We once again arose, took stock of the consumption data from the night before, and ate breakfast on a beautiful windy morning.

Jeff showed Caroline that you can indeed eat M&M’s for breakfast:

Throwback Adventure

We piled into our vehicles and parked in the village near the General Store, then made our way past the Walloon Lake Inn so we could check out our former stomping grounds of the 1970s and early 1980s: Cottage One.

That house in the background is the place we used to rent for two weeks each summer, back when the first several cottages were all owned by the Inn and were numbered. It’s been expanded quite a bit since then, since it was just a single story, but the house is lovely now and the property is still a beautiful place to be. We hung out there for a short while and chatted with the current owner for a few minutes, before heading up what we’ve always called The Trail to Treasure Mountain. I detailed this in a post last year called The World’s Coolest Sidewalk.

We ended up stopping at house owned by friends of Gus & Abbey, who were kind enough to show us around their spectacular property and provide some needed morning refreshment. Uncle Sparkles gets a bonus point towards yesterday’s Parents of the Year theme.

We walked back down the trail to the General Store and acquired lunch supplies before returning to our current cottages.

At this point, the sky was threatening and the sound of thunder was a regular occurrence. Of course, that could only mean it was time for one thing: lake showers.

Dave also thought this would be an excellent time to curl up in the outdoor hammock with a beer and take a nap. Yes, he’s actually sleeping.

The wind and rain arrived shortly and kept us indoors for a few hours, but then the sun returned to warm things back up, though the wind remained strong. And not just the Wind of Gus.

At this point, dinner preparations were needed, and thanks to the separate herculean efforts of Jeff and Dave, five flank steaks were acquired to create the core of the evening meal, late-night snacks, and breakfast the following morning.

Everyone had a similar reaction to the meat bowl:

Yes, that is a meat ring around her mouth, and we all had them after eating the fantastic dinner put together by Jeff and Leisa.

Daily Schedule Redux

You may have guessed that our daily schedules don’t start until roughly dinner time, and you would be correct. J’aime was kind enough to update the schedule to keep us on track for this evening.

Teddy was not impressed.

Despite the wind, we still made a small fire and gathered outside as usual for giggles and grins.

And then this shit happened

While Gus was sitting and having pleasant conversation, Maggie came up with something in her hands. Gus said “What do you have there?” and she opened her hands to reveal two goose turds, which she quickly flipped over onto his chest.

She claims not to have known it was poop, but we gave her an award anyway, regardless of intent, for her act of awesomeness.

Once the kids put themselves to bed, the “adults” gathered around the table for a game of Kings. There were many laughs during the game, and one pratfall, and some sentences & questions that should never be repeated in mixed company, but just know that they included these words:

• chamber
• pants
• poop smurf
• finger
• tokyo
• down

As usual, the midnight hour meant that the men needed snacks, lots of snacks. Doug had the forethought to cut the leftover meet into bite-sized morsels, and the bowl was brought to the table, where flank steak chunks were dipped in french onion dip and then into diced cilantro. It was so brilliantly delicious that we consumed probably a pound and a half in just ten minutes or so. Meat snack FTW.