First, I uploaded just so darned many pictures of my camping trip here. Well, three that is. Will try to take more better ones next time I’m up there!

So following the adventures of camping, we came home planning on just relaxing for a few days. That was until The Child IMed me and invited us to go with their family out to the lake. See, their family has a couple Seadoo’s and they often take a trip out to the local lake for an afternoon. Since I had been expressing that I was bored that evening, the little one got permission to invite us along. So off we go!

Those of you who know me should be reeling back in terror at this point. Yes, this did entail me wearing shorts out in public. It also involves me being out in sunshine for more than 10 minutes. But you’ll never believe this (you might want to sit down). I actually am starting to get a bit of color on my flesh! I even have this odd thing called a tan line! Disturbing I know. But back to the re-telling of the events.

Out to the lake with us. We met them right outside the entrance, and hitched a ride in their truck (since for some reason it costs $2 per person to walk into the area…). Next thing I know, I’m sitting behind a 16 year old kid on a bright yellow Seadoo. At this point I’m starting to wonder if someone has been putting something funny in my water. How had this simple computer nerd gone from going literally weeks without seeing sunshine to having a “tan” and being out on the lake? I have no doubt there have been a lot of drugs involved in this… Strong ones.

Amidst this realization, I decided I needed to be prepared for what was about to happen to me. Looking over the Seadoo, I see a speedometer. It’s broken, pointing at 35MPH. It went up to 60. Here I had been expecting going maybe 10-15 MPH, and cant imagine how this is going to work going much faster. Where are my hand holds? Shouldn’t this have seatbelts or an airbag or something? The lake administrators are in on this whole plot I’ve found… They’ve got some “rule” about going slow “wakeless” while still in the dock area. What they really made this rule for is so I had a good 10 minutes of contemplation on the pending doom. It’s like going uphill on a rollercoaster, except it just doesn’t end.

And then the wait was over.

Yeah yeah, I’m exaggerating here somewhat. It really wasn’t that bad, was mostly a chance to learn all the rules so I can drive the device myself. I will say I am impressed with what those little buggers can do. After much speed, and several fun turns, my driver decided it was time for him to try out something “fun.” He warns me to hold on tight, and turns directly into the wake of the other Seadoo. I held on tight. But sadly, my “mass” was too much for the poor thing and over it flips. Those of you who know where I live, and what local lake I’m talking about know how much fun it is to be in such water. Especially when I have a slight under water phobia (drowning incident as a child). For those who aren’t familiar, on a good day you can see a couple inches down into the water. It’s nasty. And sadly I had to stay in there for a while. He flipped the Seadoo back up, and it wouldn’t start. Bad battery. Never really thought I’d see a jumpstart in the middle of a lake in my life time. But it did eventually get going again, and I got to take over the drivers seat. It was just an amazing amount of fun. It’s like being able to do all the stupid things I want to do on my motorcycle without the whole fear of death thing.

After a few minutes, we went back to the dock and swapped out riders. Brandy and I went off and kinda hung out for a while. Took pictures of a bird that wasn’t a duck (you had to be there), Brandy’s little brother continued to be cute, and was just kinda nice and relaxing. At one point Brandy and I got to go out with me driving. That was quite a bit of fun as well, and rumor has it she had a good time too. And that was our day on the lake!

Stay tuned for future updates, we still have the wedding and zoo to go over!

Wow, once again I find myself not posting for months on end… I’d go into details about my silence, but I really don’t see a reason to. Anyone who cares should know why! (or can just ask me)Quite a bit has gone on these past few months. I think I’ll probably be writing a few posts this week to catch up, and to avoid having everything showing up in one massive post. To start off, let us discuss my recent ventures into the world of camping!See, Brandy’s family (I guess this also means my family as well, huh) owns a nice large plot of land up Fairview canyon. Everyone from her grandparents (and one of their siblings) down has full access to 20 acres of beautiful land. There is an area set up for camping, with a nice concrete fire pit, not too bad outhouse, pretty flat cleaned areas etc, as well as all the wilderness a lazy person like me could ask for. We had tried to go up camping some time in May, but sadly the road up there still had too much snow on it to make it across. But we did get a couple more chances to head up this month. And well… to be honest, I quite enjoyed myself!The first time we went up we were planning on meeting Brandy’s parents and siblings there, but on our arrival we were surprised to find out that one of her aunts + family were there too. All in all 8 kids and 6 adults. We picked out a spot and set up our little tent (much to the amusement of the two other groups, both with campers). Now, when I say little tent, I mean it… We had an inflatable bed, and it literally filled the tent from the front flap to the back wall. Sure, it was ok to sleep in, but not for spending any sort of time in.The weekend itself was a lot of fun. It was nice to have everyone there, but at the same time everyone in charge of themselves. If someone had spare food, they’d offer to share, but no one had to make anything more for anyone other than themselves. So, we had some of our own meals, and mooched a few off of everyone else we did repay them with some of the most delicious peach cobbler Brandy made up for everyone though. Next time, I’m going to make her do the chocolate cherry one… mmmmm.

Anyway, the first full day there we wandered around, looked at some of the interesting things in the area, lounged outside and just enjoyed the nature. Sadly, nature enjoyed me a bit too much, and I got some serious sunburns on my feet… Fortunately, I didn’t “notice” till that night and was still able to do some other stuff that day. Brandy and I went out on a 4-wheeler with her uncle to see some of the more hard to get places of the property. I will admit I was scared to death at first, but eventually got the hang of it. Was a lot of fun.

We had planned to go back home on Sunday, but unfortunately we got a flat tire on our way up and no one in town would be able to fix it till Monday. So poor us… Had to spend another day up camping. Everyone else went home Sunday and we had a night alone. Wasn’t too bad, though we did borrow a camper, because the tent was just too small for us. Back to civilization on Monday, and off to do some camping shopping! Getting a few things we had discovered we needed (giant tent for starters) and a few things we decided we just wanted enough to buy at the time. Suffice it to say, I’ve built up quite the camping supply closet. Then that Thursday… Back up the mountain we go! This time there was no one else there. It was quite different to say the least. All Friday we sat around inside and out of the tent pretty much just reading. I must say I’m proud of myself, as I am finally reading The Count of Monte Cristo! Amazing book. Saturday was a family reunion in Fairview, so we went back down and hung out there most the day.

The reunion was better than I expected actually. Other than the fact that I had to wear a bright red shirt all day… I just don’t do bright red. I had been picked to be the official photographer for Brandy’s part of the family, so I spent a while taking a lot of pictures of everything. It really was a lot of fun. And don’t tell anyone this… But I could spend hours following that 3 year old around taking pictures of all the just adorable things he does.

From there, we grabbed Brandy’s youngest sister and took her back up the mountain with us. She camped up there with us till Monday, when we all headed back to home sweet home and crashed. After a long hot shower that is!

I really must say that I never expected that I would have so much fun camping. It really is different than camping I’ve done before… No crowds of people around in the official camping areas, no noisy people at night, no expectations of when to rise and when to sleep. Just me, Brandy, and a whole lot of trees. Guess that might be why we’re planning on going up again at least one more time before the summer is up, huh?

Now, keep an eye open this week for further adventures in the life of Kishkumen! Hear about my daring escapades on the local lake, be filled with wonder as I reveal the secrets of photographing weddings, shake in terror as the ravenous creatures of Hogle Zoo come to life before your eyes! Or just go “yeah, whatever” and assume I’ll not post again for another 4 months, that works too.