Are you ready to feel badly for me?
1) My Internet on my computer was not working for the past week. Ok. Six days. But I am rounding up, on account of the mass devastation and withdrawls I suffered through.
2) My phone broke Thursday and I was without phone from Thursday-Sunday.
3) I HAD to go camping with my camping hair.
4) I HAD to go huckleberry picking. And we only got about 1 cup.
5) I HAD to clean that darn rental again. And I am just going to have to clean it again next Sunday.
6) I HAD to wear a swimsuit thrice. This is troublesome for both myself and the other fellow beach-goers.
7) Handsome Dude’s glasses broke today beyond repair and new ones must be ordered. Because we enjoy ordering new glasses.
8) Our Excursion was in the shop two weeks ago. We paid many dollars and waited many days and now the same problem has returned. Because we enjoy pointlessly hemorrhaging money.
9) I witnessed a rabbit having what appears to have been a heart attack. As if I know what a rabbit heart attack looks like. And I don’t. Nor am I prepared in how to handle these sorts of rabbit emergencies. I put the dying rabbit in the garage and put a fan near it, to bring it comfort in its last moments. It seemed reasonable at the time. What do I know?
Not much.
10) The deceased rabbit was Little Dude’s bunny, Screamer.
Remember?
“My bunny’s name is Screamer.”
I KNOW, right? I told you all that you would feel badly for me.
Woe unto me.
So, a lot has happened since we last spoke. I shall now flood your screen with pictures, because I know that is why you come here. You know. My top notch photography skills. Or skillz, whichever you prefer.
We went to the beach last week and wowed everyone with my swimsuit body.
Here are my girls. They have found a log. Logs can oft be seen floating in the lake round these here parts. It’s because of all the past logging in these regions. I think.
Lumberjackin’. It’s in our blood. It cannot be helped.
The girls were busy creating boats and such with the plethora of logs.
Handsome Dude also found lumber. But he is not as brave of a swimmer as the girls. He says the water is “too big wee high” for him.
Is he not Handsome? He is quite aptly named.
Quite.
Little Dude was entertained endlessly with a plastic spoon and the sand.
Easy peasy.
The astute reader might notice the aforementioned logs floating around in the lake behind Little Dude.
See?
I do not speak lies.
David showing the children no mercy during the racing portion of the beach evening.
David showing the children no mercy during the splashing portion of the beach evening.
So that was fun. And then we went camping.
On Saturday morning, we, and when I say we, I of course mean, everyone else, decided to go huckleberry picking. I came because I had nothing better to do.
I was blessed with the opportunity to be travelling in the same rig as David and his brother, Alex.
This is how they look the entire time we are driving.
David:
Alex:
You see, dear readers, if you want to be a Maliblahblah, you must be constantly on the lookout for:
A) Deer. Preferably bucks. But any sort of deer will bring excitement and butterflies in the tummy.
B) Huckleberry brush.
C) Tamaracks
Tamaracks are simply the best trees for wood-fellin’-fun.
And yes, I just said “wood-fellin.” Because that’s how you talk when you are looking for tamaracks. You also must refer to creeks as cricks and ignore all phonics rules you have ever learned.
Tamaracks burn hot and slow, making them ideal for the wood stove.
Keep up, people!
So. We found about 1 cup of huckleberries and a dead tamarack that would be harvested the following morn.
And, yes. I just said harvested.
Next we donned our swimsuits and floated the river for hours upon end.
Handsome Dude loses all manliness when he is on the river.
“Dad! Do the fish want to eat my toesies?!”
“Dad! Are there crocodiles in this ribber?”
“Dad! The water is too wee big high for me!”
After the ribber, we went and got ice cream . . .
and TOTALLY redeemed the day with a moose tracks in waffle cone.
We went back to camp and I started to prepare the evening meal, because they trust me with that sort of thing, while the others played a game. At one point, the entire family was screaming at me:
“TAYLOR! TAYLOR! AHHH! FIRE! DANGER! TAYLOR AHHHH! DESTRUCTION AND DOOM! LOOK!”
Or something like that. There was so much screaming, I could not understand what they were saying. But I knew it had to be bad.
The mass screaming scared me so much I just started screaming back and running in place.
Because that is always a good plan.
Turns out Little Dude had found out how to climb on top of the camp trailer and was running all around on the roof while I was cooking up a scrumptious meal.
Safe!
On Sunday, we got to float the river again.
Imagine our luck!
And then we packed up . . .
The observant reader might notice that David was successful in the harvesting of the tamarack.
The observant reader might also notice the stack of wood being left behind.
This wood was not tamarack and we shall not be bothered to load such inferior wood into our trucks and take it home to our wood burning stoves.
No.
We are wood snobs.
The next campers may have it. We wash our hands of it.
My kids.
So dirty.
So goofy.
On the way home, we stopped for another ice cream cone.
Holla!
If it wasn’t for them ice cream cones, I might have to quit camping.
Happy Monday!






















































