Madeline Rose: Lake Cushman Camping: Wyatt and Andy Birthday Duo

In mid-August Maddy and I headed to Lake Cushman for a weekend of camping and to celebrate two birthdays: Wyatt Daby and Andy Sweany. Sadly, Steve was not feeling well so he stayed home to rest. Although I was a bit nervous about heading out for my first "solo" camping trip with Maddy, the sheer multitude of friends that were going to be there made the thought much less daunting. We have quite the village of friends...many with kids...and we all work together! The crew this weekend included: Emily Wilcox & Eric Skaar, the Sweany family, the Flaby family, the Gregorich family, Megan, Brendan and Kieran (Riley was in Minnesota), Jon and Wilson Daby, Maddy and me. We celebrated Andy Sweany's birthday with a smorgasbord of blue cheese (his choice of birthday "treat") and Wyatt Daby's with cake and cupcakes. Maddy enjoyed Wyatt's treats the best.

We had three walk-in sites all next to each other and a little bit away from other campers. A burn ban was in effect due to the very dry summer, which was a bummer, but we made the best of it by using candles the first night and a dura-flame the second, which was close to the real thing. It was a nice, relaxing camping trip.

The weather was a bit chilly but some of us did swim in Lake Cushman anyway. I braved it and mostly swam about with Maddy, Kieran and Wilson. Kieran and Maddy loved the blow up water toys - Gecko and Airplane were the biggest hits (Maddy and I joked about the Runaway Gecko!). Sunday was the nicest day and also the day we were to head home, so I packed up as quickly as possible, and since Maddy was busy playing with her friends and other adults kept an eye out for them, I made record time and was the first one packed out! I was pretty proud, I'll admit, and knew then that camping "solo" with Maddy was a piece of cake (well, as long as other friends were there!) After packing the car, we headed to the beach and enjoyed the slightly warmer weather and peeks of sun with our friends until early afternoon. Maddy and I had a great trip but we were happy to see Steve when we got home, and even happier because he was feeling much better.