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This was one of the busiest days in my life. But, let's back up to Friday before I tell you about today.
Friday, Bubbles and I went to my former boss's house for an Independence Day party. Mike, my former boss, lives right on the tow-path of Side Cut Metropark between the locks and Conant street. The party coincided with the Maumee/Perrysburg fireworks show. Mike and Jeri supplied the burgers, hot dogs, soft-drinks and jello-shots (both adult and child varieties.) We supplied a dish to pass; cole slaw.
Bubbles made friends with Westley and his little brother Everet. Actually, Everet mostly got in the way and annoyed them. Still, Bubbles got her flirt-on in a big way. That made Everet my best friend even though he didn't know it. I never had to encourage him to go take Westley's attention away from Bubbles or Bubbles's attention away from Westley. Still, Bubbles and Westley hit it off and everyone noticed that they were quite taken with one-other. Early in the evening, there were several deer coming and going from Mike's back yard. You can see here that they're not exactly afraid of people any more. That's Bubbles in the red shirt approaching the deer. In the 4th picture, you can see Bubbles and Westley talking near the trampoline. Well, you can see Bubbles any way. Oh, and the fireworks were nice.
Saturday morning, we went to Summer Fun Runs at Walbridge Park. It was a light turnout, but we all had fun. Saturday, the kids got to pick where we ran, when we stretched, when we ran, what game we played, etc. The kids picked hounds and hunters for the game even though we just played it on Wednesday. Only one team really worked hard and ran fast. That team benefited from their hard work with a really full cup full of candy.
When we got home, Bubbles spent some time cleaning her room while I packed up the car for the camping trip. We left the house at 2:30 and got to the campground at around 3:30. I was under the impression that having a camping reservation and having paid the registration fee, I wouldn't be required to pay the vehicle sticker fee. I was wrong. I was required to buy either two one-day-passes at $8 each, or one annual pass for $29. Since Sterling State Park is a cool place to hang out, I sprang for the big one. The girl in the booth instructed me to go to the campground, pick out my spot and return and tell them which spot we had selected. We made one trip through the left side of the campground and then one trip through the right side. Then, one more time through the left side to verify that the one we liked over there was in fact number 48. It was. I dropped off the girls and the bikes at the selected spot and returned to the booth to get my slip - which I eventually forgot to put on the post marking the site number as is required. After I got the slip, I went and got some firewood from the house next to the park. One dollar for three pieces of wood was not a bad deal once I dug for the nine pieces of hardwood burried near the bottom.
Upon my return, I sent the girls to get some water from the well.  They couldn't do it without some help, so I walked over and pumped the handle while they made sure the container was catching the water. This is the view of our site from the road near the well.
I parked the car across the front of the site to block any headlights from hitting the tent, which isn't up yet in that picture.
Bubbles and Bunny helped when they could and stayed out of my way which I'm sure Bubbles has learned is a good thing to do.
After we were set up, we went for a bike ride to the beach. It was one mile each way. By the time we got there, Stupid was a hot panting mess. Despite the signs saying no animals, I decided to let her go to the water and get a drink. I didn't swim on Saturday because I didn't want to risk two nights away from home with water in my ears. One night, I could deal with. We didn't stay long, but the girls had fun. Though, there wasn't much beach left due to the high water from the rain last week.
Once back at the camp site, it was time to get ready for dinner. I added a few small pieces of wood to keep the embers hot in the fire ring. Apparently there were people in our spot that morning because there were still quite a bit of hot embers in the fire pit.
The girls changed and hung up their bathing suits on the line that I hung.
Then, they played cards while I cooked. Saturday's meal was one of my camping traditions which led into the Sunday morning traditional breakfast. Dinner included mild Italian sausage, peppers and onions and some broccoli on the side. Yummy.
Here's a shot of our kitchen. We had to move the picnic table in there as it was on the other side of the firepit when we got there. 
After dinner, I tended to the fire which we later used for story telling and cooking Smores.
The stories included the time that I fell through the ice which, apparently, Bubbles can't hear often enough.
