Vacation in a Nutshell

Here's the summary of our last week:

• Monday - left the house at dinnertime, dropped Bruce (the fish) off at the Mann's and hit the road. Traffic was as good as it gets and we were Up North and in our tent (pre-pitched by my brother - thanks BD!) by 3am.
• Tuesday - out to breakfast in Conover, to Bonsons in Eagle River for the weeks worth of groceries (which is no small task) and then back to camp. IT'S HOT!! Spent time on the lake watching kids swim and boat. As we sat there on the beach, one of the 4 bald eagles that reside on the lake swooped down RIGHT in front of us and snatched up a fish - it was just like you see on the Discovery Channel! (that's an educational station on cable, for those of you who are unfamiliar - they teach you things about nature and stuff - it's pretty cool, you should check it out!) Camp fire (viewed from a distance due to the heat!) and to bed - it rained a little, but no relief from the heat!
• Wednesday - Hot before we even get out of the tent! More time in the water, potluck dinner with our KBC friends (the Horton side of the family goes to this same place every summer - my grandparents, mom, and aunts and uncles all have permanent camping trailers parked there, so it's a huge family thing. For the last few years, large groups of people from my Kenosha family's church - Kenosha Bible Church - come up for the first week of August, so we had about 6 other families and THIRTY THREE TEENAGERS hanging around for the week). Again, campfire from a distance.
• Thursday - It rained around 5am and things cooled down considerably - finally! Back to "Up North" weather - jackets in the morning and before bed, shorts the rest of the day. I need a laundramat for reasons you can all probably figure out on your own (a wet sleeping bag - and not due to the rain). Our 8-year-old air mattress also decided to give out on us for this trip, so Katie and I headed to Rhinelander (about 40 minutes away) for the nearest WalMart. The day was a series of problems, including me leaving my purse at camp and getting to Rhinelander with no $ and running into a Taco Bell employee who didn't seem to understand the concept of "debit," but we got back with most missions accomplished. The lake was so rough from the wind that water sports were out of the question, and it was too breezy for swimming, so the kids spent most of the day in the dirt at the playground. Fun. We actually got to enjoy a real campfire, complete with mosquitos, before heading to bed and using our space heater (got into the 40's every night the rest of the week - it was awesome!)
• Friday - The ladies ditched the guys with all the kids and headed to town for a fru-fru lunch at the Brew Moon Cafe. Did a few of the tourist trap shops in town, found a craft store (they had some scrapbooking stuff - it was cute!), stopped at Bonsons for a few forgotten items, swung into "the soap store" and then back to camp. The guys barely survived. Ok, as you all know, Adam was fine, my uncle Scott was ok...Steve and his two babies had seen better days. Poor guy. Yeah, right! More lake time, another camp fire, insane clear sky with more stars than you can even imagine. Ahhh, good.
• Saturday - Lazy morning, took kids tubing in the afternoon (Jacob went just long enough to earn his way to Dari-Maid. Abby and Adam went around the lake 3 times!). Potluck dinner at the lodge, family pictures (yeah), bingo (Jacob won a jump rope) and camp fire. Packed the kids, cousin Kaitlyn and Murphy in the truck for a trip up to Dari-Maid for ice cream. We took HWY S back from Land O' Lakes to look for bear...no luck. Camp fire, star gazing, and to bed.
• Sunday - packed at a leisurely pace and hit the road around 11:30am. I hate leaving. I've been to that lake almost every summer of my life (with only a few exceptions due to the Horton Family Banishment from the campground back in the 80's...long story - new ownership didn't like us - can you believe that?!?). Buckatabon is my Nirvana spot. It's one of those rare places you can go and immediately feel like you've come home, no matter how long you've been gone. 10 hours and 5 stops later, we were home.