Lake Easton & Mad Wiffleball Skills

This weekend we had a chance to get together with almost all the D clan. We missed having Chris and Lisa, but are looking forward to seeing them this week! We met everyone at Lake Easton, just over Snoqualmie Pass, and had a great time. As soon as we got there, Toe Jam roasted up some fantastic polish dogs (on the backpacker's stove since the firewood supply was in transit) and then headed out on their raft to go exploring. It was a great time to go out--fish jumping, bugs skimming, birds diving. Pretty cool stuff. J and Michael rowed us all the way to the bridge and back and found a good place to jump, but (phew!) they didn't really get a chance to go through with their plans. Our "baby" nephew rode over in my lap the whole way. Tami took pictures from the shore, so until we swap photos, just imagine the sunset on a small glacier lake with gnats in the air and the crescent moon peeking over the mountains. :) It was beautiful.

Uncle Michael playing with our "baby" nephew--he just turned two. Pretty sure he doesn't count as a baby much longer, but he's kind of adorable, so he might get that title to stick. :)

The rest of the tribe arrived so J cooked up some beef stew and J, Landon, and Britney competed for the best roasted marshmallow, with Michael as the judge. Michael gave Landon the award for the best chocolate-marshmallow combination, declared Joe the winner of best roasted mallow (though most time-consuming process), and gave Britney the Most Efficient award. (Her mallow was ready, but Michael wasn't, and she claims that it would have been perfect if he hadn't let it cool quite so long. I buy it. She made me one last weekend and it was awesome!) :)

We played some mafia around the campfire. J cheated (on accident) and opened his eyes for the policemen, even though he was a civillian, so everyone kept playing the game, even though there were only six of us and the two cops already knew easily who was who. No wonder they knew I was the mafia so quickly. :) I have no defense in that game, but it's still fun.

One memory that cracked me up was that everytime Michael went into the tent to change, he would shout out "If you can hear me, don't come in! If you can hear me, don't come in!" for as long as it took him to change. Cracks me up.

On Saturday, we packed up camp and headed to the beach and picnic area for some riveting games of kickball, wiffleball, and for the baby, baseball. With himself. Cute. :) He cracks us up.

We also went rafting on the lake. Michael, Britney, and Landon tested the waters. They were cold. But it was fun to jump in. Our nephew inspired me later in the day with his bravery; he jumped in and doggy paddled back out with sheer panic in his eyes brought on by the cold water. Ha. Michael jumped again, and then I did, too. After making him and Angie promise to help me back in the boat at all costs. Haha. I knew that I do not really have much of my own physical capability to hoist myself back into an inflatable raft at the present moment. Kind of funny. I was laughing so hard that I wasn't any help at all, I'm afraid. Kind of reminded me of a beached whale. :)

Did you know Michael is a wiffleball pitching genius?

One of our first camping trips with his fam, he pitched and Britney was the catcher, and he would curve it like it was about to hit you in the middle of the eyes, but then it would drop for a perfect strike. Once we caught on, he would throw in a couple that were going straight at our faces, but without a curve, so just when we had built up enough gumption to keep our eye on the ball, it really did hit us in the face! Ha. Britney is a vicious catcher. Ever seen "The Sandlot"? She razzes you and messes with your mind like the Great Hambino. Michael and her just feed off each other. Between the headshots and the verbal abuse, it's almost too much for a batter to take.

But looking back, it's funny. (After the wiffleball welts are gone.) :)

He was a little off his game this time and we decided he needs the infamous duct tape balls back. And maybe some practice. (Med school has caused him to go into an early wiffleball retirement.) Nothing curved, so Landon kind of owned him.

I didn't get many pictures, so I missed getting some of Mom, Dad, and Toe Jam on my camera, but they were there and it was great to be with all of them! Mom and Dad played football in the dirt picnic area with the baby while the rest of us played Curses. When we were all heading out, the baby had dust all over his face. Ha. :) Thanks for such a fun couple days!