July 15, 2006

We tried to sleep in this morning. We weren't the first in our group to get up, but we were definitely not the last. We threw on some layers of clothing. Ax grabbed his "special" coffee and we wondered over to the next site where our group would gather.

I was re-introduced to Ax's parents, Larry and Carol, his aunt, Roberta, and brother, Sean. It's hard to recognize someone you met in the dark with a flashlight in their face. I also met the many dogs that got to go on this camping trip. Sugar was the St. Bernard, Sporty looked like a black German Shepard mix, Max may be a retriever mix, Brooklyn was a Golden Retriever and I would guess Tommy Lee is a Husky. When they are all in the lake together, it's every man for himself.

As the morning progressed I met more of Ax's family. A cousin, Sheldon, and his wife, Carol (They belong to Brooklyn and Tommy Lee), a sister, Shannon, and her daughter, Courtney (They belong to Max), an Aunt, Linda, and her granddaughters, Hailey and Isabella, and Uncle, Jack, with his newlywed wife, Mickey. I'd like to say I remembered this all and had no coaching, but that wouldn't be true. There were also some family friends on the camp out as well. Marta and her daughter, Maria, are the ones I spent more time with and remember. Quite a group, huh?

This group really knows how to eat while camping. There was blueberry pancakes with eggs and bacon, oatmeal, potato salad, baked beans, fresh fruits, hot dogs and hamburgers, chips and 7 layer dip, chicken and steaks, Moussaka, fruit salad, vegetable salad, baked potatoes, carrot cake and zucchini cobbler in the 5 meals we ate. Some of the group had been there since Thursday and some were not leaving till Monday. The RVs will be much lighter on the return trip.

If you recall, I had chili yesterday, baked beans and 7 layer dip (with refried beans) today. These are foods we like to eat while camping. I suppose we figure if it's going to give us gas, better to be outdoors. [I picture the campfire scene from Blazing Saddles.] My dilemma was that this wasn't my family; I was meeting my boyfriend's family for the first time. I can't just let a fart fly in front of these people. My solution was to go back to our tent for various items throughout the day. (Ax again: See how smart AND socially adept she is...?)

Before lunch Ax and I changed, got the inner tubes and went for a swim/float. Courtney and Maria went in about the same time and spent most of their time in the water that day. Hailey and Isabella spent most of their time in the boat which was tethered to the shore. I think they could go about 100 feet before the line was taut. They thought they were horribly abused to be on a leash, but they managed to have fun anyway. It was a really hot day; I can't believe I managed to keep from getting sunburned.


The newlyweds went for a long boat ride in another boat. I got a few pictures as they left. We talked, swam, played cards, played with the dogs and read in between meals. Shannon and Carol taught me "Pokereno," a combination of Poker and Keno. Ax and Shannon showed me the game of "Nerts", easy to teach if you've played solitaire. And Ax and I taught Shannon the game of "Golf," which we just learned on our last trip. Playing cards can really pass the time.

On our last trip, we stopped at a truck-stop and Ax saw a lamp-sized Zippo-style lighter. He was very tempted to buy it as a joke. On his way back from Pocatello he apparently saw it again, so of course he had to buy it. Before dinner this evening he brought it over from our campsite. He pulled it out an asked if anyone needed a light. He did get the laugh he was looking for. I always enjoy that kind of laugh too... ...The laugh that no one is expecting and then it takes a minute for your brain to make sense of what you are seeing. I think Jack was the only smoker in our group, but he thought it did its job just fine.

Late in the afternoon a few of us went to gather fire wood. After I stepped over a fallen tree for the fifth time or so, I managed to scrape my shin across a broken branch. It was a good sized scratch, about 4 or 5 inches long. I waited for a second or two to be sure it wasn't going to start bleeding heavily. (If you haven't known me very long, you don't know that I tend to black out at the sight of my own blood.) Since it didn't I kept working. I showed Ax the cut as we got in the truck to go back to camp. He looked as though his eyes would pop out of his head. He couldn't believe I hadn't dropped everything when it happened. (So, for the record, it was a pretty big cut. She scored some major points here for being "tough.") Ax let his dad and brother unload the truck when we got back to camp so that he could bandage my leg. I don't know if he wanted to take care of me or if he was just excited to use his fancy first aid kit. (Yeah it's kind of a toss-up.) After I was bandaged I looked as though I tried to cut my leg off with the hatchet instead of the scratch that existed underneath.