Snapshots

Fetched Venom from the mountains

Watched Young Adventurer catch a ladybug.

Finished the sewing project with Adventurer Two

Made modifications to a time machine.

Kept Camera Handy

:-)

Depth of Field

Dropped Young Adventurer off up at camp today. Thought you'd enjoy this photo of his freckles on his bunk. Got a weird smile out of him. He was excited, but possibly a tiny bit nervous.

...but basically, if you go deep enough out in the field, up there at camp (which you do if you follow Those Who Dare Not Linger), you will find many critters, and now my son will be one of them.

Camp, Take Two

Venom and Adventurer Two are up at camp this week. Venom is a Junior Counselor, and Adv.2 is in her last year as a camper.

Adv.2 has chosen to rough it a little more than the average camper, by staying in the "Adirondaks" which are much more rustic--more shacks than cabins--the door is a tarp, and more distant from the main camp area.
Here she is, setting up her bunk. She was having trouble keeping bugs off the sheet as she put it on the bed. The insect repellent will probably come in handy!
Venom is stationed at Hill Cabin, also a considerable distance from the dining hall and restrooms:
Here's an excerpt from her first letter home, sent back with us from camp after her first night (she went up a day earlier):

"I have been having a fun week so far. It's sunday now so it is only my second day here but i can already tell that it is going to be a great week. Yesterday I had lots of time for walking around and relaxing after we set up the cabin. But Mrs. B. sure had a lot of stuff to carry up to hill cabin...& it's a long way from the car...However I had a great afternoon. I accidently sat in the forest lost in thought for an entire hour! Can you believe it!

"...I had time to take a nap and fool around at the creek for a while before dinner. And guess what I found in the creek? A water wheel! It was the coolest thing! You should see it!

"However, I slept horribly last night! There is a GIANT mouse living in a hole above the fire place. It is seriously bigger than a guinea pig's butt, it's soooo fat. And it is round! The stupid pig mouse spent the ENTIRE night running around the room and trying to get into my suitcase! It kept pitter pattering across the matress of the bed below me and driving me nuts..."

The last photo is the creek. Young Adventurer was here last week, literally here. The dam in the foreground was partially his work. The water wheel found by Venom was the product of his dam-building class, although he told me this morning that the stated goal of his dam-building team was not to utilize the water wheel to produce power as was expected, but to make a nice swimming hole. Goal accomplished. Shallow, but nice. :-)

I got a letter!

Last year I didn't get a letter from camp.

This letter [edited to protect the identities of the poor souls responsible for my son] is classic Young Adventurer. I know he put a lot of effort into writing it, and it put a happy smile on my face. :-)

It appears, from internet weather, that since the drop-off-in-a-downpour, it has been dry all week, but it rained a bunch today. The rest, we can only guess. What proportion of clean/dirty clothes will be in the luggage upon it's return? Are all his shoes wet, like they were last year? Are all his socks wet by now too? Have the boys been forced to shower? How is Scraps the dog enjoying camp? ...

Young Adventurer's Adventures

Young Adventurer is at summer camp this week. I drove him up yesterday and dropped him off in the middle of a gigantic thunderstorm, complete with lightning and thunder and downpours of rain and hail. He and his buddies, including the one pictured below, were delighted. How dry they'll stay, I don't know. Probably not very, if the first hour was any indicator.

Young Adventurer has a top bunk, next to his other buddy, in a cabin near the creek. He plans to engage in dam-building and fishing activities, among other things.

I plan to dump the entire contents of his suitcase into the washing machine when he gets back.