My sisters, cousins, and I spent the last week up north at our grandparents’ cabin on the lake. It is such a blessing to have grandparents that are willing to take all 5 of us, ages ranging from 5 to 17! This was the 11th annual running of what we call “Mamo Camp”.
And what a week we had!
Over the next couple of days or so I hope to let you in on what we did that week through some pictures, stories, and funny happenings over here. Enjoy!
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Day two dawned early for the two little boys at camp this year… waking Mamo and Papa up at “6-1-4” in the morning. :) After today, we let them know that they could sleep until “7-0-0” on the clock in their room… and they did!
After a breakfast of homemade blueberry muffins (yum), we clamored out the door to load the bikes for our ride down the Paul Bunyan trail. Lily and I were up in the bed of the big truck helping load…
After water bottles had been filled, a lunch packed, and the bikes loaded, we were out the door- caravanning into town.
Oh!
I almost forgot!
We took the money to the bank to have it counted, all six of us placing our bets on the amount.
“$300!”
“$208.86! Same as we counted!”
And even an eager “$350!!”
The coins rattled through the counter and the total was unveiled…
only 78 cents off- $208.08
Not bad!
Anxious to get on the trail, we headed to the parking lot and began to unload. Everyone except Grandpa (voted the Best Chase Vehicle Driver :) ) would ride, so there were quite a few bikes in the back…
Also joining us for the first time was T-man- Hooray! Now that he’s five (almost 6!) he could ride the trail along bike behind Mamo… way too cool!
Helmets on and wheels secure, we were off!
The ride was to be a little over 12 miles (let’s say 13 :) ) and we were ready to conquer it all.
Since not everyone had a water bottle that could be opened when riding, we took a few breaks on the way. The first stop was taken at a local church’s trail-side picnic shelter, so to speak.
However we didn’t stop there for the lunch…
Ever heard of a Pastie???
Bet you haven’t.
Guess what it is-
a pot pie of sorts… only with cabbage, turnips, and some soggy sauce and mystery meat.
Sounds tasty doesn’t it?
The morning turned out to be fairly cool, which was truly welcome, and kept everyone from getting too warm on the way.
And we were off again!
Cycles whirring, we took off down the trail. Jay was able to keep up with us all this year many thanks to his *new* bike- red with silver handle bars. I’ve never seen a kid so in love with his bicycle. All the rest of the week he would ride it up and down the long driveway, not to mention race his cousin Miss M on the trail.
Lillie and I hung back a little, chatted, and enjoyed the easy breezy ride. Until the last mile or so.
After pedaling for a while, I started to notice my legs getting tired. I started to pay attention to the terrain and noticed that the rest of the way would be up hill just enough to make it hard on the legs.
But we made it! Cruising into the playground (our favorite destination) we found Grandpa, the truck, and best of all… LUNCH!
We thought we could make it to play for a few minutes…
or maybe we should have a snack…
or how about we all eat lunch?
Turkey sandwiches and lemonade, chips and fresh peaches… what could be better?
Food was consumed quickly then the playground started to call…
We played tag, freeze tag, hot lava tag, tag where there’s a jail, then realizing that… wow… it really was getting warm out, we headed to this awesome play equipment in the shade…
snapped a few group shots too, because aren’t we the funniest gang of kids?
I think we played more on that old car than we did on the entire play ground. And what wasn’t to love? It’s a jungle-gym on wheels!
Jay and T-man are liking baseball right now, so they brought along their bats and balls. We all rallied onto the field because really, who doesn’t love hearing the crack of a bat as the ball flies to the outfield?
Each of us rotated through the outfield and batting rounds, Mamo and Grandpa graciously and enthusiastically playing in the diamond too.
There were bases stolen, home runs declared, and lots of laughter and running.
T-man’s tee ball stand turned out to work really well for everyone. This way we didn’t need a pitcher, and those who didn’t use the tee tossed it up in the air instead.
After about a half and hour of playing, the sun started to come on full force in the heat of the early afternoon, so a quick team time-out was declared and water bottles consumed until empty.
The more brave of the cousins decided to play a few more rounds of baseball while the rest cheered from the dugout. Whew were we HOT!
The game was declared to be a great one all around after about 15 minutes, then we loaded up and cycled all the way back to the start- a whole Baker’s dozen miles. :)
Kaye
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