The sun was shining . . .

the temperatures were mild.

Some of our campers even went swimming!

And if you think that’s just crazy talk,  what would you think if I told you I talked Tami into buying Edible Crickets to sell in the candy aisle.  It took like hours and hours of begging and pleading and whining before she finally caved.  Even as she wrote it on the purchase order, she bet me no one would buy them.  She said she’d be stuck with them for years to come!  She said she’d make me sit down and eat them all by myself if they didn’t sell.

Well, guess what?

I win!

HA!

These brave campers . . .

bought . . .

and ATE . . .

Not one, but threeeeeeee boxes!

(Whew!  I was worried there for awhile)

Good news!  Maggie’s back for the 2012 Summer Season!!   She helped my camping buddies make flower presents for their Moms on Saturday morning.

Then they all shot water balloons in the playing field and tossed horseshoes too.  Tami said she could hear them playing, and screeching and having fun all day long!

On Sunday Morning, they served their Moms at our Mother’s Day Pancake Breakfast.

We had tons of volunteer cookers, and servers and cleaners . . . a big, big Thank You to everyone who helped!

We couldn’t have done it without you.

I hope all our campers had a wonderful Mother’s Day Weekend!

‘Cause we sure did!

Not the two legged kind . . . but the two winged kind.

Yesterday Tami and I watched as Mom eagle left the nest over and over again.  At first we thought it was because of all the boaters taking advantage of the beautiful weather.  She’d  fly to a nearby tree, but stay within eyesight of her babies.

They’d cry.  She’d go back.  Then fly off again to a nearby tree.  They’d cry.  She’d circle the nest.

Until finally, she took pity on them and landed.

The next thing we saw, was her dragging something large across the nest, and for a second I thought she’d throw out a baby!  But Tami quickly said, “Oh, no!  Look again, Maxx.  It’s a fish.  A really big fish!”

Mom Eagle started ripping that fish apart, and fed her little ones . . . one by one.

When they were full, they snuggled in around her. Safe and sound.

How adorable is that??

We’re finally open!

And thanks to some amazing help from our Clean Up volunteers and crew – things are looking pretty good too!

Young campers and, the *ahem*  not-so-young campers,  were  rewarded with all the donuts and muffins they could eat.

Tami didn’t get as many pictures this weekend as she normally does because she was too busy going “Blah, blah, blah” in the store with practically every camper who walked in the door.

Geez, can that woman talk!

She even chatted about leaves with some of her camping buddies . . .

They’d found two leaf charts on the geo-cache course and Tami challenged them to find every one.  They almost did it too!  The one that stumped them was the Sassafras leaf.  Still, they’d worked so hard, Tami rewarded them all with a tattoo.

Ben, on the other hand, took some great pics of the afternoon crew, who picked up leaf piles all afternoon.

‘

I don’t know how we’d manage to get this place in shape without our Clean Up volunteers!

Thanks a heap!

I’m wicked excited to report . . . there’s not just one baby . . .

Or twoooooo. . . .

It’s triplets!!!

Whoa!!!  How cool is that??

Tami took these series of photos on Sunday -(not her best work – but in her defense, the wind was whipping hard enough to cause white caps on the lake – and her fingers were frozen within minutes)

No babies . . .

One baby over here . . .

One baby over there . . .

And then the first one pokes back up again.

Tami and I never saw two baby heads at the same time, so it might be the same baby moving around in that humongous nest.  But we like to think there’s two in there.

Shortly after Tami took these, there was a driving gust of wind.  It almost pushed the adult eagle off the side.  She held firm though, and I watched her poke around in the nest a bit, before hunkering down low in it.

I suppose “the house” is getting a little crowded, now!

One balancing on a log, the other with his butt in the air.  Silly turtles!

These pictures were taken by Tami last week, when the temps were so much warmer than the past few days.  She’d happened upon a small sunny cove, protected from the wind.  As she paddled in, she heard several PLOPS, in a row.  So she sat silently.

Waiting.

Sure enough, one by one, the painted turtles crawled back  onto the bankings, and the logs.

When an eagle flew overhead, they fell back into the water, and the whole thing started all over again.

Well, except for the guy on the log.  He couldn’t get himself off of there fast enough!

And speaking of eagles.  Tami couldn’t resist snapping a few more pics of the nest from the back side of the island this time.

She plans to check the nest tomorrow.  Perhaps we’ll find out how many babies are actually in there . . .

I was tapping my hooves and snorting so much, Ben said, “Take it easy, big guy.  You couldn’t fit in one of our kayaks anyway.”

