An essay in pictures.

Camping 2012!

This kid had FUN!

Cooking breakfast.

Why you shouldn't use a plastic fork to stir scrambled eggs on a hot griddle.

We bought "Amish eggs" and had 4 double yolkers!  (this is only two of them)

Daddy had his hands full...

Breaking wood for the campfire.  And our clothes-line.

The kids set up their tents in the lean-to.  They stayed very dry during the first night's thunderstorm.

Each kid got a night to build the campfire.  I don't remember if this was Mary's or Joseph's.  She built.  He just struck and dropped the match.

Not all fun.  Charlie wasn't happy about the requirement for shoes.

Still sad about his shoes.

Oops, forgot to rotate.

On baby duty while Mommy packed the van and Daddy made breakfast.

See how cute and respectable she looks...

Blankets hide a lot.

The journey home.

Every one of the kids was totally zonked.

 Other stuff...

Neat, huh?  This is CaveDigger2013X53.  Nathan's entry for the Lego 2013 contest.

ummm....

And this is the triathlon.  Yes, I'm a bit behind here.

apprehensive?

Heading over for check-in.

Waiting for the shuttle to take us back to the race area.

Ready to go!

This is the swim track.  Nathan's group followed the edge and went just outside the far buoys.   Mary's stayed inside.  Joseph's was only about knee high, but the full width.

Can you see Nathan just getting in the water?

Mary swimming.

After the swim and on her way to bike portion.

Joseph.  He swam the whole thing, though his age group was given the option of "splash and dash."

Joseph was a huge hit with his full face goggles.  This local newspaper photographer snapped more pictures than Daddy!

After his race was over, Nathan volunteered to hand out water to the other racers as they crossed the finish line.

B/c of the way the race was structured (age groups), Joseph was the only one we got to see cross the finish line.

After the race, we headed over to Gloucester to play on the coolest ever playground.  I think Mary enjoyed herself.

Daddy took these pictures while we were in Gloucester.  I have no idea who those people are, but it's a pretty picture.

And this is a little guy we found in our trashcan yesterday morning.  Totally unrelated to the race, but next on the camera.  : )