A Couple Days Away

It's been a good couple of days of fun. 


Saturday for Father's Day the kids and Tara took me out to eat at Flat Top Grill for a very late breakfast. The pancakes were huge! The omelets were tasty too. We waddled around Jefferson Pointe for a bit, hung out at the fountain for a few seconds, did a bit of shopping, and then we went to the movies. I admit, I cried and cried at the ending of Toy Story 3. What a stunning story. Laughter, adventure, suspense, surprises, betrayal, sorrow, despair, rescue, loyalty, trust, and hope. A great movie. And it was followed by some Cold Stone Creamery. Nice. Once we got home, Levi and Isaac and I played Star Wars Lego Wii for a couple of hours - a dream come true for them, and me! Tara took the other two to  the splash park at Buckner Park to hang out with the cousins from Dupont Road area and Detroit. Later we all got together at Karen's house to hang out, eat too much pizza, play in the backyard, and watch Tiger Woods play some amazing golf. 


Sunday for Father's Day, after a great morning of worship at Anchor, we met Tara's dad at the Arcola firestation for their annual barbecue chicken fundraiser. It's a tradition. All the cousins were there feasting mostly on applesauce and lemonade. And then they had fun playing in the firetrucks. We also got to meet one of the farmhands who is at the center of some very interesting stories. Kinda neat. Then we headed home, cleaned the house, finished packing for the lake, and then got the van loaded up. We spent the muggy evening playing in the lake, feasting with my Dad, and then spending lots of time perfecting our s'more's fire. We sat around the glowing logs until the sun settled low behind the lake, turning the gray clouds a breathtaking hue of pink and red and orange. 


Monday was supposed to be a day to go golfing before Tara and I headed up to Pokagon State Park for a night away. But we slept in late, took our time on the three mile run, and then the weather turned questionable. We missed our window of opportunity to head up to the Elks in Kendallville where Jamil is the head pro. Instead we ended up taking the kids on WetJet rides around the lake, and then some fishing. We went through a lot of worms. And they caught quite a few fish. 


Eventually Tara and I checked into our room at Pokagon and went for a little walk after dinner. We also discovered that they serve really big servings of ice cream. That was a fantastic surprise! I relaxed with a book while she worked on her digital scrapbooking. After our morning run, we continued our simple plan of reading and scrapbooking. Eventually we got some lunch, but then it was right back to "work!" I took a nice long walk on Trail 3 - it takes you up to Hell's Point, the third highest point in Steuben county. This was followed by more ice cream. We soon left, Tara did some shopping at the outlet malls, and then back to the lake to play some more with the kids. The weather was so beautiful and the pleas from the children so irresistible, we both had to get in the lake and splash around. It was a really neat time. 


Now we're home, full from another homecooked meal by my Mum, and ready to relax around the house. A few more days of work, and then off for another vacation. I'm looking forward to doing some more reading this summer. This afternoon I started a John Steinbeck novel, East of Eden. The first few chapters have been compelling. I finished the Tolkein Fellowship of the Ring (for the twentieth time or so) - always an inspiring adventure. I also continued plodding through a tome on Nietschze, The Shadow of the Antichrist - a Christian theologian poking around the anti-Christian philosopher's causes for his tirade. It's thoughtful and thick. I started a new book, it's Edward Gibbons famous work, Christians and the Fall of Rome. Penguin books published a version of it that includes a small section of the classic work - just enough to give you a sense of the historians contribution and bias. It was first published in 1776, so it takes a bit of effort to absorb the verbosity and multi-syllabic words. But it's extremely provocative. My kind of book! Oh how I love reading and discovering and wondering and contemplating and learning and holding a classic book in my hands.