Snake Mountain Hike - July 21, 2017

Birthday Morning

It was a sweet birthday morning. 

The boys and Anna woke me up with breakfast in bed and some adorable gifts...

this mustache pencil being one of them, along with a Pinocchio top and a tiny tin truck.

We spent a little time posing with the mustache pencil

and got this beautiful composition of the two boys. 

  

Barn Board Blue

Anna and I have been staining the barn board to match the house.  

HUNDREDS of boards to be painted still!  But we've begun and are persistent painters!  The board will be vertical - unlike the horizontal clapboard on the house.
I think it'll look very much like a modern barn in the end.  

And we had LOADS of help from our friends.

Family

the barn project 2017

Summer is firmly rooted now and the barn project continues.   This past weekend Anna's brothers and dad worked hard to raise the ceiling of the right side of the barn.  NO SMALL FEAT.  It took two days to finish and now the right side of the second floor is sixteen inches higher.  I'll be posting a video soon that shows the floor being ratcheted up by the Thelemarck renovators.  The reason they had to raise the ceiling is because that section of the barn will now become the "garage" and it needs to house a car lift so that we could prove that we can fit two cars in the barn.  Crazy I know.  But it's all because of Burlington City Permitting rules. 

Memorial Day Weekend Ashphalt Removal

Anna and I were hard at work this weekend, working hard to remove the asphalt siding on the barn.   SO much to remove, so much scrap on the ground after it came off, so much clean-up, so much more to do.  The barn project continues. 

The Mystery Continues...

It's been silent this week, in terms of details about how camp is going.

HOWEVER, there have been photo's posted on the Camp Downer website,

so we get a little window into life at camp.  The boys look happy and active and

I CAN'T WAIT UNTIL THEY ARE HOME!

FIREWORKS Minus the Boys

The boys are away this 4th.  Yet we still managed to head down to the lake and watch the sky. 

First Overnight Camp!

We dropped off the boys at their first ever overnight camp yesterday. 

A bit exciting, a bit nerve-wracking (for Anna and I!)

But we did it.  We cut the cord and pulled away in our car and left the boys...

There.

For a week.

Without us.

To have a blast and just camp it up. 

Along with 200 other kids and a bunch of camp counselors,

who have been trained in the basics like -  

"How to handle home-sickness 101"

and

"How to Sleep Even Though The Dark is Terrifying 102"

and important camp counselor courses like that.  

We each sent them a letter already.  

And we've already had a photo sent to us of them and their cabin mates. 

Which relieves a bit of our anxiety.  

(See below for visual details)

Anders Cabin....

 Kuba's Cabin...

and the letters that are on their way...filled with their favorite lottery tickets.