Weekend Things ~ Hermit Island Camping

We made our annual Hermit Island pilgrimage for, I'm gonna say, the twelfth year in a row.



We had put it off from the usual weekend, for reasons of a certain 16-year-old having his birthday.



And we put it off from Memorial Weekend for reasons of the weather forecast looking cold and gloomy.



But we finally made it this past weekend, the latest in the season we've ever gone (not counting that first time, which was in September).



It might also have been the coldest weekend we've ever had, despite it being June.



But it only rained a very little bit Friday night while we ate dinner (after having kindly held off long enough to set up camp and cook).



In past years, we've brought along various configurations of friends and family.



But having barely gotten our acts together enough to get ourselves there, we didn't manage to bring anyone along.



So we had a quiet, low-key weekend.



I tried to spend most of the time reading, but with interruptions of "Hey, Mom…" every few seconds, ever sentence got read two or three times.



The boys rode their bikes to the store two or three times every day.



Having a source of junk food that close at their disposal was something of a novelty.



And they found a huge chunk of styrofoam on the beach,



which provided hours of entertainment, first as a physics experiment in balance and then as a surfboard.



And, once again, I thought about how this place that never changes, which we visit exactly once each year (usually during Birthday Season) provides a fitting measurement device for boys that change constantly.



A kind of living growth chart.



It was, as always, a fitting segue to summer, a pause and placeholder in the ever-revolving years.



And a good reminder to not let traditions fall by the wayside, just because we're tired or cold or it might rain.

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