4th of July in San Francisco...

don't forget your parka and don't be disappointed with the fireworks being obscured by the fog.
Happy 240th, America!
___
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Enjoying the longest day of the year.

#summersolstice
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Camp Retz 2014

My favorite part of the summer!!

This year in numbers:
5 families. 9 kids. 7 adults.
2 motor boats.
2 kayaks.
1 surf board.
1 canoe.
2 tow tubes/floaties.
2 lakes.
2 scary injuries but none requiring hospital visits, though at the thick of it, we thought either one of them could be emergency room worthy. Thank God we were wrong.
Dozens of bruises. I'm sure all 16 of us had many. I came home with 3.
1 stuck Dodge Ram pickup truck.
100 sandwiches.
Pounds of fruit, meat, cheese, pizza, pasta, eggs, junk food, marshmallows, graham crackers, Hershey chocolate bars.
Layers of sunscreen.
Laughter and happiness to infinity.

In 4 1/2 days.

I'll let the photos tell the rest of the story...
Rock jumping.

And rock climbing.
And lots of heart palpations from the watchful eyes below.

Supportive mom.

Miss A going fast.

Mr. W trying to keep up with his big sister.

Miss A and her cousins.

Going a little faster now.

Youngest nephew going fast.

Middle nephew striking a pose and taunting his mom.

Middle nephew owned the lake this day. He was the King of the floaties. Not only did he get sideways, he actually stayed on! Uncle Jimmy was disappointed he couldn't throw his nephew off. That's become the goal - to whip them around and try throw off the older nephews. Middle nephew held on tight and couldn't be dumped.

Youngest Miss E kept up with the big boys.

This was her 1st year solo on the tubes.

Mr. W strikes a pose.

Oldest nephew strikes a pose.

Brothers.

Mr. W got a bit of kayaking in.

So did his dad and his cousin.

A view of how low the lake was. We had to launch the boats in the dirt, to the left in this photo. The black truck and the white suv with the canoe is ours. The lake is usually at the level where the dock is, on the right of the photo, towards the top of the waterline. They just rebuilt the boat ramp last year to extend as far down as it does, but it wasn't extended far enough for this year's drought.

Smores! Perfect ending to a day on the lake.

Oldest nephew ate 10 of these in 1 night. 6 or 8 the night before.

Max likes her 'mallows burnt.

Ed achieves the perfect caramelization.

Baseball talk on the deck after eating smores.

Group photo missing a family of 3. They had to leave at 5:30 in the morning.

That is why this is my favorite time of the summer.

Baby, You're a Firework

Igniting the light and letting it shine.

Go Ahead and Jump

When the boys weren't in the boat, they were climbing and jumping off rocks.

They started off at the 'slow' lake. We call it slow because there's a speed limit and you can't tow tubes or water-skis.

This was the 1st time youngest Danny, age 7, jumped off a pretty big rock.

We were all cheering him on!

This rock was old hat to the older boys, so they added another element to it...catch a football in mid-jump.
It was quite a challenge and only 1 of the 5 older boys was able to catch it and keep a hold of it, oldest brother Reggie. Though middle Jakee certainly gave it great effort!

The next day we went to the big lake, which offered bigger jumps.

They boys found a tall tree stump to jump from.
11 year old Reggie takes the 1st jump.

Notice in the 1st image that the log is completely out of the water. (click to enlarge). They needed to seriously push off that log to clear the rocks and ground below. (Yes, my heart was palpitating furiously).

Middle child Jakee was right behind his big brother.

He told his dad that one of the times, his foot touched the bottom.

But that didn't stop them from doing it over and over again. They'd climb back up those rocks like mountain goats.

Their dad, Jimmy's older brother, had to show those boys that not only can he jump off that tall stump, he could dive off it.

Little Danny considered it, but after looking over the edge, decided not to take the leap. (smart boy!)

He was happy to jump off the less risky rock.

which was tall enough for him and when he looked down, he saw water, not land.
He's got great form though. Nice push-off from that rock. It won't be long till he'll join his older brothers on those big jumps.

Camp Retz: Year 6

Every year at the end of Camp Retz, I think "this was the best year yet!" As the boys (and their friends) get older, it just gets more active and adventurous. Sometimes it's physically harder keeping up with them, but it's so amazing to be able to talk to them as big kids, rather than little kids. They're at that age where you don't have to watch their every move, afraid of what might happen if they mis-step or stumble. When they get hurt, which all of us do during this very active week, they might yell "OUCH" but they don't go running to mommy or daddy. They actually shake it off and 5 seconds later are back at it again, just as 'rough' as they were before.

Danny is the youngest brother. He's not at the crazy wild, danger-seeking level as his older brothers are yet, but he's certainly brave enough to jump off rocks that most of us adults wouldn't consider. Both his parents are thrill seekers and athletic, so if he sees his dad do it, he's not too far behind. Yet he's still young enough to have that cautious apprehension when the rocks are too high or the speed is too fast. Jimmy described his thrill-seeking as binary - it's either over the edge fun or scary as hell. No middle ground - go fast fast fast then STOP NO MORE!

Jakee is the middle child and keeps up with his big brother. They are always side by side. Nothing is too fast or too high or too scary. He takes just a little more time than his older brother to analyze the situation and make sure where he's going will be safe.

Reggie's the oldest at 11. He's strong, fast and it seems like he instinctively knows the safest route even though what he's doing is dangerous. I have some video of him and he's constantly paying attention to his surroundings, knowing which way to lean or where to jump or where his footing should go. Since he's the oldest, he's the biggest helper, the responsible one. The 1st name you call when you need help.

Joining us were Steve's (my BIL) friend's family from college. They had 10 in their group, which included 3 boys and 2 girls, I think all of them were 13 years old. They have their own cabin nearby, but they joined us on the 'fast' lake one day and on the 'slow' lake another.

The 7 older kids all went out with Jimmy to take turns tubing.

It was Jimmy's job to try to make them fall off.

Danny usually makes a great spotter, telling the driver when someone's fallen off so he can go back and pick him up.

But this time he was happy to stay ashore and jump off rocks with his daddy.

Most nights we didn't leave the lake till after 7. You can imagine how hungry and tired everyone was when we got back to the cabin. Everyone slept very hard every night. We needed to so we could do it again the next day!