Day 7...Takin' It Easy

In 'real' life there is a level of perfection that we come to expect in our everyday lives.  Our food is always fresh, the counters are level, we have all of our utensils handy and all the comforts of home are readily available.  Camping...even in an rv...requires you to re-calibrate your expectations.  The camper is never perfectly level, you are always using a gadget for ten things that it wasn't really meant for, and you are always some degree of dirty.  And yet despite all of this, there is one thing that actually seems even more perfect than normal.  Sleep.  Maybe it's being worn out from days in the sun.  It could be that along with leaving the comforts of home behind we also leave much of the stress.  Or it might just be the good clean feeling of simplicity.  Whatever it is, our family has slept like bricks on this trip, and that includes Cooper.  Most days everyone is sound asleep by 10ish, and has not stirred in the mornings until around 8 or later (which for me seems like eternity).  Anyway, not sure why I point this out other than to say that there are some things about camping that are better than what we have at home.

Today we spent almost the entire day on, in, or around the water.  The camp staff has organized games, crafts and activities available for the kids all throughout the day and our kids have loved the chance to participate.  During one game (pudding tag...yes, what you are imagining is accurate) I took Coop out in a two-man kayak for some exploring.  He was a great companion for about 15 minutes and then I guess the breeze and the sun got to him and he fell sound asleep.  He looked so content that I just slowly paddled for another hour or so in silence.

In the afternoon we took a large rowboat out for the rest of the day.  We packed a cooler, set the fishing poles, loaded up the industrial-sized squirt guns and headed out in search of treasure and adventure.  One neat treasure we discovered was an unhatched turtle egg which we gently passed around before carefully setting it back in the mud.  Riley and Brock have become very good fisherkids (note my politically correctness) and had their lines in the water for an hour or so.  At one point....after each of the boys took turns marking their turf on various points around the lake...Riley and Brock jumped in for a spirited game of Truth or Dare (actually we weren't allowed to choose Truth so we just dared them to do things over and over).  We had a blast with the kids and it was one of those experiences that Michelle and I hope we will remember forever.

We finished off the day BBQ'ing beer brats (note:  i am referring to the sausage variety, not the human kind) next to a campfire and then a walk to the playground.  Two of our family friends are starring in an ABC show on Thursdays at 9pm called Expedition Impossible so we cleaned up and settled in to watch.

Tomorrow is supposed to be the first and only rainy day of the week so we have plans to visit the Lackawanna Coal Mine which takes you 350 feet underground to experience what it was like to be a miner.  Today was a great day.