Summer Adventures

 Ashton has had an amazing summer so far!  First, we had Olav's friends Melissa and Tracy from Maine come to visit. Ashton got dragged along to DC and Harper's Ferry, but he seemed to enjoy Olav's friends very much and therefore enjoyed his time as we went and visited these sites.

After their visit, Ashton went to Camp Manidoken so that Daddy and I could go to Chicago for our 25th wedding anniversary. Even though initially Ashton did not want to go to sleep-away camp, he ended up having an amazing time and even asked if he could go back next year.  I think the highlight of the camp was the freedom and independence he had.  Apparently, the last night there, he and Jackson stayed up mostly all night talking to some girls.  I think he may have even come home with a sweet friendship with a young lady named Harper.  In fact, when he realized he had given her his old phone number, he nearly went ballistic.  Thankfully, his buddy Nathan was able to hook him up and get him in contact with Harper.  I think they have been texting pretty regularly.  It's pretty sweet.

  

After Manidoken, we picked up Eirik and spent the day at Guppy Gulch.  Even though Eirik was not very interactive with us, Ashton and Eirik appeared to have a good time, and both were exhausted from a full day of sun, water, climbing, and jumping.

Then Ashton had an amazing week at an airsoft camp with a bougie private school down in the Germantown area.  He was hot and sore all week, but he loved it!

Last week, we went camping at  Raystown Lake, and he enjoyed fishing, exploring, and kayaking.  Daddy bought an extra Kayak just for Ashton.  Ashton also wanted to sleep outside in the tent, so he brought our small four-person tent and enjoyed his time outside.  Needless to say, he was very happy.

We even got to see Stian for a short visit.

Even though he hasn't worked as much as we had hoped, he has still kept busy having friends over and going on adventures with friends.  This past week, I took him and his friend Griffin up the Abandoned Tunnels on the old PA turnpike.  It was creepy but fun!  We biked 16 miles total (8 out and 8 back) through 2 tunnels that used to be part of the PA turnpike.  The tunnels were last driven through in 1968.  Now they are abandoned, filled with graffiti and trash, but Ashton loved it!   He loves exploring abandoned things for sure!  I was very impressed with how adventuresome he is!   He also had a sleepover at a friend's family farm in a tent while it thunderstormed eek...Needless to say, this mama did not sleep well that night!

Overall, Ashton has had a really amazing summer and has matured so much!  Can't believe he is going to start high school!!!!!!