Weekend at the Lake

 We drove back up to WSS Friday in time for lunch, but way too late for Jonathan's zip line finish.  We left later than we should have, and then traffic was at a standstill on 70 for about 20 minutes!  Nathan had to call to make sure we were actually going to show up to officially pick up Jonathan, since his counselor had to stay with him until we got there.  Oops!  It turned out Jonathan was a bit of the problem camper all week.  He picked up some kind of virus, so he ran a low-grade fever, which led to some sitting in the nurse's office and missing some activities.  He also threw up in the cabin one night, splattering his duffle bag and someone else's too.  God bless his poor counselor Micah who had to help get that cleaned up.  Ack!

Caleb was back from AO, where he had a great time, but he also picked up a little virus.  He mainly ran a low-grade fever and had a sore throat.  At least his started at the end of AO, so he didn't miss out on any activities there.

After finishing up at WSS, we headed northeast to Bob's sister's house for the weekend. She and her 2 girls live in a lovely old house in a cute little town on a beautiful lake.   We got there after dinner, but since it wasn't raining, Maddie and Amanda took people out of the boat right away.

Rose and I sat on the dock, catching up and watching Verity.  She was looking like a pirate, due to an accident on Wednesday where she climbed on our dollhouse, fell off, and pulled it down on top of her.  It gave her a nasty black eye, plus a cut on her nose and her cheek!  Not that she learned her lesson, though.  Wednesday night--that same day!--she was trying to climb up the back of one of our kitchen chairs, but thankfully I was right there to keep it from falling back on her.

Obviously her eye didn't bother her!  She was happy as a clam running around on the dock!

Saturday morning there was a 5k race for the local fire station.  Rose signed us all up, and the start was literally less than 100 yards from her front door, so all of us except Jonathan participated.  He was having some issues related to taking antibiotics for a long time, poor guy, and he didn't feel up to a race.  Caleb did go, even though he wasn't feeling well either, and it probably was not a good thing for him!

Rose kept her jogging stroller, which is still in great condition, so I pushed Drew and Verity in that.  I couldn't have done it without that stroller, that's for sure!  Verity is crying in the above picture because I had unbuckled her before I remembered I wanted to take a picture, and she is ready to get out!  I was surprised at how cooperative they both were in the stroller.  Drew wanted to get out at first, but I walked quickly and distracted him by enthusiastically pointing out every single remotely interesting detail I could find of the lakes houses we were passing (basketball hoop! boat! 4-car garage! day lilies! beautiful porch! doggie!).  I really do love looking at all the old houses, so I had a marvelous time walking, until Verity started fussing to get out, but thankfully that was just right at the very end.

About halfway through the 5k, Faith dropped back to walk with me and the stroller.  She had been walk/running with Maddie (holding her back like an anchor, lol), and I could tell by the look on her face that she wasn't very happy.  She had drunk too much water at a water station, and her tummy wasn't feeling well, and Faith isn't what we call stoic on a good day even, so . . . again, it took some fast talking to distract her from her woes.   I walked the whole 5k, pushing the stroller, and I finished right around 47 minutes.  Luke, Anna, and Grace all finished way before us, and they came back to encourage us.  Luke even got Faith to run the last little bit so that she finished before me!  Bob and Caleb walked the whole way with Micah, who was not particularly happy about it but nonetheless did it, lol.

Here is a terrible picture of our group because I picked the wrong small little thumbnail shot and I'm not that technical to delete it and get the right one back in the right place . . . imagine us all looking at the camera and smiling, because that's what the other shot looks like . . .

The rest of the day we went out on the boat and did lake-ish things.  Even though it was cloudy and cool, the rain held off, and honestly, the cool weather was *such* a nice change of pace from DC's heat and humidity.  It was really refreshing to need a hoodie!  The lake water was warm, so lots of kids tubed, even Micah and Drew!  They also boated over to an island in the lake, swam ashore and explored.  A read-aloud from last year was Swallows and Amazons, so all the lake and island stuff reminded me of the book, although maybe not anyone else, lol.  Fun times!

Verity went on the boat several times Saturday, and she LOVED it.  I was worried she would be scared, but she clearly is more like Faith than Grace.  She sat there, swallowed up in her life jacket, looking out the front, and loving everything!  As you can see by the picture, I did go on the boat, although I also took the opportunity, while so many little people were so engaged, to read some books.  Rose has a gorgeous side porch, with a lovely porch swing, and sitting there reading, and glancing up every so often to gaze out over the lake, is so incredibly peaceful and relaxing!

At dinnertime, there was more excitement--a parade!  Right by Rose's side porch!  This was also to celebrate the fire department, and fire departments from every single surrounding burrough and hamlet were out in force, sirens blaring and horns honking.  It was loud, but very impressive, especially for Drew and Micah!  When the people in the parade started throwing candy, then they were all in high heaven.

Jonathan actually got to ride on a float with Amanda, throwing candy.  All the kids had Walmart bags to collect their booty, and the candy certainly kept people quiet on the way home the next day!  You would not believe how much candy Drew and Micah ate in the van.  Ah well . . . there didn't seem to be any ill effects!

After the parade, there was a little carnival over at the fire station.  We walked over (this small town thing is really nice!), and the kids played games, bounced in a bouncy house, ate a funnel cake, etc.  It was a jam-packed day, and we were all really tired by the end of it!

We had to leave the next morning to drive back to WSS to drop off Anna and Grace for their week of Camp Caleb.  The drive between NW PA and WSS is really pretty, especially by State College.  We needed to stop at Walmart to get more tennis shoes for Grace (she outgrew hers between camping and now . . .), and we ate some yummy barbecue at Dickie's for lunch.  It was good to see Nathan again, even just briefly.  I'm glad he's up there because Grace was NOT excited about being in camp without Anna (they're in separate camps this year).  The daughter of a friend of mine from my own WSS days was also in Grace's camp, so hopefully they could hit it off.  Nathan texted last night to say he had seen Anna and Grace at the square dance, and they were both having lots of fun.

Back here at home, we did a ton of laundry.  Then we cleaned up the basement because we had surprise company!  Ian, the son of some friends of ours who we were stationed with back in Ohio, was coming back from a missions trip in Europe.  His flight landed Tuesday afternoon, but his flight back home didn't take off again until 9:00 Wednesday morning.  So we picked him up and had a nice little visit!  He even with to CAP with the boys, since he is in CAP where they live now.  I do love Facebook for keeping in touch with friends from old assignments!

Drew actually received a medal for "fastest male walker" in his age group.  This was a bit inaccurate, since Drew didn't technically "walk", per se, but boy, does he ever love his medal!  He wears it all around the house and talks about it to everyone who will listen.  Grace was happy he got it, because he's always had a thing for her swimming medals, but then they mysteriously break.  She said (darkly), "Good.  Now he can break his own medal!"  I think it will be a fun memory of a fun weekend--if we can manage not to lose the thing!

ETA:  A better group shot at Rose's!