Uncle A | because everyone needs an Uncle A

I'll be the first to admit that our fun at the Lake this summer was enhanced by my wildly entertaining brother. From scary campfire stories at night, to "skinny walker" replicas made of sticks and bark, (don't worry, Aaron, the kids don't read the blog and even if they did they would still know that you did not do that - it was the skinny walkers, of course) to Go Fish with Payson, our two fun-filled weeks came with adventures around every turn.

One of those adventures involved a skink. Yes, this seemingly harmless lizard would have been just that if it didn't climb out of my suitcase as I was trying to find a shirt to wear. The slithering creature was met with a shrill scream. I'd go so far as to say that I screamed like a girl. Then, of all the worst things that could happen, that skink slinked away and was never to be found again...or was it? The darn thing made a repeat appearance downstairs in the cabin, only *this* time it crawled out of the dirty laundry bag as I was trying to toss something in. Again, I screamed like a little girl. Thankfully my brother, wildlife biologist extraordinaire, was there to save the day...er, the skink. It's crazy to me how wild living critters just climb into his hands like they belong there.



We can't forget adventures with the dogs, either. At the Lake, dogs are (almost) as welcome as their human companions. Truman seems to think he is human because every time we go there he hops right on into one of these folding chairs. It doesn't matter where he is, by the campfire, in the cabin, near the shore...if one of "his" chairs happens to be handy, all the better.