There's no place like Home: Annual Lake Trip

We made it back from the BIG camping excursion this evening!! We had a great time, as always! We discuss every year just how many years we have been going down there, and every year, we are never sure--it just seems like a looooong time. So, I did a little research through my scrapbooks and found that the first time we ever went to Canton Lake was in 1997-and Tray and Kayla went with us. Tristan was the only little guy then! I even giggled when I read my journaling--there were a few things that we learned on our first-ever camping trip--
1.) Nights get cold--bring sweatshirts (we have every year since then, and I don't think we have ever NOT needed them--at least for a little while!)
2.) You should bring your own firewood--sticks and leaves you pick up off the ground don't burn very long!! Kayla--do you remember as well as I do, running around and picking up all the wood pieces we could find?? HAHA! Now all of us bring some chopped wood to use!

And this lesson was our first on lake restroom etiquette
3.) If you send your husbands out to fish all morning, you should send lots of bottles because they don't come back to camp to pee. YUCK! You should have seen our faces when they told us where the TRUE fisherman do their business--I've never felt the same about hanging out in lake water again!

Oh the things we have learned since then! We still camp the old fashioned way--using tents and dutch ovens and cast iron skillets to cook in! But our camp fires now look a little bit like this

You may notice the odd green and blue tinge to the fire--Lane brings a copper pipe and stuffs an old garden hose in it and puts it in the bottom of the burning wood-it burns the most beautiful blue, purple, green, pink and yellow flames you have ever seen. We got a kick out of Tray last night, because he hadn't seen this trick before. Finally when the guys told him the secret, he admitted that he was mighty relieved that he wasn't seeing things caused from the effects of his drink!

We have continued going to the lake about once every summer since then. Tray and Kayla have missed only a few trips down. In 2000, after I started working at the hospital we invited Lane and Cindy to go with us. They also enjoy a love of camping. They have been going down with us every summer since then. It is Cindy and I's routine to compare our call schedule in June and come up with a weekend to get away.

Here's part of their family above. Maggi (left) is a senior this year. Marci (who was in the pink chair behind Cindy) just got married to Rob (in the shades) in May and Harli is on the right. He and Grant were just 2 when they went the first time! Lane is quite a food conisseur--so we always eat pretty well. This time he brought some tuna, which we grilled Friday night--YUM! We have eaten shrimp and scallops before on our trips too! No same-ole, same-ole camp food for us--that just isn't ANY fun!! This year he fixed chili and cornbread--the evening was cool--and it was delicious.

A few years ago, Tray's brother Ty and his family came down with us too. They were able to make it again this year. So in all we ended up with 11 adults (I count Maggi as an adult because she will be 18 in a couple months!!) and 10 kids. Brecken was the littlest-(Tray and Kayla's) at 5 months! Devin enjoyed playing with her. Kayla is his 1st grade teacher! I don't know if he has called her by her first name yet or not--but I wouldn't be surprised if it slipped out a time or two!

Each family was in charge of a meal--and it is fun to watch each couple work together to get everyone fed! The guys cook as much as the gals do on our trips! We ate tacos, pork chili and two flavors of corn bread, biscuits and gravy, breakfast burritos, chicken fried steaks, and grilled tuna and sausages--oh yeah--as well as jalepeno poppers (fresh and grilled to perfection) and peach cobblers in the dutch oven!

Fish you ask?? We don't ever seem to catch fish-so we don't eat it anymore. I believe we stopped counting on fish for a meal, the year Kayla and I had to go into the little grocery store and buy stuff for sandwiches. We periodically get to eat fish on our trip--but we NEVER plan for it! This year the boys caught a handful of minnows, which somehow got thrown into the brush next to OUR tent-whew! powerful scent that sushi had!

We enjoyed a lot of time relaxing in the lawn chairs. The kids (the big ones too) tubed, skiied, and tried out the wakeboard. Even the 2 six year olds got up on the wakeboards!

A first on this trip was animals in posession. Usually the only animals we had were our own children. We decided that Missy had been such a good little dog since we got her that she wouldn't be a problem at the lake. She got along great! Rob and Marci had their little dog Levi and Cindy had their new 10 week old puppy Leroy. Poor Cami--trying to keep their names straight. We heard "No Leroy" a lot!

At one point Grant even put Cami on Missy's leash, because she was moving so fast trying to see everything! She wasn't impressed. And in the next picture she was instructing someone to take it OFF!

Canton also has a beautiful sandy beach that the kids LOVE, LOVE, LOVE. So we usually take some by boat and some by land and all meet up over there eventually. We can boat right up to edge, so we usually swap riders and skiiers around there!