I brought my CPAP but when I was setting up I never did see the outlet that was mentioned on the web site, so I eneded up leaving it in the car and sleeping without it on Saturday night. Sunday morning, I woke up at around 7:15 feeling quite refreshed considering the lack of my mask. Shortly after I got up, Bunny joined me in the kitchen while Bubbles continued to sleep. Bunny helped me make some coffee and then went to the other side of the table where she played cards while I prepared breakfast.
We went swimming agin on Sunday and this time I joined them for a little while. We weren't in the water more than a minute when a girl about their same age came over and asked Bubbles and Bunny if they wanted to play with her. She was holding a beachball in her hands. They were fast friends and only needed me to fetch the beachball when the off-shore winds took it. Several times it was blown beyond the swim bouys.
Later, while they swam, I ran. I did a couple of laps around the field between the parking area and the lake and I did some win-sprints. When I got bored of that, I tried to convince the girls that we needed to go get some lunch. They didn't want to leave, though. They suggested that I go back to the campground and get the stuff for lunch and bring it back. That wasn't a completely bad idea, but I wasn't going to leave the girls there while I fetched the food. Before I dragged them away, they got assurance from Emerald (their new friend) that she was staying for a bit longer.
We were only gone for 15 minutes, but that was long enough for Em's grandparents to decide it was time to leave. We pulled up as they were loading up the car. Sad times. Rather than unlaoding the food etc, and cooking on the beach, we decided to return to the campsite and cook there.
After lunch, we played some blackjack for match sticks. Then, I tried to teach them Texas Holdem Poker. Bunny was doing well at poker. Bubbles... not so much. 
The girls went for a bike ride with Stupid while I cleaned up from lunch.
While they were out, some guy flew over in a powered paraglider. I didn't think to grab the camera when he was basically right overhead. Nope, Instead, I waited and realized the opportunity to snap a picture when he was on his way back and a mile away.
There was so little wind on Sunday that the gnats were driving us crazy. Eventually, we all wandered into the tent and took a nap. I think that was more a function of getting away from the bugs than it was due to being tired. When I woke up, I cooked some ground beef and prepared the fixings for walking tacos. 
The girls played more Crazy 8's or Garbage. 
At some point, Bubbles noticed that Bunny was sporting quite a sun burn from the morning's swim time. So, we hopped in the car and drove into town to get some Aloe Gel. We also got some Poweraid to help with hydration. On the way back, we stopped and got 6 more logs for the night's fire. I also walked around the campground looking for logs left behind. I found a couple of good ones.
We played cards well into the late hours on Sunday. 
Monday
Monday was one of the busiest days ever. I got up shortly after 8 having slept better and longer because I found the electrical outlet while I was hunting for wood. The plan was to pack up and be on the road before 10:00 am. First, I was going to make pancakes for breakfast. That didn't happen. I just didn't feel like cooking and everything was wet from a fog that had rolled in over night. Instead, I woke up the girls and started the teardown.
We were on the road by 10 as per my plan. The drive home was ok. We stopped and got some donuts for the girls and I got some coffee for me. An hour later, I dropped off Bubbles as her mom's house. Ten minutes later, I was home. I unloaded Bunny's bike from the bike rack, and put Bubbles bike in the garage. Then, I went inside and took a shower and got dressed for work.
I was at work by noon and I worked until 4pm. Then, I went home and actually chilled out for 20 minutes before preparing for Monday's Summer Fun Run. At 5:10, I picked up Bunny and headed over to pick up Bubbles. We got to Copeland park at around 5:40. We were the first ones there. The fun run lasted until about 7:15. We returned to my house where Bubbles had some cleaning to do in her room and I had to unpack the car. Once the car was unpacked, I mowed the lawn. Then, I started this update. Now, it's 2pm the following day and I'm just wrapping it up. I'll post the pictures from the summer fun run over on the summer fun run site.
When I get home from work, I'll probably be grabbing my gear and going kiteboarding -- if the rain has passed. I will upload the images and post this update the minute I get settled after that.
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