The camp that we love the best of all...

Winnataska is its name!

I'm headed to camp for a week.  So excited!!!!

Emmeline - Week 2

The highlight of Emmeline's second week was a trip to Camp Winnataska for the dedication of the new ropes course.
The climbing tower was dedicated to Roger Soloman for his dedication to camp, especially during the interim between our joint venture with the Boy Scouts and our current independent configuration.

She had a doctor's appointment on her one week birthday. Her stats were 8 lb. 11 oz, up 7 oz. from her hospital release 3 days prior. Other fun events for the week were visits to Samford and the Hoover Public Library. We visited my aunt and uncle, and had many visitors to the house including my mom and grandmother, my dad and his wife, Madelyn, Colin and Annalisa, and a few more. She also went to David's sister, Sharon's birthday lunch and David's cousin, Tandy's birthday party. Thank goodness for the ring sling carrier! She was snug as a bug in a rug at all of her visits.

I'm back...

So I made it back from camp. It was a blast. I came home to this friend.


This is Stella, our friends' sheepdog. Colin and Annalisa are out west, so we are up to five dogs until Saturday. She's behaving for the most part, and having a great time with our other dogs here at Camp Glenn.

Anyway, our week at camp was wonderful.
We always have a theme for the week that we are director, and this year's was "All I Needed to Know I Learned at Camp Winnataska." I learned many things...

My family is both weird...

and wonderful.

This is a "family former" picture of me, Seth, Marcie, my mom (front row), Bee, Tricia and Dollie (back row) after Tricia was Galahad last week. Mom and Marcie, Dollie, and Bee are cousins and Tricia is Dollie's daughter. We are pretty sure that Tricia is the first 3rd generation Galahad, which is quite cool.

More lessons learned...

Country Night dances are a workout.

"Cats on the couch" will always be funny, even when it enters the second generation.

Catching up with old friends is always good for the soul.

Again, I'll say that we had a great week. Last Sunday was Winnataska's 90th Birthday Party and there were over 300 people there. I hope it is still around for 90 x 90 more!

Now really, I must go clean this house and bathe Winni and get off of blogger / facebook / etc.

I'm a terrible blogger...

I'm so sorry that I've been such a bad blogger of late. And now, I'm only blogging to say that I'll be gone for a week. I'm off to be a weekly director at Camp Winnataska with my mom, my brother and my friend, Karen.

I hope that I'll have so much fun, and I expect to. It is always good to get back to nature. My great-grandmother was a camper at the first session in 1918, so I've always been drawn to Winnataska. Even my dog Winni is from there.

Speaking of dogs, I should tell you about Calvin. He went for an ultrasound because our vet found elevated liver enzymes when they ran his blood work and thought he should have his liver checked. The vet that did the ultrasound was the one that did his surgery two years ago as well.

If you don't know, Calvin had a 10 pound cancerous tumor removed in August 2006, just two weeks before our wedding. He was given four to six months to live. At our rehearsal, we all prayed for Calvin. We prayed very hard. David and I know that those prayers are the reason he is still with us today.

The new from the ultrasound could be better, but it could be worse as well. The vet said that Calvin is nothing short of a miracle. He couldn't believe that Calvin was doing so well. He found some spots on his liver that weren't there in 2006. He said that his first symptoms of getting sick would be loss of appetite and lethargy. We figure since he finishes the girls food and then chases them around the back yard, he is doing pretty well for and almost 13 year old cancer surviving, pound rescue, mutt-dog.

We would still appreciate all of your continued thoughts and prayers for him. He is such a wonderful companion and has seen David through some really rough times. We hope that his good health and wonderful attitude continues for... well forever actually.

That's all I have for now. I'm going to hug my dogs. I hope that you will do the same.
See 'all in a week!