Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Upta Camp

There's a sign we drive past fairly often beside a small stack of bundled wood:  "UPTA CAMP WOOD $4".  I'd like to say I've always had chuckle at this, or even that I've often dismissed it as slightly obnoxious
as in, "Lobstah Rolls" advertised for "three dollahs".  The truth is I was always a bit baffled, upta camp?  Until a few weeks ago I finally got it.

Last week we headed upta camp (actually down and over to camp) in western NH.  Rob's aunt and uncle have a place on a lake that his grandfather built in the 60's (50's?) , where all the aunts, uncles, cousins, and second cousins gather every 4th of July.  It's the only time each year we all get together and its always a crazy, chaotic weekend of cookouts, card playing, salads, swimming, more card playing, and plenty of good natured teasing by all.  Uncle Ed (who lives there with Aunt Sharon the rest of the summer--just the two of them) refers to the weekend as "the invasion".  It's really a blast and all the second cousins have such a good time playing together.  I'm still not sure how all those people can stay in a three room camp for 3 days and enjoy themselves (except maybe Uncle Ed).  It does help that there are houses nearby for sleeping several of us, and of course our family camped out in Adelle.

Most of the Fowler clan at the parade


Red, white, and blue



At the lake




 Lots of good Papa time



Cousins who love each other


These two could not get enough of each other.  And Juniper was beside herself with so many big girl cousins to admire, not to mention an "Aunt" who she'd attached herself to by the end of the weekend.  Wylie had his first real success paddling a kayak solo, and Kale may be swimming on his own before either of his siblings.  

One other highlight was a new game I learned when we headed over to their local elementary school for a big game of whiffle ball.  The playground had a ga ga pit.  This has nothing to do with the rock star--but the game does rock hard.  I haven't sweat so much in ages, and the whole time I was laughing so hard I could have peed.  If you don't know this game learn it.  I think I'm going to have to pull some strings and have a ga ga pit built at our city park playground.  


In keeping things real, I should add that in addition to the wonderful time had by all, there was also the
4  1/2 hour road trip each way complete with a toddler who was either crying, or holding my hand until my elbow was literally numb from hyper-extending (very little knitting done on this car ride), an emergency bathroom break at one seriously nasty porta potty, a child vomiting in the camper, and an adult tantrum concerning a certain electronic device which will not be in use for the remainder of the summer (unfortunately I'm not referring to my husband's cell phone). 



Here's to another good 4th.

1 comment:

  1. Wait, I still don't know what upta stands for. Oh, and that picture of the kiddos in the car is quite funny, it kind of brings back memories of road trips as a kid.

    ReplyDelete

I love hearing from you!