Finishing out my vacation

So i last left off with the 4th of july i believe.
I have been BUSY since then :-P!
Monday was a whirlwind of activity - yoga, cleaning, grocery shopping, cooking cooking cooking (choc zuccini muffins, choc chip cookies, zuccini crumble) to take to the mountains, preparing bags for the mountains, spinning for tdf, deciding on what knitting and spinning to take and getting that together, skeining a hank at 11:30 pm - duh!, and just a miriad of little triffling details. phew! and little to show for it other than my tour de fleece entry

Tuesday we were off to the mountains by 7:30. I took a hand spindle and a natchwoolie phatphiber box bfl sample with me for spinning and brandywine, love and comfort shawl, and a baby sweater i was working on. In the car i cast off the baby sweater but i still need to weave in ends and crochet a button band and collar around it and sew on buttons.
When we got to the mountains, i tidied up, watched the kids and my little 5 YO niece, Elisa, and made lunch. After lunch we went to a little lake and got ate up by mosquitos. I have never in my life seen so many. I looked down and had 10 on my right forearm and about freaked out!
That afternoon we went to a really neat pool while the men did the driveway.
The kids had a ball. i spun on my spindle while watching them frollick. Two different kids with their parents came up to ask what i was doing. They thought it was neat - a lot of others gave me wierd looks. I'm used to it ;-)
The cute blond about to go down the slide is Elisa.
We had a little gettogether that evening with some friends of he family.
Next morning went by quickly, tidying, sweeping, preparing bags, spinning when i got a chance, making lunch and then we were off - hiking, hiking hiking. MOSQUITOS!





























































That evening we had to prepare the tent and start a fire. We had more MOSQUITOS!
Other than the MOSQUITOS, it was really nice! Beautiful scenery, sharing some neat experiences with the kids, challenging ourselves - we've hiked as a family quite a bit but never with backpacks, carrying enough sustenance for 24 hours, tents and sleeping bags and stuff... and never sleeping all night in a tent out in the middle of nowhere!





We had roasted marshmellows too! That rocked ;)
We had a good laugh that night too as Rémi - oh fearless one - "whispered" in a very loud very scared whisper "le jument!" (the mare). There were several mares and their babies living out in the open by the lake we were camping by and he was afraid they would walk on us while we were sleeping. Even though we had all just drifted off to sleep (all but him) it was still pretty funny. It was a little less funny at 3 a.m. when he woke us up again with very audible whispers of "le jument!" again. Now we tease him by pointing behind him and yelling "le jument" or even better imo and since i made it up ;-) "le lapin angora!" (the angora bunny)
After our hike, my plantar fasciitis was really acting up. And you know what? When you hike up a mountain, the next day you have to hike back down ... The first half of the hike was ok. Thank God it was all down hill ;-).




And we had a nice lunch brake with a freezing cold stream to chill us (it's from the ice caps, so still freezing cold). Only prob was MOSQUITOS and we were introduced to some more little friends - biting ants - i stepped in the anthill - how intelligent! We grilled more marshmellows too :D









Meet my friend pikachou.
I swear this is not a dog.
She's so funny.
Always in the action!

















My feet were killing me. I made it all the way back down but about 15 minutes away from the house, i really couldnt do it anymore. I was in tears and limping liek crazy. So I sat down with Rémi and about 10000 MOSQUITOS (oh and biting ants, did i mentionthe biting ants?) and waited for my ever-courageous and determined Alex and her papa to finish the hike and come back and get us in the car... I hated to have pooped out so close to the finish line, but i really couldnt do it anymore. Oh, and did i mention it was very hot and we had no more water? UGH!
We then had a snack and WATER!!!!!!!! And packed up the car and headed back home. After a little nap, I cast off my love and comfort shawl (more on this later)
And now we're home! Thank God!
It was so lovely to sleep in my own bed. To shower! To eat a meal freshly made and sitting down at a table! Aaaah!!!! Pure bliss! Oh and no MOSQUITOS!!!
And this A.M.? NOTHING! I'm doing nothing!!!!!!!! Letting my feet rest! Because tomorrow, back to work! And not in y office but in the ICU. They are having trouble with summer vacation replacements so I'm back in the ICU for 2 weeks. On my feet and doing nursing stuff! For 12.5 hours! Will I remember how???
Wish me luck :D