7th Annual Camping Weekend

THANK YOU, MOM AND DAD WOJO!!! We and our friends from Duluth/Superior had a wonderful time camping at the Wojos' cabin for our 7th straight year! For those wondering, these are our friends from when Curt was in college up there. He went to a tech in Duluth while he lived at UW-Superior (and eventually moved to Duluth). The 25 or so of us spent the days eating (what else would I list first?!), playing games, swimming, and relaxing, while our nights were spent partying at the bonfire. We know that we are getting older as the party is not as wild and crazy as it was during our college days! The weather was beautiful - neither too hot nor too buggy; just right. A total of five dogs rounded out the entertainment department this year! That's right: there has only been one child born to our group so far, but pets abound.

It was really strange being there as parents. We stayed in the cabin instead of tenting out. It was a nice luxury, but I honestly missed walking down the path to the tent and joking around with friends you pass along the way. Also, while I knew going into it that I'd spend lots of time feeding and taking care of Jackson during the weekend, it was hard to know I was missing out on some good times. I wanted our friends to meet him this year - plus it would have been way too hard to be away from him - but in the future I think I will save the annual camping weekend as one of those rare times I will get to be a wife and a friend first. It seems so sad now to think of it, but I know I'll appreciate it then! Does that sound horrible of me?! I think you all understand. Don't you?!

The group at Duxbury

Jackson getting his daily reading in (Okay, so this was
last week at home, but it's so cute I had to include it!)

I tried to tell her to stay away from that stuff, but
all those boys were a bad influence on Sadie.

Jackson and Auntie snuggle after the lake.

Hans scarfing down some corn in between shish kabobs.

I'm so glad Jackson was the only one playing in the nude this year.

Poor Jared takes abuse every year. Here he is sleeping
through firecrackers being set off under his ass.

Brendon and Brea goofing off at the fire.

One of our beautiful bonfires. I could have stared at it all night.

Cody with the gigantic knife was kind enough to do the shopping and bring the food for the group this year (Sarah too!). Hans has officially passed the torch. The boys were in charge of preparing and cleaning up the poor man's supper thatwe cook on the fire every year. Thanks, Maria, for the great idea all those years ago!

Judging the scavenger hunt. Cody and Sarah had this great idea
this year. It ended up being really fun, and the judging was
hilarious! I think it'll be a new tradition.

He is really pondering those team scores...

More (drunken) scavenger hunt fun

Jackson was a big hit and he was a really good boy the whole time, much to his mama's relief. Although we had a great time, it was a long time to be away with him (Wed-Sun) and we were glad to get back home. It's amazing how babies can recognize and sense their environments. We could definitely sense Jackson's relief once we finally got in the door, and we knew he was more comfortable and happier here than he could be elsewhere for that long. We had a busy week after that and have another busy weekend ahead! I hope you can all take some time to enjoy these last gorgeous days of summer.