A Three-Day Weekend Retreat

I’m back.

Did you miss me? : )

We have just returned from a family camping excursion up North—a gloriously peaceful excursion, thank you very much—where time spent by or in the water was definitely the theme.

(As you can see, my daughter’s ornamental sidewalk chalk washed off. Phew.)

Here’s the scoop on what we did and why.

Once a year we get together with a great big bunch of families from our diocese (about 40 families total, I would guess) at a Christian facility in northern Minnesota. The owners of the camp are Protestant but are most tolerant of and even incredibly nice to us Catholics. It’s not like, say, Northern Ireland or something.

Beautiful, yes; a war zone, hardly. (Except…can you keep a secret? They don’t know that I broke the rules and smuggled in a bottle of Baileys Irish Cream. What can you do with such a wayward Catholic? Heck if I’m not incorrigible.)
Our hosts provided the delicious meals and all the delightful amenities. Hiking, swimming, sports and boating options galore: you name it and we did it in the name of fun.

Cooking the fish that we caught, however, was not an option. (The little local crappies were pleased to hear that.)

Indeed, the only thing they didn’t have at the camp was Internet access, which is a smallish grievance in the great big scheme of things. It’s good to give these keyboard-itchy fingers of mine a break from time to time.

I did take lots of photos, though, because I knew you’d need to see what we’ve been up to. I hope you like them.

Oh, and a word or two about that last photo. It was taken by some paparazzi who, having heard about the pasty-white blogger on the beach, rushed in with all their cameras. Said blogger fled to the water and scrambled up onto a great big floatie thing they had. Triumph! No close-up shots for them.

Have a great Monday, everyone!