We’re camping by the river at Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s tonight. It’s after one, and I’m just getting around to this mostly because this place has been prank and scare central for most of the boys, and a few of the girls.
Before I get to all of that, though, let’s recap today’s adventures.
I was happy to get back to Tai Chi by the river with Mom and Dad again this morning, and we had Ethan and Ehlana with us while we worked through the Chen long form. Since we didn’t have the bottomless breakfast pits with us, Mom and Dad went with a light breakfast of fruit salad; bakery muffins, bagels, and croissants; and the usual coffee, juice, and milk options.
Getting to hit the trails for our riding lesson was a lot more fun this week, and then we spent the afternoon on a canoe trip after getting home and packing a picnic lunch. Fortunately for us, the boys had other plans, and Rowen, Dawn, Jillian, and I enjoyed a completely weird-free afternoon. We got to hear about some of that after getting home, but we were busy for a while then too. We had two tents to set up; camping gear and supplies to haul two yards down the street; and then Mom drafted us to help with carrying her dinner contributions over and helping to get everything set up for the barbeque.
Uncle Adam had lots of guy support on the grills, and Mom and Aunt Leanne had both food donations and some parental or relative volunteers helping in the kitchen too. There were more teens than usual, including Alicia and Erin, so there may have been some paid assistance for the camping too. Violet, Stephanie, Dillon, and Jake had nearly all of their friends camping with them, and I wasn’t surprised to find out that Doug Warren and some of his buddies felt the need to come camping too. Jenny’s Mom was one of the parent volunteers during dinner; and I’m not sure whether she was more entertained by her son or by Jenny and Martin. If she was worried about her little girl spending so much time with a smooth-talking guy from the city, after watching the guys at their best while competing in their usual dinner contests; she probably wouldn’t be anymore.
So dinner was definitely weird and entertaining in a train wreck sort of way. Helping with the pre-dinner work got us out of the cleanup, so Rowen, Dawn, Jillian, and I escaped with some of the other girls and went to play at the park. Some of the teens were there too for ball practices, but we stayed over at the playground or by the river until we were rested up and ready to return to the teen and tween carnival that was going on back at Camp Carrington.
Blocking out what’s been going on between then and now would be nice, but that’s not an option for me.
First of all, Aunt Leanne, please stop with those little matchmaking nudges. Seriously! You’re going to get your big chance of the summer for some really important matchmaking. Save your strength. I’m still not in any hurry to cross over, and I’ve reminded you a lot that even when I do; your help will not be required. While we’re on the subject, don’t think that I didn’t notice why you told us to set up our tents where we did.
Enough said about that...moving on.
There’s a second campground in Rowen’s back yard that Patrick, Scott, and some of their buddies talked Patricia into letting them have. They joined us for dinner and the campfire, which wasn’t a big deal one way or the other; but it’s been a different story since they were ordered back to base by Commander Owen at around eleven o’clock. Patrick, Scott, and the rest of their little commando wannabes have launched a handful of raids into ‘enemy’ territory – two of which included ransacking our tent. The first time they were successful, since Rowen and I were still at the campfire. The second time, we were ready and ran them off with some help from Dawn and Jillian.
Unfortunately, that idiocy seemed to be contagious, and the prank and scare-fest was on after that. Some of that was fun, though more was annoying, and it wasn’t until a couple of pranks went bad that Jake, Dillon, and the rest of the older guys put an end to that avenue of entertainment. That hasn’t put an end to the action around here, but there really isn’t anything about what some of the couples around this campsite are doing now; so I won’t.
We’re heading into the last vacation day for Chrissy and Jonathan before they head out with Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne after work on Friday for Rob and Trish’s wedding on Saturday; though for them, they still have two nights in hotels ahead of them before going home. I’ll take a wild guess that Rebecca will take a little extra time off tomorrow to spend with Jonathan before he leaves, and though we haven’t really spent much time together; it’s going to seem weird for a while when she and Jenny go back to hanging out with their usual friends.
Rowen’s falling asleep now, and I should wrap this up and get some rest too – especially since I’ll get to exercise with Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne in the morning, and we’re doing break fast at the Inn!
Live from Camp Carrington, Witch Falls; this is Cassie Proctor, signing off!
