We’re enjoying our annual summer retreat at our cabin.  It’s a pleasant respite to tune out and bask in the fresh air and natural surroundings of the lake and forest.  We’ve been swimming, hiking, and collecting wild chanterelle and oyster mushrooms.  My oldest daughter has been catching bass, newts, frogs, minnows, caterpillars, and even a garter snake.  I realized after two days that she had been harboring a fugitive toad in a small bucket under her bunk bed.  I really have to keep an eye on that little nature girl!

We left the dog at home this summer with my father who is house sitting.  The girls are really starting to miss her.  We’ve had plenty of family and friends visiting to make up for it though.  We’ve been relishing our time with grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends.   My brother spent a week playing the Pied Piper to his nieces.  They followed him around like two little shadows, absorbing every word he said and mimicking everything he did.

Thank you to everyone who made a special effort to drive out and share Spring Lake with us this year!