And We're Back (Again)

After a long three days we're back home again.

Traffic on the way was horrendous and the trip took twice as long (literally) as it should have. The kids watched an entire movie before we even got to the city.

Once there we quickly shifted into relax mode and spent our days lounging around the house, playing in the lake, reading, taking pictures, and lounging some more.

Monday night we got pounded by a big storm that knocked down branches but the light show was long and impressive. The winds howled and I suspect some rain fell but it was the lightning that stole the show.

Tuesday was cooler but the humidity was brutal. My mom tried to build a fire in the firepit to burn off some scrub (downed branches, leaves, etc.) but things were too wet. After getting things dried out a bit we managed to get things going nice and hot to dry out the ground and the wet wood and leaves.

After being roasted next to the fire I peeled off my wallet and cell phone and headed straight for the lake and, like the Pied Piper, somehow got all of the kids to follow me--still fully dressed. As I was doing the laundry anyway I didn't worry much but my nieces are not yet solid swimmers and required a bit more attention once we were in the water.

Wednesday we went to Potato Creek State Park where we all swam in the lake (yes, the kids got to swim in two different lakes in three days) and then had a picnic before heading for the Nature Center to talk with the Naturalist and put on a puppet show. For me, this is the highlight of the trip as it is when Laura shows off all that she has learned about the outdoors. All that time going over plant, tree, and animal identification has been worthwhile as she's been listening.

I took hundreds of pictures with the new camera and hope to get one or two of them up here today.

Thanks for reading,


B