When I arrived…they had decided to hang out on the playscape next to the field instead of starting their game, so, instead of 12-year-olds in action, I walked a two-mile loop through the neighborhood and tried to get some good shots of the season.

This year, we started off with a 14-hour drive to Angliers, Quebec, Canada, where Julie’s aunt and uncle have had a cabin on Lac des Quinze for the past 40 years (that’s 40 years of steady expansion and improvement in support of a large family — easily qualifying as a “resort” without even factoring in the warm and entertaining hosts!). After 3 full days there, we loaded up the family again and drove 13.5 hours to my folks’ cabin on Rangeley Lake in Maine (“funny” story: up until the day before we left on the first leg of the trip, Julie thought that the second leg was going to be 4.5 hours; it turns out that Googling directions from “Quebec” to Rangeley, ME, is sort of like googling directions from “Texas” to New Orleans, LA — it’s a big province!).

We did manage to leave my suitcase behind in Canada, which, luckily, turned out to be  pretty minor blip in the trip. I’ll get those clothes back at some point!

One thing we learned this summer is that our kids have become seasoned road-trippers. We initially planned on a 6:00 AM departure for the first leg of the trip, and we expected that leg to take two days. The kids took turns lobbying for an earlier departure (!), and we wound up “compromising” on 5:00 AM…and then managed to be on the road at 4:45! AND, the kids eschewed breaks to stretch their legs so much that we completed the trip in a single day. We repeated the exercise for the second leg of the trip (not leaving until 4:50 AM…we were on vacation, after all, so should be forgiven the 5-minute slippage!).

After a couple of days there, Julie drove me down to the airport in Portland, ME, to fly back to Columbus. She then stuck around with the kids for the week in Maine before driving to New York to see friends and relatives for the next weekend, and then on back to Columbus.

<whew!>

Kicking off with a few pictures from the first leg of the trip:

View from the Cabin (Carson on the Dock)

The Cabin

Trolling with Uncle Bill

Setting Unrealistic Expectations for How Many Walleye Can Be Caught in 1.5 Hours

Carson Could Hardly Wait to Eat Them!

It Wasn’t All About Fishing, Though

Aunt Elaine Got “The Look” When She Questioned the Dungeonmaster

Oh, Yeah, Did I Mention They Have Four Laying Hens?

I culled down the photos as best I could…but still wound up with a few more than are posted here. You can check the full set out (44 pictures) on Flickr.

Worth the wait? I’d say so!

• Mowed the yard (we’re in that twice-a-week spring mode)
• Hung out around a fire in our driveway with the neighbors
• Made made-to-order omelets and eggs and pan-baked apples (Saturday)
• Attended Alana’s soccer game
• Attended Benton’s soccer game
• Had a fantastic date night
• Made biscuits from scratch and made-to-order omelets and eggs (Sunday)
• Attended Carson’s flag football game
• Tried out a new pizza dough recipe (oregano and basil mixed into the crust) — ’twas a hit

And, in and amongst all of that, I hauled out the design I’d sketched up for a performance stage in our basement for Alana (and others) and her karaoke machine:

The overall dimensions were driven by a box of bamboo flooring that inadvertently moved to Ohio with us (it was left over from the re-flooring of the common areas that we had done before we moved into our last house in Austin). The stage seemed like as good a use for it as any.

I’d gotten the other lumber during a Lowe’s run with Benton last weekend, and I managed to knock out the construction of the stage over the course of this weekend:

The skirt/trim is slated to be painted black, and, with Alana’s birthday coming up next month, I’m expecting lights and a disco ball (and who knows what else Julie will dream up to trick it out) as early summer additions.

Rock on!

Upstream of the falls. The big mass at the top right of the photo is a barge that has been there since 1918 — it broke loose from the lines that were holding it and started drifting towards the falls. The two guys on it had the presence of mind to, basically, flood it so that it would ground itself. Still, it took a couple of days to get them off:

View through some of the shrubbery that had been ice-misted over by the spray from the falls. Those are the falls in the background:

A tree that has had a buildup of ice from the mist from the falls:

Looking upstream from the falls:

A couple of seagull shots — really highlighted the exposure challenges of this sort of setup. I tried multiple exposures so I could HDR them, but the birds never stayed still quite long enough for that to work:

An HDR-enhanced view of the rainbow created by the falls mist:

Holly and Sophie, though, are still spry enough to roam around.

Holly

Sophie

Carson actually found this fella’ on an apple tree near The High Point:

Some Flowers

The View

The River

The Woods

The Grass

Looking up from the pond to the red cabin:

…and down from the hill to the farmhouse and barn:

The Pond

In the Field

At the Plate

On the Basepath

On Base (Gloves Are Apparently Optional at Times…Alana’s the Baserunner)

With Her Trophy

We just got back from a trip to Dallas that started with a reunion of the Loves (and Eades) families. It was, ostensibly, timed around the 90th birthdays of my great-uncle, Bill Love, and great-aunt, Jane (Eades) Love.

All of my cousins (and their spouses), second cousins, and their kids on that side of the family made it, which made for 17 kids, of which Benton was the oldest and only one of 4 boys. The kids who hadn’t met each other before clicked immediately, and those of us who hadn’t seen each other in years re-clicked(?) as well.

Friday night included dinner…and a piñata that the honorees took the first whacks at:

Saturday included a tour of the new (Dallas) Cowboys Stadium:

And, following Love Family Reunion tradition, the final evening included a talent show (unjudged). And, also following tradition, the younger set was pressed into a coordinated display of talent:

A handful of other pictures from the event:

I took a lot of pictures over the course of the weekend, but did my best to cull them down to something reasonable. I failed. But, if you’re interested in more pictures (meaning…you’re family, probably):

• Friday during the day at the hotel
• Friday night dinner at Bob and Judy’s house
• Cowboys Stadium tour on Saturday
• Saturday night dinner / talent show