Battling The Banoo

Hey y'all -

This past weekend, we all went up to Holland Lake for your first camping trip. This adventure was the brainchild of Grandma Sue, who was looking for something special to do with her sister Aunt Nancy, who's visiting.

...And what's more special and relaxing and completely Zen-like than traveling to the wilderness with two small children, right, Nancy?

We decided that Laney was old enough to sit in the canoe by herself and hold her own paddle. She didn't so much paddle as stick her oar in and hold it - it was more of a rudder situation. But she loved it, and as soon as she did it the first time, she couldn't wait to do it again and kept asking to go "battle the banoo." By the end of the weekend, she'd learned to say "paddle the canoe," and we were all so disappointed.

One great by-product of this trip is that Laney discovered her dad is awesome. For the longest time, Laney's been in Mom-only mode, but it only took her one afternoon in the woods to figure out that Dad's the one to hitch your wagon to.

In fact, I decided to take her out for a girls-only paddle, and she turned around from that front seat of the canoe and said, "Dad should really be in the banoo.""Laney, I know how to paddle a canoe." "Yeah... Let's wait on Dad."

Making the most of swimsuit season. 

"The tent will be ready in one minute," says the job foreman.

The ritual roasting of the marshmallows

Having spent so many years trying to turn me into a mountain woman with no success, your Dad was ready to shift his energy to a new, equally futile challenge: turning a Siberian husky into a Labrador Retriever. 

Ella was not having it, y'all. 

Hagen loved camping, because it allowed him to be carried around a lot outside, which is his favorite thing.

He slept more than he's slept in his whole life, which prompted your dad and me to consider putting up a tent in our living room and zipping him in it every night.

He slept through a walk with Dad, a canoe trip with Laney, and breakfast with Sue and Nancy. He finally decided to get up around 9:30 and join us for brunch.

Good morning, sunshine. 

 For our last morning of the trip, we decided to hike up to Holland Lake Falls:

Laney hitched a ride in Dad's backpack for the walk up to the Falls, but hit nap time at the top of the trail, and wanted Mom to carry her down.

I don't think I'm every going to look at a picture of myself and say, "Man, I look great!" But I decided when I started this blog to go ahead and put 'em on here, anyway. The way I figure it, when you guys grow up and look at these pictures, you're not going to be thinking, "Mom was so tired/fat/sweaty/old," you're going to be thinking, "Mom was so much fun." At least you will if I've raised you right.

Speaking of having fun, Laney and I did a LOT of swimming. She invented a game where I was her pet crocodile, and she could ride on my back as I swam around the lake. It took me almost a full day before I thought, "Hmm... I wonder if it would be easier if I wore a life jacket while I swim around the lake with an extra 36 pounds on my back?" Answer: yes.

Why your dad is not the family photographer.

Back in my drama major days, I remember having to take an improv class where the teacher would say things like, "You're a piece of bacon!" and we'd all flop down and sizzle. Or, "You're an angry cat!" and we'd all hiss at each other like idiots. I remember thinking at the time, "I can't believe I'm going to be paying student loans for this 'til I"m 32." What I couldn't have predicted was that one day, I would be in the middle of the lake with a young'un who was going to point her finger at me and say, "You're a sad crocodile!" And I'd say, "Yes! I can do that! The University of Virginia prepared me for this moment!"

Every member of the family had a great time on this trip, and I'm so glad we went.

The $900 dog, smiling.

 Thanks to Sue and Nancy for all the planning, babysitting, and potato salad.

Love,
Mom