What a Week!

Yesterday we came home after a week's vacation in the mountains of Western Maryland. And what a busy time we had.

We spent four afternoons on the beach of Deep Creek Lake.

One evening on the Mountain Coaster. Jackson was my passenger. On the first curve, I didn't brake enough and it scared me just a little. I made sure to slow down on all future curves.

Two afternoons at the falls where the boys played in the rapids and we geocached and hiked.

A little hot-tubbing for all. We only allowed the children to stay in for a few minutes at a time. (Note to self: sunburn + hot tub = pain!)

Joe took the boys kayaking. One at a time.

And a little jealous girl got to go for a spin, too, loving every minute of it.

And plenty of sunshine. Smiles. Attitudes. Eating. Homemade ice cream (every night but one). Laughing. Loving. And lounging in the best cabin ever.

The most memorable part of the trip was an early morning visitor we had. We did not realize we had such a visitor until a residential neighbor appeared at our door at a respectable hour (9-ish). He informed us that we had a 500-pound bear (bear!) on our front porch. Apparently the previous renters did not properly close the trash receptacle and the bear not only broke into our trashcan, but followed the scent of garbage-bag drippings onto our porch. Frank, the bear, (yes, he has a name!) was sniffing around our front porch at 3:30 a.m. The neighbor also kindly informed us that the front door of our cabin was no match for a bear of that size. He said he will only go outside after dark with his shotgun. Nice.

Needless to say, we didn't go out after dark much.