Aw, shucks.  I’d just about convinced myself he was probably right, when Tami came back grinning from ear to ear, and babbling stories about all the cool stuff she’d seen and heard.

And I was mad all over again.

She didn’t see one loon.  Or two loons.  Or even three loons.

Noooooooo.  She saw FOUR loons!

Check out these fabulous pictures she took!

Waggling a foot and preening

More preening

Looking for supper

Because she saw four together and they aren’t being territorial, she figures they aren’t nesting yet.  One adult always, always, sits on the egg to keep it warm.  Hopefully they’ll nest soon.  As I type this, I can hear their soulful calls rising up from the lake.

Tami said that at this point, she’d already begun writing a blog post in her head titled, the Best Kayak Ride Ever!, when she heard a familiar call, but she couldn’t quite place where she’d heard it before. So she softly paddled toward it . . . into an inlet . . .

Can you see two eagles?

There on the shoreline, two eagles were locked in a battle.  Just as she was beginning to wonder if they had gotten stuck in the bushes, they broke apart.

The eagle on the left was a little duller in color and didn’t have a pure white head.  It was then that Tami realized the adult was warning off an immature eagle who’d returned.   The adult squawked a final, last-word-kind-of warning, before flying off toward the campground.  This guy left shortly after .  . . in the opposite direction of course.

After that, Tami was absolutely, positively sure she’d seen all she was going to see on the lake for one day.  After all, she’d been paddling for almost 2 and half hours already.  She’d kayaked with loons.  She’d watched battling eagles.

Just as she was about to pull her kayak up on shore though, she heard the nesting eagle cry out and she turned back.   Ben, Cookie and I let out a collective groan as she lifted her camera again  . . .

Tami says she has lots more photos, but she’ll save them for another blog post.  In the meantime, if you’d like to see  different photos from that day, go to  Tami’s Writing Blog.

It was so warm, Tami dug out her flip flops!

It was so warm, she actually kicked them off to wade in the lake!!

It was so warm, the nesting eagle was sitting on the edge of the nest.  I’m sure the eggs were toasty warm in the sun.  The other eagle sat on a log on the golf course side of the lake.  Tami thought he might be taking a bath . . .

We saw a pair of loons off in the distance.  Even though they didn’t come close enough for a good picture, Tami was pretty excited to see they were back. She almost waded in up to her knees to get a good look at them, but the water wasn’t THAT warm.

“Maxx,” Tami said dreamily.  “Isn’t today the perfect day?  I’m almost tempted to haul out the kayak. We’ve had the windows open for three days straight . . . I can hear the peepers at night . . .”

Just then, without a call or warning, the bathing eagle took flight. Tami turned her camera on the nest and caught this series of photos:

One eagle leaving . . .

and the other arriving for nest duty!

We wish these warm temps could stay a little longer!  What a fabulous week it’s been.

“What’s the matter?” I asked.

“I don’t think the eagles are nesting this year,” she said.  “Whatever shall I tell all the campers! Oh, woe is me!

Uh-oh.  Tami’s giving me the evil glare.  Now she’s tapping her foot.  Okay, so maybe she wasn’t all that dramatic about it.

Still, we were sad to think the eagles were late nesting. There’s always the fear they won’t come back.  She snapped the photo below, but  didn’t have the heart to  edit it.

We trudged back down today, hoping to see  signs of them.  At first glance, there was nothing in the nest.  An ice fisherman was only a few feet from the island though.  He wandered off after a couple of minutes and again, Tami took a couple photos, including this one of a woodpecker.

Suddenly, we heard the cry of an eagle from somewhere down by the beaver hut. We all whirled to look that way.

Then I heard Tami gasp!

The eagle is sitting on the nest!!

Funny enough, when Tami ran back and began editing today’s photos, she took a really close look at yesterday’s . . .

and the eagle was there the whole time!

Silly Tami!

I know David didn’t.   Anything below 50 degrees puts him in a bad mood!

Ben miiiiight have, but he wouldn’t give me a straight answer one way or the other. He just kept saying, “Maaaaaaybe.  Maybe not.”

Sigh.

I want summer to be here NOW!

You probably haven’t noticed this about me, but I’m not a very patient moose.

I can’t wait to bounce in the bouncy house with all my little camping buddies.

Or play on the climber

No matter how hard I try, I can’t stop thinking about Ice cream making, Arts and Crafts, volleyball, kids games, seed spitting or our theme carnival parties

and playing sink the ship on Pirate Weekend.

How about kayaking the lake?  Canoeing or fishing! Nature watching on the lake!

I just want to hang out with all my little camping buddies!

Hurry up, spring!  We’re all waiting!