Camping Report + WIP Teaser

We had an incredible vacation with my family on the North Shore last weekend. My Grama + Grampa built a tiny little cabin on the shore of Lake Superior back in '69 and ever since then, the whole family has called the area a second home. My grandparents are gone now, but my aunt and uncle kept The Cabin and let us all go up and visit for a weekend here and there. It's absolute heaven.

But we always go up individually with our own families and haven't had a group time up there in ages. That all changed this past weekend as everyone piled into rented condos, The Cabin and tents (that was us) to gather and reunite. With about 75% participation (that's not a real number, it's too late for math), I'd say it was a pretty good showing. My grandparents had 4 kids and 14 grandkids, most all with spouses and kids of their own now. We're a big group!

I am thrilled to report that we did survive our second camping trip as a family - even happily - though it's still the last one for a long time (way too much work keeping Jackson in one place).

We stayed at the main resort hanging around the campfire until super late so Jack was sound asleep when we pulled into our campsite (we had already set up our tent by daylight). He slept through the night and woke up happy. It was a bit frigid for late June with temps in the 40s, but long underwear, layers, many blankets, Daddy's wool hat and repeatedly stealing Mommy's pillow kept the Kid warm.

We didn't attempt actual "camping" at the campsite like cooking and the like due to the escapee nature of our child. But luckily, this vacation offered many other options for places to hang, so we pretty much just woke up and left. We stayed at The Cabin due to rain the second night (thanks Aunt Mary + Uncle Doug!) and Jack did well there too. I think I preferred sleeping on the ground with him over sharing a small twin bed, but he did just fine.

Anyway, I could go on and on about the fun picnics, the cool t-shirts that our aunts and uncles had made for us, the s'mores by the campfire, the potlucks, the time spent on the rocks, the eating, the talking, the eating, the talking...but I think you get the idea. It was just a wonderful weekend.

I've decided that Flickr sort of sucks (only sort of) and am moving my allegiance to Shutterfly. (Direct upload from iPhoto, better sorting/editing web interface, easy print ordering and pick-up at Target and super easy for the grandparents to use...) So click here if you want to see many more photos of our vacation. We meant to take more photos of people other than Jackson, really, we did! The craziness and the hubbub just got the best of us. We had too much fun just being in the moment.

In knitting news, I have two new projects on the needles and photos are coming soon. I'm pleased to say that the Tabi socks for my mother-in-law are going well (after much pre-cast-on counseling from my Knitting Group on the topic of gauge and other sock-knitting pitfalls) and Jackson's new sweater vest is a cute little dream. Stay tuned.