the hooligans

The Handyman and I hiked through a rain storm that turned into a hail storm. I told him I was going to "hooch up" under a doug fir if it turned into a delouge - it did, but for some reason, I just didn't want to stop. I kept thinking that Johnson Lake just HAD to be around the corner... Soon, (or actually much later), it was. So we got to camp, tired and sore and soaking wet. I was also a bit chilly.

But what spirits can be low when there are hooligans around?!?!?!

First interaction with the hooligans upon entering camp.






Emma had the time of her life. I doubt her former caretakers and babysitters will believe it, but she slept/was low-key for two full days after we got back. That's a record.





Here's the hooligan headmaster: all smiles. Every year he takes a group of kids on a road trip from Michigan to... where ever. This year? Six hooligans. South Dakota Badlands and the Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness in Montana. All of the teens are related in some way or another - sisters, brothers, cousins. You get the picture. It's one, big, not-always-happy family.

And the whole family piles in the van to get where they're going. Sort of a strange Partridge way of life (yes, some of them are quite musically inclined), but they totally love it. I stood within six feet of those van doors and knew immediately, I would not totally love it. And my sense of smell is really quite terrible.

For those of you (Kassidy) frightened by the fire drill "I-smell-smoke" picture of the Handyman, here's one that's a little more friendly. I figured it was obvious that the Handyman was not channeling his inner smoke detector in that photo. But that was the best, "I-smell-smoke" I could get, and I was in no position to argue!