some vacation photos

The digital camera is still up in Michigan with Kate. The teenagers spent the first week with our family and the second week with my brother-in-law's family- lucky ducks. So some of the pictures are still with her. But I had my film developed and put on a disk also.

This is the "big dock":

Some of the braver ones were heading out for a sunset swim. (Too chilly for me!) The weather ran the gamut- hot and humid when we first got up there, which was great for swimming, but by the time you made it back up the hill to our house, you were sweating again. And no air conditioning in these old cottages.

After a couple days, a quick storm came through and cooled everything off. After that, I wasn't as motivated to swim.

One day started off rainy, so the girls and I went in to "town" to visit the gift shops. They wanted to stop at the dollar store also. I rolled my eyes, went in, and came out with $24 worth of stuff, including these squirt guns:


One of the "mishaps" I mentioned happened the first day we loaded up on the boat. We got both boys all decked out in their life jackets, and brought all the rest of the gear that you need: sunscreen, drinks, dry clothes, towels, hats, sunglasses, etc. etc.
We got settled and Bill said "ok, ready boys? This will be a little loud." They covered their ears, grinning, and Bill turned the key in the ignition.
---
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Nothing happened.
Not even a clicking sound.
The boat was broken.
So then we had to load all our crap back out of the boat. Both boys were crying, and I was trying not to look Bill in the eye, because I knew he must be furious.
He recovered quickly, however, and we modified our plans to go swimming instead. (Another example of the grownups continuing to "grow up" over the years. A few years ago the boat thing would have probably ruined our day.)
The boat was able to be repaired, but it took a couple days.

Here's Thomas swimming in the lake- grinning and shivering. The water is nice and shallow for a long distance- it's great for kids! The first day Tommy got knocked down several times by the waves- face-first- and it was hard for him to regain his balance. But he adapted quickly, and the water shoes helped too.
Everyone at work has commented on this picture:

I guess it's a classic. That's what vacation is all about- just having time to sit and watch the world go by with your kids.

(There is one other picture that is one of our favorites, but I can't post it on the internet. I got the boys toy light sabers before we left. One day they must have been having a light saber fight after swimming and taking off their wet suits- I call it "Naked Jedi". That will get me some weird Google searchers, won't it?!)