Trout Lodge 2016 (Part 2)

The following morning Gwyn wanted to ride a horse (again). She was nervous and didn't want her picture taken. In her words "Technically I just wanted daddy to be by me." But she was very glad to have earned the hat!

A girl with her hat and her daddy.

Colin stomped off on his own since he was upset that there were wasps at the ranch. Luckily he knew the camp well enough to get back to the room, but he correctly headed to the arts and crafts area. There the kids picked up their painted ceramics. They got to paint two items. One for fun, and the other was earned when they climbed the wall and zip lined! (Bribery works.)

Then more swimming and activities in this gorgeous lake. At some point during the trip we went on the Boat Float, where we go for a boat ride and are served root beer floats. It was so hot out that all of us finished our floats before the boat left dock. Mine was finished before we stepped onto the boat. It was a hot ride.

Colin and I painted the CM 5000 robot (He didn't want a picture of it.) and Gwyn and Kevin painted mugs. They love these mugs. The other painted objects were four wheelers for Gwyn and Colin and a humvee for Kevin. It was fun to watch them paint. Kevin, my mom and I all got to help out a bit. (There is a small vase from one of our previous trips that Gwyn and I painted, and I keep it in the kitchen. Occasionally Gwyn will put flowers in it.)

The last full day started off with riflery. Kevin took the kids (Gwyn didn't sign up so she didn't shoot.) I don't remember what I did. I am pretty sure it was sleeping, though.

The boys were very excited to bring home and how me their targets. There is one in the bottom corner of this picture. They had fun, but I don't know if they will do it again.

Daddy got in a few shots when Colin called it quits a few shots early.

More swimming. And canoeing, kayaking and floating. It being the last afternoon at Trout Lodge, Kevin was trying everything he could out in the lake. We even went out on inner tubes to just float. (But you have to stay pretty close to the boat house, and can't go out in the middle. Gwyn even tried it as well! Neither kid liked it and as soon as I got us past the docks, I had to pull us back in. Colin was less interested in going out, and spent the majority of the time playing in the sand and with other kids. But THIS PICTURE is from after Pirate Pontoon. Pirate Pontoon is where there are two boats that go out onto the lake and circle each other. The people have water guns and just basically try to soak each other. We were hoping to get half of us on one boat and the other half on the other, but the other family was taken to one boat, and we were taken to the other. And we rocked it. The other family was quiet and friendly at first, but my family was totally into it. We were yelling and screaming like pirates, saying "Yar!" and "You're going down!" Thankfully the other boat got into it as well, and started yelling back. (Kevin's pirate for some reason sounded Irish.) Gwyn came up with an idea of putting all the guns together to make a canon, and another time Colin told the kids to hide behind the seats and jump up to attack. It ended up being a great memory and one of the most fun events of the trip.

That night was Medic Ball. It is basically dodge ball but there is a medic that can get people back in the game. (You need to hit the medic.) We played last time and loved it. When we got to the (unairconditioned) gym, we were 5 of the 8 guests who showed up. I kind of felt bad since the counselors could have left if we didn't show, but we were in for about 40 minutes of play. And it was HOT. I will say that Gwyn was a great medic, as was Colin. And there were a few games where the boys or Kevin (3) were the last ones out. My husband hit the same counselor twice in a row really hard, the first time in a spot that took him down and caused a break in play, then came back to hit him in the face. I laughed so hard when one of the counselors was made fun of for being hit with the "slowest-moving ball ever," which was a ball I threw.  We took a picture when we returned to the room as a memory of the hottest game we have played together, and we tried to look miserable to show it.

The next morning (Tuesday) we drove home. Here are the plates that we saw along the way!