I've Abandoned my Baby!

At least that's how I'm feeling! Yesterday afternoon, a beautifully sunny day, Steve, Dylan and I drove Lyndsi and her friend deep into the woods and left them there....

OK - nothing quite so dramatic! But we did drive deep into the woods and leave Lyndsi and her friend - at camp. I had a hard time when Dylan went away to his first Boy Scout camp and I'm having a hard time now that Lyndsi is away at her first church camp!

Here's how it all went down: Lyndsi's little friend (seen below) invited her to go with her to Camp Ortoha, a Lutheran based camp about 40 miles away. Very nice gesture - except that camp is 5 nights long! I wasn't sure how I could handle it! However, Lyndsi seemed to be able to adjust to that fact pretty quickly, despite my reminder that there was no cell service so I couldn't call her to check on her...

So I agreed to let her go - with a little encouragement from Steve - and now, she's gone....for 4 more nights. I shed a few tears on the drive home yesterday but Lyndsi was truly excited to be going, and even more excited once we got there. I guess that makes me happy.....

This is What Happens When I Don't Have My Own Computer...

I pout....and I refuse to accept that we have a perfectly good family computer that I can use pretty much whenever I want....and therefore, pictures remain on my camera's memory card and blogs remain postless....and no one knows what's happening in the very busy lives of the Streeter family....

So my computer went kapooty in June. A very good friend of ours tried his best to fix the problem (and he's a computer fixing whiz!) but couldn't. Since then, I've had to share the family computer with the rest of the family. And apparently, I don't like to share! I'm trying to improve myself in this area but I'm not making any promises...

Our busy May, that I was so diligently beginning to document, turned into a busy June. School ended and we began our trek across Canada from Vancouver, BC to Ottawa, ON. No - we didn't trek by road, but rather by air! We had 2 fabulous days in Vancouver with Jill's high school friend, Yvette, and then 6 more fabulous days in Ottawa with several strangers. Steve was enrolled in Study Canada - Summer Institute, an intense class designed to teach American teachers more about Canadian history and culture. Fortunately for the kids and I, companions were welcome on this trip. We had such a great experience! While Steve was in his lectures, the kids and I walked around Parliament Hill (our hotel was a block away from parliament), rode bikes along the Rideau Canal, and swam in the hotel swimming pool. With Steve and his classmates, we took VIP tours of parliament and met Mr. Galipeau who gave Dylan some very special treatment, went to Montreal for a day and learned a bit about the French speaking city, visited La Sucre de la Montagne and ate a traditional Canadian dinner with lots of maple syrup...oh and so much more!

Now, if I had my own computer, I would have already downloaded all my pictures and I would have so many to share with you. But I don't, so I didn't, so I don't. I also don't have any pictures of the annual Father's Day camping trip with friends that we took in July this year. Or any pictures of our annual Schumacher/Streeter family camping trip we just returned from. So you'll have to take my word for it when I say that both trips were relaxing, fun and absolutely beautiful!

One of these days, the pictures that are resting peacefully on my camera will show up on the computer I'm sharing with my family. When that happens, maybe I'll get them out and shared with you. Maybe....