Head Tale

I had such an amazing time camping this long weekend at Nickle Lake with Shea’s folks at their seasonal site, I thought I’d do a bulleted list of some of the highlights.  (To set the scene, Shea’s parents have possibly the the nicest site in the entire campground.  They’ve had it for nearly a decade and have continually made improvements.  This year’s big addition was a permanent deck right off their camper.)

My parents also came down and we had lots of other family and friends as visitors as well.

• Watching the wild clouds gather over a nearby playground then making it back to Dennis & Joan’s campsite just as the hail began to fall.
• Going out on the deck after it was over and “skating” on the ice with Pace and Shea’s dad
• Pace is out for a walk and has to pee so Shea’s mom gets him to go on the nearest tree…just as a police car pulls up and turns on the lights!  (Turns out it’s a former roommate of Shea’s brother.  The policeman has a site at the lake and just happened to be coming there after going off-duty!)
• Going for a long walk with Shea and my parents late at night and looking at the amazing blanket of stars we so rarely see in the city
• Everyone turning down steak that was planned for supper one night so we could have a weiner roast instead
• The new boyfriend of a family friend who was visiting with her own family getting immediately into everyone’s good graces by bringing fixings for (and doing all the fixing of) smores.
• Each day’s inevitable call of “It’s five o’clock somewhere” signaling the beginning of the adult beverages!  (I’ve become quite partial to lime beers this summer.)
• This.
• Tubing behind Shea’s dad’s boat with Shea and Pace then later, with my dad and Pace.
• While I’m in the water swimming and the boat is stopped, a full-fledged water fight breaks out on board (I think Pace, who brought along a few of his water guns, started it!) which turns into a pretty wild one when a water soaker cannon thing comes into play and somehow ends up in my hands out in the water beyond the range of everyone else’s piddly water guns.
• Not sure if it’s a highlight but watching my little daredevil lay forward in the tube instead of sitting back so the spray would whip into his face, try to stand up, and continually signal “faster!” after we showed him the thumbs-up hand signal for that command.
• As the two grandpas napped in air conditioned comfort, everyone else sat with their feet in Pace’s paddling pool listening to Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. One of my favourite camping CD’s is their greatest hits album but here’s an even more countrified version of their best song than the one I know…