Horseshoes

I had never played horseshoes until last week. It's actually a lot more difficult than it looks.

I watched Phillip, who is 11, play against Reid, who has been playing for years. They made throwing those horseshoes look so simple. And then I got onto the platform.

The first several of my attempts were absolutely fruitless. I didn't even make it near the pit.

We had to switch to lighter horseshoes. Then I kept overshooting. It was terrible. I certainly did not inherit my Grandpa Conrad's aim.

Going in for the kill

I played against Andrew and he won, 11:1. My only consolation is that when I played against James later in the week, he beat me 11:10, so even though I still lost I had obviously improved some.

Fore!

Rachel loved to sit in the camping chairs and watch everyone play. She was my personal cheerleader, clapping every time Mommy threw a horseshoe, and sitting quietly through Daddy's turn.

Go, Mommy, go!

Rachel decided that she should get in on this horseshoe-action, herself, and scored a ringer on her first try.

It's a ringer!

Actually, I might need two hands for this game.

There, that's better.

Zesty!

In addition to horseshoes we played several rounds of Zilch, Hand and Foot, Mexican Train, and Nertz. It was nice to be able to tuck Rachel away in the cabin after she had fallen asleep so that we could play out in the pavilion and be as loud as we wanted. She was a real trooper and slept through most of the nightly comings and goings of teeth brushers, mattress grabbers, and game players. I think that's due in part to her playing herself out during the day...