August 24 — 26, 2007

A quick trip to Lake-in-Wood in Lancaster County Pennsylvania was a nice little retreat. We shortened the outing to just two nights due to my new job and it was only Matt, Emily, Me and Bella (not even our own dog) due to Daisy’s surgery.  Daisy was fixed the Monday before our trip and we were scheduled to puppy sit for the Meehan’s as well.  There was no way that Daisy and Bella could be together, as Daisy would never calm down and we weren’t able to get our deposit back, so it was a skeleton crew for this trip.  Here’s Daisy with her “party hat” after the surgery:

The best thing about Lake-in-Wood campground was the kiddie pool:

The kiddie pool was at 70 degrees and the big pool was a chilly 64.  Oddly enough, it felt quite nice in the 95 degree heat.  It was so hot, Matt didn’t even want to play miniature golf — now that’s hot.

We liked it enough to schedule 3 weekends there at the end of September through the middle of October.  They say that their indoor pool is open on the weekends… it ought to be quite nice.   On a side note, puppy-sitting Bella has convinced me that it would be worthwhile getting another puppy.  More on that later.

August 15 — 18, 2007

We spent 4 days (3 nights) in Ocean City, MD at Frontier Town.  Frontier Town is one of our favorite campgrounds.  The campground is right on the bay in Ocean City and they have their own waterpark (which is free for campers).  Emily really enjoyed the water park:

The campground has a really nice pier area sticking out on the bay.  We tried a little fishing — don’t tell the kids that our gear is for stream or pond fishing, not bay or sea fishing.  There was no possibility of catching anything, but it was fun trying.

Daisy was having a tough time in the wind as well…

Another great thing about the campground is that it is just a couple miles from Assateague, MD.  Assateague is an island with wild ponies and beaches… Emily was in heaven.  We came across a few ponies on the way to the beach.

Daisy was barking like never before at the wild ponies… she didn’t look so daunting after spending some time at the beach though…

After playing for 5 hours on the beach, she didn’t even notice the pony in the parking lot.

We’re headed back next year for 6 nights!  It will be our big trip… we all can’t wait.

8/2/07 through 8/5/07

We had a wonderful trip to Knoebel’s this weekend. We drove up Thursday during the day and setup camp. It was 95 degrees when we arrived and that did limit what we did somewhat. Thursday evening, we went over to the park with Daisy and got the tickets and rode some rides.

Emily was excited about going on the log flume (after we had to convince her NOT to go on the Phoenix roller coaster)… and she freaked out before the main drop.

Of course, Daisy was the hit of the weekend… it’s like traveling with Tom Cruise. Here she is trying to pull in the admirers:

Andrew and I went on all the coasters (numerous times) and we had a blast on Friday (until I went on the Fandango). I was dizzy for a day after going on that thing. Emily enjoyed her rides…

Kathy, Emily and Matt went to the pool and water park on Friday and we all went on rides Friday night. Saturday, we spent the morning and early afternoon all at the pool. Matt actually went down the water slide… TWICE! No other rides for Matt, but Andrew and Emily made up for him.

Here we all are at the main park entrance…

We’ve decided that we will have a Blog for Daisy. You can check it out at http://daisy.thetorrences.com/ it will be going up soon… it will document the adventures of Daisy the superstar.

July 7 — July 14, 2007

What was supposed to be a week away for everyone turned into a week of vacation for Kathy and the kids and an odd work week for me. Due to my recent change in jobs (becoming an FAA employee), we had to make some modifications to our summer vacation schedule. This included me working during our week of vacation at Big Timber Lake. Not as relaxing for me, but Kathy and the kids had a grand time.

We got there on the 7th and setup. Kathy’s parents spent Sunday night with us at the campground and all enjoyed the lake and our wonderful lakefront site:

Matt was quick to show off his new swimming skills thanks to his recent swimming lessons:

The site was just perfect, right next to the lake. It also served as “Daisy Central”. Daisy was very excited to be not only the center of attention from the Torrences, due to the central location of the campsite, she was the center of attention for all beach-goers. Her modus operandi was to lay low looking adorable:

then, as soon as someone was approaching, she sprung to life making sure eye contact was made…

She would then proceed to maul passers buy with affection and cuteness. She had international admirers as well. There was a significant contingent of Quebecians (is that even a word?) and they were Daisy’s biggest admirers. There were pictures taken with Daisy, there was a summoning of a fiancee by one of the BTL staff, and there was general dog worship. Her head is now twice the size as when we got to BTL.

Kathy got to finish a few books and the kids got plenty of water time in. Heck, I was even able to get some relaxation in on Saturday (my only whole day off while we were there).

The kids loved playing in the sand and Emily has a new “Sand Angel” hobby. She will always be our Sand Angel.

There… Kathy, that was a completely original camping blog entry… ILY

June 15 — June 17, 2007

This was the last of our three weekends at Otter Lake Camping Resort in the Poconos – and it was wonderful once again!  The weather was actually a little chilly and we had a few thunderstorms pop up out of nowhere (we had some crazy hail with one of the storms), but we still had a great time.

Emily and Kathy went on a fire truck ride, then the kids and I rented a boat again:

Kathy was on the shore with Daisy who was finally brave enough to go in the water – resulting in a very wet doodle…

She was quite the center of attention at the campground this weekend – even more than normal.  SO many people stopped us and asked what kind of dog she is.  And I guess she was just ASKING for attention when she stood at the edge of our campsite wagging her tail at everyone who walked by. 

Matt and Emily brought their scooters and had fun riding up and down the hills (and speedbumps) in the campground.  There was only one minor injury (a skinned knee on Matt) which is remarkable for as fast as they were going! 

In fact, we enjoyed the campground so much that we tossed around the idea of perhaps getting a seasonal spot there someday.  Certainly not this season, but maybe in a few years.

As soon as we got home, it was so HOT that we broke down and put our window air conditioners in – this is the longest we’ve lasted without them.

Now we’re home for a few weeks until we camp again at Big Timber Lake for a whole week in July…