"Hold On! No, the Other Kind, Where You Don't Let Go."

Dave and Carolyn planned a visit to Deer Creek Reservoir this morning.

My camera and I tagged along.

It's not all that exciting to wave goodbye to people's backs.

Fortunately, Dave took his underwater camera.  This is his view of Jacob's back.

Dave enjoyed taking pictures of his family on this peaceful outing.

I occasionally checked on the group with my camera, which has a 50x optical zoom.  I could see that Carolyn had fallen in the water.

Dave had a better view.

I missed this completely but heard all about it later.

This is my picture of Julia and Melanie approaching the island.

I was able to see Carolyn, too.  Pretty much I was trying to hold the camera still.

In the meantime, Dave was taking artsy photos.

He took a selfie.

His view of the island was much better than mine.

I could, however, see that they were at the island.

And I knew Dave was taking pictures.

If you are thinking that this looks like a lot of fun, you would be correct.

Heads up to future summer visitors:  This is already on the agenda.

This was my actual view without my zoom.  Papa and I took turns with the camera so we could check on everyone.  The morning was beautiful.

I did not know that Dave's family was swimming.

All reports were that the water wasn't that cold.

Even Carolyn agreed.

We rented the paddle boards for one hour.

Fortunately, Dave's camera has a clock, so they knew when to return.

Dave took a few more up-close pictures before heading back.

Julia took turns paddling her mom around.

This was a fun outing for everyone, even Papa and me.

Maybe I should ask for caption suggestions for this picture.  I'm thinking something about Captain Ahab.

As Jacob approached the dock, he asked me to take his picture.

This didn't go as planned.

Nate didn't want to give up his paddle board.

Julia, however, was done.

Jacob caught my attention as he tried again.  I'm sorry my camera missed the splash.

I took another picture of Nate, but Jacob called to me one last time.

Success!

Proud Dave also caught the same photo.

The fact is that there is only one way off a paddle board after a headstand.

Then, we were off to Granny's.  Julia likes fry sauce.

I'm not saying we planned paddle-boarding as an excuse to return to Granny's.  No, I'm not saying that at all.

However, this is my very own jalapeno burger.

Jacob had his own, too.

I knew I didn't need to order a milkshake, because everyone shared.  This is Mel's Reese's shake.

Carolyn ordered a chocolate-raspberry shake.  It was excellent.

However, the all-time winner was Papa's peach shake, which did a quick vanishing act, but not before I got three bites.

"Mom! There were Flames. It was on Fire!"

I've discovered a tasty new snack.  I decided to take a picture but my comrades at the table critiqued my arrangement.  This is what they came up with.

We had a glorious afternoon.

My perler beads play a quiet but important role in occupying children.

Bradley made a Pokemon ball on Friday, and his little cousin Ben was very interested.  My heart melted when Nate made one for Ben this afternoon.

I am told this picture happened when I ran downstairs to get ice cream.  I have no explanation except to guess that Papa Ben was involved.

After dessert, we decided to play Mexican Train.  Nate agonised over which train to choose.

I'm not sure why I found this so entertaining, but these pictures were not posed.  He finally narrowed his choice down to two.  Ultimately he chose a train from his discard pile.

Julia needed just a little bit of help.

All eight of us played several rounds together.  I love playing Mexican Train as much as I love winning, which was actually good today.

I was the yellow train this afternoon.  Again, it's good I enjoy playing.

Carolyn won the first round.  A winner's dance is required.

Dave was quite pleased to win the second round.

He would not dance, but he did grin.

Carolyn won the third round.

This was my hand when she pushed the button.

But guess who won the fourth round?  Yes, it was me!  Just so you know, Melanie gave us dancing tips after we finished.  And Julia took this picture.

Carolyn made a memory game for me as a Christmas gift.  We played it this afternoon.

We had more fun looking at the tiles than we did playing.  Well, mostly.  This was very, very fun because we love so many people.

My matches, interestingly, included three of Jeff's kids.  Precious, but not enough to win.

Ben's matches.

Dave's matches.  Of course you realize that every time someone turned over a new tile, we all had to stop and admire the picture.

These were the winner's matches.  Yes, Carolyn had a good afternoon.

Carolyn also gave us two puzzles for Christmas, which we put together today.

I love reminiscing about last summer's reunion.

Julia challenged me with my animal tiles.

More perler beads.

A family of quail lives in our yard.  Dave spied them through the window.  I captured this picture and then went outside and accidentally scared them all back into the bushes.

When they came out again, Dave called me.  I was delighted to see the chicks.

Dave opened the window for me, and my camera focused!

In the meantime, Julia finished her new little friend.

A lot of Star Trek happens around here.  This delights me to no end.

An opportunity to test the sport setting on my camera happened.

After these two played, Jacob creamed me.

Our pool game ended when David determined that it was cool enough to go on a walk.  We came up the stairs only to see rain pouring down.  We decided to eat leftovers.  On the deck. In the rain. Except we pretty much stayed dry.

Melanie had watched Corinne grill mushrooms a few nights ago.  Imitation is the purest form of flattery.