Two Princes and a Princess in the Kingdom: July 2009

We didn't travel far for our family vacation.

But spending the week at Stuart and Emilie Alexander's camp on Shadow Lake was like going to another world. It was Heaven for the kids - as much fun as if we had gone to Disney Land.

On our first morning Wayne, Cole, and Heather were up at the crack of dawn ready to get into the water. It was overcast, but the fog was lifting and the water was like glass. Wayne (aka Dr. Science to his classmates) immediately launched into his never-ending quest to capture every living creature in the lake, whether it be fish, frog, tadpole, or crayfish. He even brought an empty fish tank to contain his catches for observation. Over the course of the week he caught and studied many fat tadpoles sprouting legs, some frogs, a pumpkin seed fish (I call them sunfish), and several crayfish. I love the reflection in the water in this picture. Cole, not as ambitious as his brother, began his week-long activity of drifting lazily around on this floatie in the shallow water of the camp's little beachfront. This is Heather's idea of "going swimming" - standing in the water all the way up to her ankles. I took Wayne and Cole out in the shallow waters of the "cove" next to the camp. In the entire cove the water is mostly knee deep and at the most, in one spot maybe waist deep (on me) so it's a nice little place to paddle around with the kids. I have to admit, that as we were getting into the canoe, I wondered to myself, "If we do have any problems, what am I going to save first - my kids or my camera?" Luckily we never had to find out. Cole must have sensed what I was thinking. He was very worried about tipping out and drowning. Too much Titanic knowledge, I guess. When we started out on this little ride, clearly having no faith in me, he said, "If I fall out, take one last picture of me." I pointed out to him that the water was only halfway up to his knees and that if he fell out, he could just stand up and walk onto he bank. "Oh. Ok. That's good." He felt better.

We were pretty lucky with the weather. There was no one day that was a total washout. When we did have a little rain shower now and then, we stayed in the camp and played games.

Wes worked on the rail.

Cole floated around.

Wes bought a bag of sand so the kids could make castles.

Estelle (in Glover from France for part of the summer) came over to celebrate her 3rd birthday.

Wes and Thomas grilled some chicken.

Lillian and Cedric joined the birthday celebration.

Joanie held Lena.

Estelle gets lots of help unwrapping her gifts.

Julie and Lena.

Both girls sample the Ben and Jerry's ice cream cake. Cole shows remarkable restraint.

One afternoon there was a boat parade. The theme seemed to be the strange weather we've had this summer. This woman said she was the Sun Goddess of Shadow Lake. She threw Wayne and Cole a bag of candy (Heather was taking her nap). One of the things in the bag was a Pixie Stix - one of those straw-like things filled with tart powdery sugar. Cole dumped some onto his tongue and said, "Mmmmm! It makes me smile, automatically!" There was only about 6 boats in the parade, but W and C thought it was the greatest thing in the world and talked about it and enjoyed the candy all week.

Another boat in the parade. I liked their signs.

Eating outside and starting a fire for toasting marshmallows.

Cole was so excited he put his sweatshirt on backwards.

One day, Wayne's best friend Ben came over. They caught tadpoles and frogs. They swam a lot and we even took a walk over to the beach where they swam some more.

Wayne paddled the cove in the kayak. I don't want my mother to panic, so you should know that Wes is standing in the water just out of this shot supervising the activity.

Dante and Fintan came over. Luckily Joanie was there that day to help keep and eye on things until Wes got back in the afternoon - 4 boys and a two-year-old girl, too much for just me, myself, and I! Dante struggles to the water in these adult size flippers. When he tries swimming with them, they're so big, they just float off his feet.