Joy

Our church rented out a local campground so we rented a cabin (basically a shed, named "Joy," with bunkbeds) there and went for the weekend. What a lot of work that was. And I cheated with planning food, since I made sure we ate before we left Friday and sent Steve out for Subway Saturday night and had donuts and Pop-Tarts for breakfast. We did have hot dogs this morning after breakfast. I don't know why, but the hot dogs that were just wrapped in foil and buried under hot ashes leftover from last night's campfire were the best hot dogs ever. Steve was happy to cart in some rotten logs and brush from home. He even brought the Christmas tree. We gave a good fire show to all the neighbors. One guy said he could see the fire as he was driving in. Lucky for us it didn't last long. Scary couple of minutes though.

Mass was also a little scary, as a thunderstorm was rolling in. Lightning kept crackling the speaker system of the outdoor chapel area followed by loud crashes of thunder and a few rain drops. Fodder Phil cut out his homily, and then the skies cleared up. Coincidence?

It was really pretty cool there. The kids had fun playing sports and swimming in the lake with a lot of their friends from school. Owen and Matthew LOVE tennis now, or at least think they do, since all they wanted to do was hit the ball over the fence. Not so good with back and forth yet. Oliver wanted to climb the wall (as opposed to driving me up one). Rosa wanted to swim to the diving dock, but she can't swim. Sunday morning I watched some girls go into a shed and come out with life vests, so once we learned there were floatation devices, she was able to go. All 4 big kids will be taking swimming lessons this winter. Liam, Eddie, and Teresa dug in the volleyball court (sand) or played on the pirate ship playground stuff. Levi spent the second night with us, since there was an extra bed (brought Eddie his folding crib to sleep in). Not once did anyone complain of no TV. I don't even think they realized we didn't have one. No one wanted to leave. Everyone (not including me and Steve) wanted to live there forever.