We have been away for the entire month of July and are now home again.
It feels great to be home.
The boys are happy, busy, and eager. They were the same way when we were away.
Our vacation was fun and filled with amazing moments - especially moments in the out of doors.
Moose, fox, deer, ducks, loons, bald eagles, osprey, bugs, bugs, and more bugs.
And of course gorgeous mountains, caves, waterfalls,lakes,rivers,streams, etc. that we couldn't get enough of.
Kayaks, canoes, motor boats absolutely made the month the best it could be. This was the ideal part of our vacation. The cabin we stayed in at the lake - not great, but the lake, the view, the wilderness - all of this made up for the icky cabin. We have been out of doors for a solid month.
No telephones, no cell service, no computers, no television, no videos.
Absolutely nothing but the wilderness. This was divine.
We found the call of the loon enchanting,
the shriek of the young kestrel alarming, and the quack of the ducks like a five syllable laugh.
Anders learned to swim and trust himself in the water.
Kuba learned how to be in a canoe without it tipping.
Both boys fished.
We silently watched from our boat as a female moose ate pounds of lily pads from the edge of the water.
We floated past bald eagles.
We searched for osprey and found their nest, as well as the fledglings.
We ate
s'mores...lots of them.
We hiked steep mountain trails.
The boys caught pollywog's and tadpoles and found out they can live for weeks in an empty yogurt container.
We jumped from rock to rock up the river.
And floated
crocs downstream only to catch them again.
We played lawn games; octopus, what time is it Mr. fox, wax museum, etc.
The boys learned to buy ice cream at the tiny camp store all by themselves.
We got quiet.
We got very loud.
We were alone as a family.
We met tons of new people.
We spent a week with Anna's family, a few days with my sister.
We loved being with our friend Cathy.
We hardly ever had rain.
We had one fantastic lightening storm.
We found all sorts of creatures in the sky. White puffy clouds against a summer blue sky can elicit the best imaginings.
We canoed to the secret cove where all of us jumped from the rope swing.
We witnessed proud children. Many times.
We ate cotton candy ice cream.
We illustrated our vacation with crayon/colored pencil/ and marker.
We learned South African songs, played the ukulele and guitar, performed in front of other people, danced the
merenge and salsa.
We rhymed a lot. All of us.
And at our worst moments some of us whined.
We sang and sang and sang.
We were the morning wake up crew at camp....singing folks awake each day.
We debuted as a family with the old favorite "Oats, peas, beans, and barley grow."
We never slept past 7:30.
We never fell asleep before 8:30.
We fell in love with bugs...again. Dragonflies, beetles, butterflies, water bugs, ants...you name it.
We learned that moths love to hang out on screen doors, and
Kuba could spend hours playing with bugs.
Both boys found out that bug nets really do work at capturing prey.
The boys used their bug box all vacation and learned to mend holes in screens with safety pins and stamps.
The boys learned how to scoop up pond leaches fearlessly! I never did.
We learned some new vocabulary words and phrases -like: pickerel, pike, large mouth bass, and "it's a keeper!"
Kuba made friends with
Dyami.
Anders made friends with
Wilhem.
Anders lost two teeth and found that the tooth fairy visits you even if you are not at your own home.
I learned that I could survive without a shower for days, and the boys could go for three solid weeks without a real bath if there was a lake to swim in.
I discovered I could wash my boys hair in a cabin sink.
We learned you don't need much clothing when you are camping.
Swim suits became second skins.
At family camp we discovered the boys have a real talent for the piano, air hockey and Foosball.
We made bubbles. Giant ones.
Kuba popped them.
I tried to fit a bubble over Anders and almost succeeded.
We played beached whale at the pond.
We threw both boys into the lake again and again. Uncle Pete could throw them the highest. Anders learned to go under with ease.
We learned that our family is a pretty lucky family.
Welcome home.
The kids had such a fantastic week last week. Neighborhood kids all got together in our barn to do art work. I think the joy they felt at just having so many other children to play with was at an all time high and really made me happy. I love when kids just play together.
Ever since our big cookie baking extravaganza at Christmas, Anders has wanted to have a cookie sale. We waited until the weather was nice and we had enough time to bake. So Anders and Kuba helped bake vanilla chip cookies and painted the signs.
