Summer begins!

Good morning! Summer is here and Lynley has pulled out all of the stops. In fact, on Saturday, Lynley took control and we took a mini vacation. We loaded up the family station wagon with dogs and twerps and headed for Mineral Wells. There was a quick stop by Walmart for snacks, water, and a few fishing poles but, outside of that, it was primarily a beeline for rest and relaxation. We were there within about a hour.

We started out with a brief hike. The kiddos loved the opportunity to run through the woods. There was certainly an air of excitement about them. It is truly great fun to watch the wonder and surprise in their eyes. In brought back memories from my own childhood of exploring the wild near our house in El Paso. Their were lizards, spiders and everything wondrous in the eyes of a child. Somehow, I had remembered these types of exploring activities as being much less tiring than I was experiencing. I was amazed at how quickly I started to feel the burn in my calf muscles. It became clear very quickly how out of shape I truly was. Regardless, the kiddos marched on. THe clearly had no sympathy for my poor physical condition. Suck it up, Dad.

It was not long before the kids were ready to fish on the banks of the lake. If I am being honest, I never really though we would catch anything, but I thought it would be fun. I was right on both accounts. We spent about an hour fishing the edges of the lake and everyone had fun. There was some excitement as we stumbled upon a water moccasin swimming along the edge of the rocks. Good for us we was not interested in coming up onto the dock where we were fishing. I was sorry that we did not even get a single bite from a fish and a little surprised at how much fun the kiddos had even though there was no actual catching of fish. In fact, an hour later (and ever since) they have been begging to go back fishing. I can;t imagine what their excitement will be if we actually catch something. I can already tell that we will be going back soon. I don't know whether we will make the trek all of the way back to Mineral Wells but it would not surprise me if they talked us into going to one of the local lakes in the next few weeks.

The rest of the weekend was fairly uneventful but full of swimming for the kiddos.

I guess the big news is that Miss Claudia will be make her first appearance of the summer at the Dungan household. The kiddos can't wait and neither can Lynley or I. It will be a summer of fun and, hopefully, a little learning as well.

Let the Summer of purpose begin.