Making Memories

Labor Day, the last 3 day weekend for summer, brings for many people the last great opportunity for the year to do something fun and have a break from work or school before getting back into the routine of things that we're used to the other 9 months of the year. For parents like me, it means a last little mini-vacation with the kids and/or friends & relatives before everyone gets back to school schedules and other activities that come during the school year.

In my case, besides a daughter starting 2nd grade, another daughter starting Kindergarten, and the youngest starting pre pre-school play groups, it also means the older 2 daughters having schedules during the month for dance class and girl scouts. This in addition to the activities Mandy has been doing for the Gluten Intolerance Group.

This Labor Day we returned for the 2nd year in a row to a camping location we have come to appreciate and love. As a matter of fact, this was my 4th time camping out at Zion's Camp this year. I stayed in 2 different long houses, a tent, and one of the cinder block cabins. It's funny, I had my 2 older kids with me 3 of the 4 times (the one time was a father / son thing I did with my Dad & brothers.) However, it was only the 2nd time Mandy had been here and the first time was this time last year.

This year we invited Mandy's Mom, Janeen & Step dad, Ken who brought their (his) 16 year old son, Brook. Brook also brought a friend so he could have a buddy since there was nobody else his age. We also invited the rest of Ken's kids (they're all older and living on their own, some of which have kids of their own.) While Janeen's other daughter Jessica came again this year with her husband John and son Dawson (who also brought a friend), only Ken's daughter Heather accepted our invitation and brought her 2 young daughters Lucy & Ellie. Her daughters along with Dawson & his friend were about the same age as my kids, enough such that they had fun playing together anyway.

Yesterday I took one of the canoes out on the lake with John, my 5 year old daughter Sara, Dawson & his friend. The canoe is faster than the row boats and easier than the pedal boats here.
While I've always had this fear of going under water, the instability of the canoe was exciting, exhilarating, and yet scary at times when the small boat would rock. I initiated the activity as it's part of my self-motivated plan to overcome my lifelong fear and after paddling down to the other end of Coon Lake and back, I had my fix and the kids had a blast as well.

This camping was part of Mandy's plan inspired by an article she read in The Ensign that I wrote about earlier this year and so here we are, me without an internet connection and barely any cell service, making memories with our family and me typing this post into wordpad on my laptop since I've refused to install Microsoft Office and haven't had a need to install Open Office yet. Perhaps I'll do that when I get home, back to broadband land, and after I upload this post.