This is the farthest back I could find. The summer of 1996... which means the boys were 9, 8, 5 & 3.
Ummm... wait a second... what the heck!?... who gave Arik the stogie...ever the source of entertainment... see, give a kid a stick and ya never know what can happen.
Oh heck, lets face it, ya never know what will happen any time.
1999 Collin is 7 here. Back in the day...when the fishin was good and the shoes were wet.
And speaking of wet shoes...look at this face. Dylan is 5 here. This is the face of a youngest brother.
A face that came in handy when a guy went crawdad hunting in his rain boots and got stuck in the "sinky mud" with water pouring in over the tops.
A face, which, when it was combined with a scream of terror would bring 3 older brothers running to yank you out of the "sinky mud".... even tho your boots were still stuck in the mud ... and haul you up to camp.
One of them giving you a piggy back ride.
One of them carrying the boots which were extracted from the mud.
And one of them pretty much just laughing hysterically... ok all of them laughing hysterically.
It was quite traumatic.
And it was also one of the reasons we needed the 12 passenger Ford Clubwagon van... in order to be able to pack 4 pairs of shoes for each kid.
Later that same summer, right after they stocked the lake for the 4th of July, the guys had an epic trout day.
It's safe to assume that Arik landed 3/4 of those fish.
Summer of 2000. Collin is almost 10 here...which means this is probably his 3rd year of windsurfing...I think he started the summer before he turned 8.
He liked to wait until it was windy enough to fling his scrawny little body completely over the board to the other side when he tried to water start...which meant the wind was perfect... and then hang on for the turbo speed...No surprises there eh?
Same year so Sean is almost 14 here and tearing it up with the big boys.
Geared up and ready to shred...Collin, Dylan and Sean.
We just can't stay away.
Every year it pulls us back.
We try to pass on the fun and bring new people whenever we can.
This past weekend we finally got to bring Dylan's good friend Derek.
We've been trying for a while but it never quite worked out.
The weather was fab.
The forecast was good... a little too good for a beginner but we knew Derek was a pretty athletic guy.
Dylan coached him thru the first part of the day.
And it wasn't too long before he was up and sailing.... in spurts the first day... windsurfing is not an easy thing to learn...you have to put in your time.
Speaking of history with the lake... these two guys are definitely a part of our history there.
Josh (middle) lives there... this lake is essentially his back yard.
He and his brother have provided more hours of entertainment to all the kids who camp there than anyone else. You never know what might happen...expeditions to the "haunted house", paintball wars, the comandeering of the party boat full of kids to plant a pirate flag on the far side of the lake and stake their territory, the golf cart rides... it goes on and on.
He's also an amazing kiter and sailor and a really nice kid.
Scott (right) has been coming to the lake as long as we have. And even tho he crossed over to the dark side and started kiting... ok more than started he's getting pretty darn good... we love him dearly and look forward to seeing him every year.
The kids of summer.
Day 2. Derek really got the hang of it the second day.
He kept at it and made really good progress and had some fun
Notice that he switched from the wetsuit to the rashie?
This could be due to the fact that it took him about half an hour to get the wetsuit back off the first day.
Derek is a buff guy.
Rich's wetsuit was put to the test.
Well it was either that or the fact that we called him Mr. Incredible...coulda been that.
Seriously... he looked just like Mr. Incredible in the wetsuit.
Anyhow the rashie and shorts setup gave him more water time and less wetsuit wrestling time...and the lake was pretty warm anyhow.
Around noon the wind came up and Dylan went out to play too.
Dylan and Rich decided to swap boards.
Some how this is kinda scary...check this out...clones
Deja vu!
At the end of the day it's all about having some fun.... and wearing out kids.
It's a lot about that.
Families and friends having fun, wearing each other out.
An everyday gift indeed.
Cath
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