four times this week. (to all of us)
Coming back to reality is such a bummer....
1 comment:
Love..love...love...how your family works, plays, cries and laughs together. What a shining example of Jesus. BIG HUGS! --Brenda
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