Dear Family and Friends,

I am having trouble loading pictures tonight, so maybe later I'll add some. We just got back from a weekend of camping with 2 other families, the Skaggs and the Blacks who both have trailers down at Palisades State Park. We went there last year with the Skaggs and had a great time that we wanted to start a tradition of going. It is a beautiful area surrounding a man made lake. There is a mile long path that goes around the lake that we walked several times - saw snakes, deer, lizards and fish. There is a golf course there too but this year Jeremy opted for a much needed nap Saturday afternoon instead. We took Rocky with us and he had a great time and did really well sleeping in the trailer at night. He would sit and whine when he would see kids playing on the beach without him as we tried to keep him either on a long chain attached to the trailer or on a leash. We rented a paddleboat Saturday and a canoe Sunday. I forgot how much work a paddleboat is especially as my boat was me and a bunch of kids!

Kids did really great on the trip except for having to pin Robyn at night while she screamed herself to sleep. Everyone came home sunburned (despite it staying in the 60s Sat) and tired - Spencer went to bed for a 2 hour nap as soon as we pulled up! The girls all tried to catch tadpoles all weekend and only had luck by having some other kids share their bounty - they were fast little things this year. Spencer played football a bunch and tried to see how far he could skim a rock. His favorite part was going on a quad ride with his Dad and Bruce to the top of a mountain. Robyn mooched on anyone who had treats, an open lap or was willing to push her on the swings or dig in the sand. Our friends the Skaggs brought their dog Sophie who looks like Dad's old dog Goldie - she loved her and followed her everywhere.

I forgot how much work it is gearing up for a camping trip - especially the first of the season. Just making sure we had everything, cleaning the trailer, cooking the food, packing everything we might need etc. We cleaned the office Thursday night so we wouldn't have to worry about it this weekend. It was sure nice to get away from any responsibilities though. You still have kids to take care of and entertain but no house/yard/church jobs calling your name.

This last week our house felt a bit like a construction zone. Our finish guys worked all week on the basement and added some shelving upstairs while they were at it. It made for a noisy house. Then we started our deck on Wednesday. Its great to have everything coming together but makes for a chaotic household. At the moment all the stuff from the office and the girls room is in our bedroom making going to bed a tricky business and forget about any midnight trips to the bathroom unless you want to break a leg! I am hoping to paint their shelving and get stuff back out of our bedroom soon.

Answering construction guy questions and stressing that they did a shelf wrong etc has been most of my week. I feel like I need to stay home as much as possible with all these different people going in and out. Rocky got to go to Spencer's school this week for show and tell which Spencer loved. Spencer is really struggling with not eating too much. Several of his pants can barely button. I feel torn between whether the med dosage he is on is worth it. His teacher says he no longer paces the classroom but will sit at all the appropriate times for reading etc. He got up at pack meeting this week all excited to take part in a skit. There are a lot of plusses. But I feel like I am giving him a complex talking about his eating all the time and reminding him to slow down or not eat so much. He gets a lot of negatives thrown at him all day long, its hard to remember the positives.

I am looking forward to tucking our kids in bed, taking a cool bath and pouring a bottle of lotion over myself! There is a mountain of laundry sitting in our hallway that I will think about tomorrow. It was a good week and an even better weekend. Love to you all, Heather