The 30th Annual Nelson Family Easter Egg Hunt

The Man Campout

I'm not sure who first thought of the idea of the camping trip. The boys realized that by some stroke of luck, they all had a day off from school. Seth's schedule at Eastern finally matched up with the rest. They began to make plans. Unfortunately, Bruce had to work so it would just be Seth, Brian and Peter. With foil dinners and fishing gear, they headed north with only a general idea of where they were going.

They found a beautiful campsite and set up Peter's tent. It turned out that it was just barely big enough for three. Peter said, "I wasn't one bit cold. We were just all cuddled up in there." I think he was referring to the fact that it was an extremely tight fit.

They wisely prepared for rain. At about 2:00 am, it came. But they were dry and warm.

They caught twelve beautiful fish. The trip turned out to be a success in every way.
They hiked and played and ate and even read a chapter around the campfire at night. They must have had plenty of food because they didn't cook their foil dinners til they got home the next day.

Look at those trout! They're in the fridge right now--a promising feast.

Pinewood Derby

In the delivery room, minutes after Peter was born, Bruce sighed, "wow...another pinewood derby." And here we are nine years later at Peter's second and almost last Pinewood Derby. One more to go. Last year, our performance was fairly mediocre. The derby before that was even worse. Bruce was out of town and Brian and I cobbled together an embarrassing entry. (The wheel fell off in the second race.) This year I encouraged Bruce to pull out all that knowledge and experience that he has gleaned over the years. It paid off.

Brian came up with the idea of "The Black Mamba"--the world's fastest and deadliest snake.

Sincd the car pulled slightly to the right, Bruce gave Peter a tutorial on how to place it on the track to compensate. Peter took the task very seriously. He never lost a race.

It was fun to win the blue ribbon.

But I really think the best part of the whole thing was the night before, when they stayed up til 2:00 am polishing axles and whatever else they do to make cars fast. (I'll never learn those secrets because I go to bed at 10.) I heard they made a trip to Yokes at 1:30 to weigh it on the deli scale. Now I'm not sure, but I'm guessing that when Peter's old, that's the part of this he'll remember. I hope so.

Welcoming Baby Adam

Adam Baby is my twelvth grandchild. He's so perfectly beautiful. It is always a great experience for me to visit my children and watch then incorporate a new baby into their family. Adam was a natural fit with five curious and adoring brothers who had no reservations about moving over and making room for one more.


Just look at that face!

I love how oblivious babies are of all the kisses and attention. It must feel completely natural to them--like an extension of the atmosphere they just left.

On Sunday afternoon, Natalie put in Scripture Scouts and the boys settled down to listen. It brought back memories. It's hard to believe that Skyler and Sue are probably in their thirties now.

Kevin is so great. His patience and capabilities have steadily increased to meet the demands of all these boys. I love to see him talk to them and enjoy them. Natalie is just amazing. It's pretty intense and never-ending but she has stepped up to the task. The boys are good friends and so nice. They love their mother. One day, Natalie and I were sitting on the couch talking and Noah came upstairs so excited to tell his mom that he found a little part of a toy that had been lost. I just laughed that he would climb all the way up all those stairs to share the joyful news. Natalie was duely excited about the discovery. So many pulls on her time and attention. So equal to it all.