1st week of vacation

The first week of our vacation started with traveling to Mr. M's grandma's house. We followed Mr. M's parents (and his sister and her 3 kids), and spent the night in their travel trailer. It was a bit crowded, but we were able to park in a truck stop, open the slide-out, and sleep. That's the way to go!

Unfortunately, I went to sleep with our credit card in my pocket, and when I checked in the morning, I couldn't find it. We looked all over, talked to the employees of the truck stop, and ended up calling the credit card company. No unauthorized charges had been made, so we thought maybe it was still in the trailer, but since we had looked and couldn't find it, we had to report it lost/stolen and get a new card sent.

The next day, after putting LMS down for a nap on the same bunk we'd slept on, I looked down, between the pull-out curtain and the bed, and there was our card. Of course. At least it hadn't been stolen, but it was too late to stop the new card being sent.

We spent a day and a half with Mr. M's grandma, then headed up to the campground, and spent the rest of the week camping at the lake with Mr. M's immediate family, aunts, uncles, cousins; and some more extended relatives the last couple days.

We had fun in the lake. LMS was cautious at first, but really enjoyed the water. Someone brought a canoe and a kayak, and I took LMS out in them. She insisted on helping paddle both the canoe and the kayak and had a great time. Maybe we should get a kayak of our own...

We all got bit by lots of mosquitoes. During the day, the mosquito repellent worked pretty well, but come dusk, nothing worked. We had all brought different brands of repellent, and we tried them all, but we still got bit. And they were stong, persistent things: I got several bites through my jeans! The poor little kids got some pretty nasty welts.

We made s'mores every night. I couldn't eat the graham crackers, so I pulled apart a marshmallow, put a square of chocolate inside, closed the marshmallow back up, carefully skewered it, and then very carefully toasted it over the fire. A bit messy, but very ooey, gooey, and yummy.

It didn't get dark till almost 10 pm, so LMS was always in bed during s'mores time. One day, her nap lasted till 7 pm (I think she went down a little late, and was just so exhausted that she slept longer than usual), so she got to stay up later and make s'mores.

toasting marshmallows, not looking too excited.

eating the finished product. love that smile!

We went on a short bike ride, during which I managed to fall over, again. I was stopped, with one foot unclipped, and I was turning to look at my rear tire, which was riding kind of low. Somehow, I lost my balance, and toppled over. I scraped up my leg a bit, but it wasn't too bad. At least none of my accidents have been while I was actually moving.

One morning the guys had some male-bonding time and went golfing. Mr. M had a great time.

Another day, we drove a ways to a reservoir to go on a hike. LMS was the youngest by quite a bit, but managed to walk almost all of the mile/mile and a half to the top. I only carried her for a short distance before she decided she was ready to walk again. She did really well, and didn't whine and complain at all (unlike some kids we know would have done).

the first reservoir, which was just above the parking area. very pretty.

LMS climbing and hiking along. she's holding my walking stick, which she insisted on carrying.

Mr. M and LMS on the trail.

this was our view as we reached the top of the trail- the second reservoir. gorgeous!

the 3 of us, with the sun in the wrong position