Starting a tradition

By K.J. Cardinal

I'm not necessarily trying to pat myself on the back for finding the place on Perkins Pond that we vacationed at last week, but it was definitely a great idea. In fact, we all loved the place so much that after about four hours there we were all declaring that we wanted to make that vacation an annual event.

And who could really blame us?

I mean, the place had tons of amenities and when you come away from the week with photos like the one to the left, it's gotta be a no-brainer.

So, it looks like we've started a family tradition that we'll hopefully be able to continue every year.

Before I come down completely from the Perkins Pond cloud that I'm on, I would be upset if I didn't mention the final full day (Friday) that we enjoyed on the pond...which is probably my favorite day of the week.

I really loved the day we had when Matt and Bauer came to visit us, but Katie came on Friday and it definitely capped off the week with a big bang.

Katie and her friend Mike showed up in the early afternoon and the mood in the house just seem to change a little bit. For those of you who know Katie, know that her bubbly, fun personality is so contagious.

We enjoyed just hanging out for a while, playing ping pong, pool and a number of other games. While we were doing that, Andrew jumped in the canoe with Tiff and Pete for a canoe ride. He got a little scared at one point, but overall did pretty good.

We capped the night off by a few hard core sessions of Beirut. Katie and Mike kicked everyone's butts, but it was awesome that my parents even got in on the action.

My dad and I closed the night out around 2:30 a.m. I'm not sure it was a great idea to be up so late when we had to be out of the house by 10 a.m. the next morning, but it was definitely well worth it.

Thanks so much Mom and Dad for the best Christmas gift I've ever got. The week that we all spent together was such a blast and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. What a great tradition.