Ryan's father's father (Grandpa Ferons) lives up in Pittsburgh, PA and has been planning a little family reunion up there since January! And being so close and being all about "family unity"- I automatically signed us up for the occasion! I had no idea what I was getting myself into! I do feel that a little bit of back story is required...
Grandpa Ferons has had a hard life, and by hard... I mostly mean hard liquor. The family likes to refer to him as "pickled". We're not sure how he has made it this long with his... "condition". The first thing he ever said to me was at my wedding and he asked me if I had any vodka on me, because he couldn't find the alcohol. But we love him anyway! :)
So Ryan's parents and his sister Elyse, and brother Kyle, all flew out to spend some time with us and to see our new home. And we took a few days to go up and spend it with Grandpa Ferons' too. Like I said before, I had no idea what I was getting myself into!
Grandpa Ferons spends his summers at the R.O.C. (Royal Outing Club) Summer Camp. It's a family "resort"/getaway. When I think of "royal" or "resort", I think up-to-date plumbing, clean living spaces, relaxing, etc. Well, Ryan pushed all of those fantasies out of my head and tried to prep me for what lay ahead. When we drove into camp, I saw four cinder block buildings: 1 for men's lodging, 1 for women's lodging, 1 mess hall/cafeteria, and 1 "beer garden". Grandpa Ferons greeted us with a beer in hand and a, "What the hell is your name, again??" and showed us around the camp.
The whole camp is lined on one side with a small river, which they call a "crick". The other side of the camp is lined with the two bunk houses and mess hall. The entrance is a parking lot of dirt and gravel, and on the other end is a pool/pool house and a huge field. The men's bunk house smelled an awful lot like B.O. and dirt mixed with must, mildew and more B.O. The women's bunk house smelled much better, but was still fairly dirty. The cinder block bunk buildings reminded me of a jail cells or military bunk houses. The windows were high up and propped open with sticks (allowing any number of insects to come in and feast on the slumber of innocent women and children) but too high to escape from if in danger. The cots and bunks lined each side of the building, leaving a wide pathway down the middle for suitcases and hanging laundry. The beds were only a foot or less apart.
The mess hall was fairly clean and lined with food, whether it was fresh or stale, I tried not to think about. But the meals were still good each night! So I had nothing to complain about :) The beer garden... was basically an outdoor bar, with a roof and complete with brick fireplace, pool table, games, and snacks.
We spent lots of time running around the little play ground in the middle with Hailey, shooting off fireworks in the big field, and playing games and roasting s'mores in the beer garden. We even found a rope swing up river for jumping in and floating down.
One of my favorite, yet regrettable incidents was with Elyse on the merri-go-round. Has anyone else ever experience the first-hand dangers of those pieces of "children's" equipment? What idiot thought of those for children's playgrounds, anyway??? They are more for adults, and only under supervision and under no circumstances should you be under the influence... not even peer influence. Well, Elyse was pushing it around and around then tried to hop on... it didn't end so well. but when we could finally breath enough to be sure she was okay- we laughed some more ;) it was pretty funny.
One of the nights we were there, after some drinks, Grandpa Ferons went to take a "leak" behind the beer garden and got in a fight with a tree. The tree won. He split his head wide open and spent the next two days bleeding like a leaky hose from his forehead and refusing treatment. We were all very concerned... especially since he looked pretty scary wearing the same pants the whole time, blood stained and all!
For the most part, we really did have a great time! It was great to get together with extended family members and all endure this camp together :) We spent lots of time swimming, jumping in rivers, talking, telling stories, and playing card games.
poor butterfly had broken wings when we found it :(
"floating" down the "crick"
My excellent form in rope jumping... I don't want to toot my own horn or anything- but I do believe I hold the farthest jump... just saying :)
Ryan's not too bad himself ;)
Hailey even thoroughly enjoyed herself! Especially the night she kept us up until 5am... yea that was great. But at least she was happy about it. :)
not sure what is going on here.. probably a song of some sort, or a really animated story telling!
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