Every year Nate's family gathers in the Pocono Mountains at Spruce Lake Retreat for 3 or 4 days of camping together. It's like a reunion for his family, and everyone always has a lot of fun. This year we were back to beautiful, sunny weather. It was on the chilly side, but that was nice for sitting by the fire, roasting marshmellows for smores, and enjoying the endless supply of coffee that Spruce Lake offers in the lodge. Sunday was just warm enough to go swimming.

We missed Abby and Grandma and Grandpa, but we hope they'll be able to join us next year! We made the best of their absence, and even got involved in a family project that involved sawing through a dead tree and then pulling it down. That was a memorable event! Thankfully no one got hurt...

Nate and Aunt Terry washing and drying dishes

A cool morning by the campfire

Scott, Mike, Susan and Jon catching up
with one another

Spruce Lake has internet access...
and we took advantage!

The nature center has a pet hawk (they adopted her
because she was injured and can't fly).

This hawk was friendly, but still looked fierce. Her feet
were huge and powerful. Hawks can turn their heads
almost completely around their head, and they
have excellent vision.

It was a close Shuffleboard game between Nate &
Jen and Susan & Terry, but we lost in the end.

Nate retaliates in a mature way.

The Nature Center has two corn snakes,
and Jen couldn't resist holding one.

The snake gets a little intimate!

One of the most memorable events was the felling
of a nearby tree. Most of the gang got in on it, while
the rest yelled admonitions and stayed out of the way!

The tree did eventually fall, but it took a long time.
Thankfully no one was injured in the process. You can
see videos of the fiasco, I mean feat, on You Tube.

Matthew shows his incredible strength!

A spontaneous family portrait.

We were trying to get a photo of the two of us,
but when we discovered that Uncle Scott
was in the background, we all had a good laugh!

We did eventually get our photo.

Nate and Jon played several intense games of tennis.

It was another round of diving games, this time
with introduction of "interactive dives."