Summer Camp is not just for kids.

Around this time last year, Bill and I were scouting for a cabin to rent

for this year's family get-together.  It proved to be almost impossible

to synchronize all our vacation schedules, but a few months ago we finally agreed

upon a time and place to spend a long weekend with our girls and their families.

 Paul Bunyan Camp

• Electricity
• Running water
• Indoor toilets
• Air-conditioning

It had all the amenities on my list.

Oh, how I love to rough it in the wilderness!   :@

We actually decided to spend the long weekend at Megan and Dave's

country home.  With two babies under 2, it seemed like the best choice.

They live near the Headwaters of the Mississippi River,

 home of Paul Bunyan and Babe the blue ox.

There was plenty of wildlife with 2 dogs, 2 kitties, and 2 babies.

Fishing, golfing, bonfires, games, all-you-can-eat fish fry, swimming (in the blow-up kiddie pool),

and comfortable beds at the end of the day.  Ahhhhh.....

Anyhow, I made the camp sign to hang on the Z family's house

 in honor of the occasion.  The idea for both the screen porch sign in my previous post

and the camp sign came from this book.....

  Here's the inspiration photo for the camp sign...

Isn't this a fun room?!

I made the sign in a couple of hours using a small piece of plywood,

some twigs, a short piece of rope, a few brad nails, and craft paints.

There was no shortage of branches to pick from after the storms we've weathered in July.

I drilled pilot holes in the branches with our smallest drill bit and tacked the

branches to the dark green painted board with small brad nails.

At first I tried cutting the branches with a miter box and hand saw,

but I discovered Bill suggested a much easier way to make some angled cuts.

I used my handy pruning tool that's meant for cutting dead branches.

I don't have a lot of hand strength, but this tool makes the job easy!

I tried to pick branches that had right angles to decrease the number of pieces

needed for the letters.  I then haphazardly dry brushed red craft paint over the letters.

I drilled 2 large holes through the board and threaded a piece of rope

through the holes.  To finish, I just tied a knot in each end of the rope.

Once again the sign cost me nothing, using only what I had on hand. 

Here it is hanging under the shelter of their wrap around porch.

Megan and Dave got their "craft on" by making a themed bean bag game.

The red "Paul Bunyan" team.

And team "Babe the Blue Ox".

(The pictures were taken at dusk after the kiddies went to bed.)

The beanbags also work well for juggling contests

as demonstrated by Megan and Jeremy.

I'll be practicing my beanbag skills (or lack of) before next year's event.

Summer camp also proved to be quite educational for us city folk.

We learned it's best not to befriend the neighbor's barn kitties.

It's quite possible Gunner has 2 new feline brothers.

It's perfectly okay to lock the neighbor's unattended 4 month old

puppy in the outdoor kennel......

especially when I so carelessly left my chewy leather sandals outside.

Unlike kids at camp, nobody had to tell us when it was lights out.

By the end of the day, we were all exhausted!

So long from this happy camper,

Vickie

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