Summertime

AND THE LIVING'S EASY:  Look at them. Above and below, CJ and Annabelle, floating without a care in the world. How great is that? 

That was their reality for a few days last week as they enjoyed camping out with family in the Southern Willamette Valley.

While I convalesced at home post CYBORG SURGERY (sorry, I can't but help type that in all caps, because I kinds LOVE the idea of a bionic part), CJ and Annabelle were lucky enough to enjoy the hospitality and company of their extended family at a campground near the Dorena Reservoir. 

I'll let them tell you a bit more about it. CJ's up first. ...

For a very long time, my dad's side of the family has gone camping in the Baker Bay Campgrounds, which is located near Lake Dorena (my family usually just calls the campsite Dorena). Over the years, I have become somewhat familiar the Baker Bay Campgrounds, as I have been there for nearly every year of my life. This visit, however, was a special one. This year, my dad was not with me on the camping trip, just Annabelle & I for most of the trip. This was because of my dad needing to take care of my mom during most of the trip, because she just had invasive hip replacement surgery.

Prior to visiting camp this year, we stayed at our grandparents' house for 4 days. I had visited this place several times before, and I enjoyed staying there as usual. At my grandparents' house, I especially enjoyed swimming at their house, which was very fun. At Baker Bay, I enjoyed my visit, as I usually did with my earlier visits (except for that one time I got a disease, but let's not talk about that). Sometimes, it felt odd without dad there, because he had been with me at camp for every previous year. My family members at camp helped us stay comfortable and have fun at camp.

One of the highlights of my trip was going biscuiting behind the "Party Barge", the nickname for my grandpa's boat. If you are biscuiting, then that means you are gliding on water at high speed on an inflatable object (shaped like a biscuit). It was and is always fun going biscuiting, and wiping out, or falling off the biscuit, is not much to fear. One time, I went on a boat ride with the little kids at our camp. They went biscuiting, and when Annabelle and I went biscuiting on that ride, I wiped out once, to show the little kids that wiping out wasn't scary.

And here's Annabelle's account ...

Camping this year was an interesting experience for me, because it was my first time going (for the most part) without Dad. It was interesting having our own tent and making some decisions on our own. The thing about having our own tent meant we had to keep organized and know where our stuff is without much assistance. We also entertained ourselves most of the time instead of being told what to do.
 As for what we did, we had lots of fun! We went Biscuiting almost every day. Biscuiting is when we sit on an inflatable “biscuit” and we are pulled by the boat at a fast speed. Some of the older kids even have “biscuit wars” where they try to knock each other off. We also talked around the fire quite a bit.
 It was nice to be able to enjoy ourselves, even if Dad couldn’t be there. On Wednesday, Dad did manage to make it, and then we had fun with him too. All in all, it was fun for our first time alone!

Of course, what made it all so comfortable for the kids was having multiple members of their Dad's family on site. I'm so glad they got to get away and enjoy the annual trip. Take my word for it, it was *much* more fun than what was going on at home with me post-op.

    The intrepid campers, roughing it with their port-ably powered gaming devices.