Du Nord

We're home from a blissful week at Camp du Nord. As usual, the perfect balance of family time, kid time and adult time was met and we all came home happy, energized and sun burnt.

As usual, I am suffering from the "let downs" that accompany a return from camp. I never yell more wildly, laugh more heartily and love as quickly as I do at camp. Where where else can a rote shuttle trip become an "overly dramatic bus ride" that keeps you snickering all week? Why did we need to do "time trials" every time we headed back to the tents? How can a simple outburst of dining hall clapping turn into a scene from "stomp"? How can I become so attached and connected to people in such a short time frame?

This doesn't happen at home--at least not often enough. It sucks to return to five-hundred-twenty-five-thousand-six-hundred piles of laundry and know I have to navigate it before returning to "life" tomorrow. So I will quickly reflect before going back to folding...

It was high blueberry season and we greedily helped ourselves to pints and pints of the best, sweetest, plumpest blueberries around. Bushes like this one caused overly-dramatic berry picking. Note the asses below--I took this posed picture, but once the camera clicked, no one moved. I just heard nummy noises as Wally, Jen, Jeff and Gret kept picking and eating.

Let's see... We had a good time at the family folk dance. The "band", as they called themselves, was straight out of SNL with the husband and wife team playing keyboard and accordion through a series of dorky dances. The staff kept it light and the kids had a hoot. Dan "On Bended Knee" Gosselin (who just couldn't be cuter) accused me of having beer breath, which was probably true, but my enthusiasm for the dance was absolutely unaltered.

We went on a little overnight with the kids. I think they had a great time setting up tents, making a fire, finding the biffy, catching frogs. They didn't seem to notice that we had no dinner and instead ate the breakfast granola with our coffee creamer on top. We went on a short paddle to a nearby inlet and swam in the sand. Coming back, they sat three across in the canoe to stay warm in the one towel we brought. This cuteness can't last. Sigh.

Other shots:

Haakon at closing campfire



Sawyer, Mira, Eli and Jeff at closing campfire.

Theo and Lars.

Shannon and Mira.

Kara. Cara. Kara. Who the hell knows, I just like her. It's Car-a.
Peter. Like him, too.

Aidan ...

Wally and Jen and...

Gret. Chin.

Sorry for members of our party that I am not posting (Jon, Jason, me.) I'll work on this in future posts. Need to get back to folding.

So, we're back to the grind with happy faces, tired bodies, energized spirits, rested souls.