Up and down

I've been struggling with energy for a few days and finally figured out why (period).

Yesterday I went and picked up our new (to us) washing machine. I rented the dolly and, with a little bit of help from the seller, muscled that bad boy up out of their basement, the FP and I hauled our old washer out and got the. New one in. Yay. 

Then I had to return the truck to dad, pick up Rellie from school and drive out to Wisconsin for Leo's family night at camp.

Did I mention that I got about 4 hours of sleep the night before?

I took a quick nap before the drive to Camp. Once we got home I was beat. In bed by 9:30. Out by 10. Unheard of for me.

I woke up ready to take on the world.

I cleaned the bathrooms, hauled stuff out of the basement, organized and did several loads of laundry. 

Again tonight I am exhausted, but this is a good exhausted.

Camp Van Vac Friday 2017

IFriday

Woke to a gray day and once the children disappeared (Leo & Relia to the yurt, and Felix out for a "putt putt with Rotika's family),I went out and read on our dock for an hour or so. Every time I looked up the pair of loons fishing in the lake appeared in a different spot. FP joined me for a little while. The the boys wanted to swim, so I brought my book and knitting out to the dock. Unfortunately I forgot to protect my ankles from the mid-day sun, and got a bad, and slightly humorous, sunburn. Almost the entire afternoon was spent at the water.

Relia and Felix got to go for another boat ride with Rotika.

We went out for dinner at Sir G's and as storms threatened we went back to camp (picked up some aloe for my legs first). It was only intermittently sprinkling by the time we got back, so grampa made a fire and we used up the last of our s'more supplies.

I was pretty sure we wouldn't get a sunset tonight, but camp pulled out a pretty one for our last night. 

 We did some packing, and the kids stayed out late on the point. Saturday we packed out and said goodbye to friends and camp.

Margaret

Mbrowne824@gmail

Van Vac did not disappoint this year. A wonderful week

Remember to bring 1 extension cord and one power strip

Bring the topper.

Keep band aids handy

Bring a scrubber.

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Camp Van Vac Thursday 2017

Thursday 

After acquiring awesome CVV T-shirts, we went to the bear center. Pretty cool.

We had lunch in Ely and did a little shopping (FP discovered the bookstore above Piragis). 

Then we went back to camp and headed for the water.  A lovely sunny afternoon almost entirely spent in the water. I was so tired, but managed to avoid a nap all afternoon. 

Around 3:30 I began cooking our pot luck contribution. It was done just in time and we had a good community supper on the dock. There was talk about how we all missed last year's pot luck because of the storm. We missed the shade of the tall trees, but it was a wonderful supper. 

Mom Rellie and I sauna-ed while the boys swam. 

We watched a beautiful red ball set behind the trees beyond the lake, but the afterglow was pretty mellow. 

Relia went to sleep at mom & dad's FP and I did the dishes we'd been putting off.

Camp Van Vac Wednesday 2017

Wednesday

Today was gray all day. We attempted to make a yummy bacon/egg/hashbrowns breakfast, but it was difficult and only produced good bacon. 

We did a quick cabin clean up and Relia learned to do dishes

Relia and I went into town to have lunch with mom & dad and then to the Dorothy Molter museum.

Once we got back, I read on the dock while Leo practiced his casting. He was waiting until 4:00 when his friends would be back. Peder and Felix had gone to the bookstore in Ely.

Caitlyn and Relia came by to ask if Relia could go tubing with Caitlyn's aunt Beth. Then it was discovered that they needed another adult as a spotter, so I wound up going along, and pretty soon, the boys were on board too. Leo was really excited to try tubing. Felix was sitting in the front of the boat having a terrible time. I thought we were going to have to take him back to camp. But we got him back behind the wind screen, and pretty soon he wanted to try tubing too. Beth did a great job of keeping it calm enough that the boys got comfortable and wanted to go a little faster. Pretty soon Felix wanted to go way faster than Leo did.

We had some dinner and mom and I went down to the dock to teach me pearling. Dad and Peder joined us and we watched a lovely sunset.

Kids played until bedtime.

Camp Van Vac Tuesday 2017

Tuesday

We had a lazy morning. The kids discovered that Nancy has "loaner" fishing poles. So we learned to cast with casting weights. eventually the older kids got hooks. Never caught anything, but enjoyed trying. The kids disappeared a little while later. Eventually we gathered back together and had lunch before going to the Soudan mine (again). FP and Felix had planned to take the physics tour, but we learned that the experiments have all been removed, so no science yours are happening this year. Our guide in the mine was entertaining, though not as informative as others have been. Karl, is Dutch, and stared out by telling us our jobs in the mine in Dutch! He had been an actual miner, and had a lot of practical knowledge. 

We got back, did some swimming, and Leo managed to get a GIANT sliver in his foot it took about four of us an hour to try to convince him to let us take it out. In the end we just held him down. As Leo described it. "Horrible!" Once it was out, he was fine. Dad bandaged Leo up with his first aid kit, but the realized that he'd put toothpaste on the wound instead of antibiotic. Much teasing ensued.

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