Looking back on the lake

Much of our Adirondack adventure was spent on or in the water. I feel like having the kids in swim lessons since they were 6 months old finally paid off. I was a little concerned that they would be overconfident in their aquatic abilities, and getting them to wear life jackets or swim with a buddy would be a battle, but they were in and out of the water and off and on the boats so frequently that the life jackets ended up becoming a second skin. Instead we found ourselves reminding them to take them off before they crashed on the couch or came to the dinner table. That was a good problem to have.

Speaking of problems, it wouldn't be a family vacation without a few. Several years ago, the Wonderful Husband decided that he wanted to re-create some of his best childhood memories and buy a canoe for the family.

He perused Craigslist and after several months of searching, found just the right size boat, being sold by a man whose children had grown and gone off on their own. The man was pleased to see a boat that had served his family well-being passed on to our own rambunctious clan.

I feel like our maiden voyage in the canoe might deserve its own column, but let's just say that it ended with the WH going back to Craigslist to search for outriggers and a different boat to take on family fishing trips.

The fishing boat made a few short cruises around the local lakes, but this was her maiden voyage of any significance. Color me shocked when she conked out a few yards from shore and refused to budge.

Luckily, between our two families, we had booked Captain Bill to haul all our gear 6 miles across the lake, and our friends towed our sad little boat behind them. A boat that won't go is not a great way to start your lake vacation, but it did provide the guys with several hours of distraction as they were sure they could get to the bottom of the problem and have her up and running in no time.

Sure, enough, a faulty gasket in the fuel line was discovered, and the guys MacGyvered a new one out of one of those rubber worms from the bait box. This "worm-sket" would need to be replaced several more times during our trip. Luckily, we had an ample supply.

One of the many unique accommodations our campsite offered was a hot tub heated by a wood stove. I'm not going to lie, my scientist brain saw that tub and saw the perfect warm, moist breeding ground for bacteria.

Luckily, the WH was anxious to take the boat out for a "real" ride, so convincing him to go back across the lake so I could hit up the convenience store for a small bottle of bleach wasn't too hard. I really had nothing to worry about, though, because by the second day of our trip, the boys had mastered the operation of the stove and literally had the hot tub boiling. I think it was safe to say that nothing was alive in that tub after that.

The hot tub was quite the novelty for the kids, and became a central gathering spot for them when they wanted to warm up from the chilly lake water, or clean some mud off after their Nerf battles.

While I couldn't bring myself to fully submerge, I will say it was delightful to stick my toes in the tub as the evening chill came on. The hot tub also provided a steady stream of hot water for my infamous camp shower, which meant everyone could get in on the action if they wanted to, and my kids came home slightly cleaner than I expected.

There's another population besides my kids that loves a warm, wet environment, and that's the mosquitoes. Ugh. If I could change one thing about this trip, you would think adding indoor plumbing would be at the top of the list, but no, it would be getting rid of the bugs.

We tried our best. The kids had long-sleeved clothes to wear, were doused in bug spray, and the Thermacell was baking away constantly. It didn't stop them. Those bugs ate better than we did, and that is saying something. Poor E seemed to bear the brunt of it, probably because she didn't have the constant layer of mud on her that the boys did.

While our trip was rejoicefully free of the typical souvenirs the kids have to bring home, we did bring home some mighty long-lasting bug bites.

So here we are a few weeks later. I've finally caught up on the laundry, the mosquito bites have scabbed over, and the mud is finally out from under the kids' toes. Out of curiosity, I asked the kids if they'd rather go back to Cranberry Lake next year, or return to Disney World. While their immediate answer was, "Let's do both!" when I made them pick one, they unanimously agreed on the lake. As long as I have a limitless supply of "worm-skets" and bug spray, I think I agree.

Liz Pinkey is a contributing writer to the Times News. Her column appears weekly in our Saturday feature section.