nothing says father's day like seaweed and booty

Happy Father's Day, Eric! Well, it was.  Our family explored the island, and admired the lavishly manicured yards and homes of Shelter Island.  As we cruised and perused the streets, it quickly occurred to us that the homes we were rubbernecking at were in fact just the guest houses, or for the hired help.  Yep, in the backdrop we discovered the actual homeowner's residence with a subtle glimmering of the bay on the backside.  Most were empty since they are vacation homes.  We continued on to the coffee shop and stopped by Eric's farm to explore, pick a few strawberries, and introduce the kids to the work space.

 When we returned home to camp, the kids put on their swimming gear and proceeded to the waterfront.  Activities included making a seaweed cake for papa, a few unsolicited yoga poses on the shoreline by Cora, some waist high trips into the water, and a bit of trash pick-up (which often evolves into pirate booty and treasure, arrrrrgh.)

  On Monday, Eric went to work at the farm early in the day.  Since most volunteers and interns take Sunday and Monday off, Eric had the whole farm plot to himself.  The sun rises at about 5:00 a.m., so the morning shift is when most of the work is done.  Barefooted and topless, Eric picked strawberries (about 2 gallons) for CSA shareholders and the market stand.  Again, he was rewarded with a surplus of berries and greens.


When Eric came home from the farm, Jamin and Cora were eagerly awaiting his arrival to pick up trash at camp.  Since Eric's job description has yet to be defined, he and the kids took some initiative as the grounds crew.  Jamin and Cora earned a penny for every piece of trash they picked up on the grand venture.  How much did they earn you ask? $.79 each.  But picking up other people's garbage is exhausting (allow your eyes to wander to the left.) Eric had a hard time waking Cora up and had no choice but to lure her out of bed with juicy strawberries.

The days are long here.  I often forget about sunsets since the tree line holds my last glimpse of the sun back home in the mountains.  Camp attracts many people with varying sunsets from all over the globe.  Wendy invited Martina, a camp counselor from Slovakia, to join her in watching the sunset across the bay.  Gotta say, what a way to cap off a day.