What a Weekend!

Woke up this morning and felt the dull ache of a sinus cold coming on. Both my feet and ankles were ten-der! Tried to get up at six. Didn't make it into the shower until quarter of seven. It was quite the weekend. And today, I am paying for it. Now, make no mistake, this wasn't the kind of weekend where you've got to work to put the pieces together. It was just busy, and fun and worth the pain this morning.

On Friday, I raced home to get Nicholas for our Guys' Night at Bodie's cabin. Douglas Earl's boy, Jake, wanted to do something special for his birthday, so we made a plan to take our boys on a camp out at the cabin Bodie's dad built. It was mellow. The boys played their imaginative role playing games, and ran wild through the hills, while we older boys held down the fort, so to speak, enjoying "what dad's like". Jake and Emmett came back from one mission covered in soot. They'd found a stand of burned fir trees, and decided to make themselves up a bit. Their dads decided to take them to the creek for a rinse off, which was a party in and of itself. We ended the evening with a story telling session, that had us all laughing and went to bed "early", sometime after ten.

The next morning we got up slowly and, for breakfast, Bodie made eggs and bacon; Earl prepared a dutch oven hash. The kids ate hot dogs and marshmallows. About eleven we headed out to peak the mighty summit known as Corkscrew Mountain. It was not an easy ascent for Nicholas and me, but we did it by "zig-zagging" up the hillsides. About halfway up, Nicholas' heel slipped out of his shoe and landed on a prickly pear cactus. It's quite a painful experience, for those who haven't experienced it. But he battled through it and we made it to the top shortly thereafter. The hike back down was the hard part. All the way down, Bodie and Earl were making plans for our next hike; I was less than enthusiastic.

After getting home and resting a little, we were off for the dance at the Wauconda Hall. Bodie's dad, Dan, was playing, so we went to support him and have a good time, too, of course. The girls were all a hit in their matching dresses. Maybe in a year or so the youngest ones--Annika and Bridget--will be more fun! They were baggage and I mean that literally. Dan's quite the musician. We were all so impressed that we decided to discuss his genius more fully at the Kjolseth's house, afterward.

Sunday morning came too early and we went to Church, nonetheless. Afterward, knocked down some grass--Maureen's front yard, most notably. Tried rototilling the garden and got about 2/3 done when the legs complained too much, and I went in. Watched K.J. Choi win The Players--napping intermittently. The kids played video games and Tera slaved away at the mountain of laundry. Dinner of roast venison and sweet potatoes. Kids in bed by 7:30, we watched an immensely predictable and BORING Survivor (I know, what did I expect, right?).

Lights out, and that was that...