Starry Summer Vacay Part 4

We basically woke, packed up and left the campsite on Saturday morning.  Later we jumped on the Slivka boat. It was a special treat to have Daniel as the captain -- how cool is that?! The kids (and dads) jumped in the lake and headed to the beach to play. Then Paul put all the kids to sleep on the cruise back. And sometime after getting home, Vanessa noticed the Tooth Fairy HAD visited.

Starry Summer Vacay Part 3

So we returned from East Harbor Beach and took showers in the wash house. This is the day Vanessa started going to the bathroom by herself, only cause we were near them.

We decided for dinner it would be fun to go looking for a random pizza joint. We headed back to camp to roast marshmallows. With help from V&Z, Daddy made a good fire. We toasted just in time because we started getting a steady rain soon after. It was soothing. Vanessa commented how she liked the sound of the rain on the tent. And it was great having a screened porch attached!  And glow sticks to play drums!

The better to hear you with!

After hours for Daddy included poking a fire with a stick. He must be getting old or something. :-)

Happy Birthday, Vanessa!

Starry Summer Vacay Part 2

Our first morning we woke and made blueberry muffins in the quick Babycakes iron. They took less than 10 minutes. Then, before dinner, we explored Marblehead, kicked the soccer ball and threw frisbee, rested in the tent for maybe 5 minutes, and played at East Harbor Beach.

Starry Summer Vacay Part 1

About a month ago it occurred to us that we were running out of time to do the family campout we promised. We waited on Daddy to transition to his new job but wanted to nail it before VBS and V's b-day and school. So we planned a two-day trip to East Harbor. 

In a familiar fashion, I established two deadlines to meet before heading out of town. While wrapping up those things the morning of leaving, Vanessa decided to yank out her other front tooth. How was the Tooth Fairy going to pull this off? Vanessa brought it along and held onto it until the morning before returning home, when she lost it. She was convinced since the Tooth Fairy missed it the first night, blatantly right inside the door of the tent, that her wings were too tiny to fly to Northern Ohio. Then Vanessa placed it back in her baggie and placed it on her bookbag, but still the Tooth Fairy missed it. Vanessa couldn't find it once we left the campsite for good. But somehow the Tooth Fairy made it right and visited Vanessa's bedroom Saturday night after we returned.

We stayed in a luxurious tent in a campground surrounded by many people. (Seriously -- the tent is the bomb!) Not as secluded as we envisioned but an experience even so. The kids accepted our campsite as home and several times as we were out and about, they asked to get back to it. Vanessa was proud to walk into the potty by herself. :-)

Z & V loved that their was a dome at the campground playground, just like one Mom and Dad played on when they were little.

We settled in the first night with shadow puppet show. Vanessa used an unoccupied camper as her backdrop. Zane performed his with a flashlight inside the tent.

Daddy put in a lot of work to make this fun for everyone!