Afterglow 2006

Every year on Thursday morning, one of our family members needs to participate in the sand castle contest and create a sand castle that can only be described as "most unique", "most creative", or "an abomination of all things on God's green Earth." It goes back many many years (before I had a digital camera) and continues with Neil Diamond Saves St. Louis (2003), Brian and Tommy's Collection of Junk (2004). The Lord spared us all from displaying a monstrosity when he rained out the 2005 contest. Unfortunately for everyone, that only made Tim and Kevin try extra hard in 2006 to make up for a lack of a sandcastle the previous year. So they created a shrine to Ville Valo and the Finnish rock band HIM. In a move that was borderline obsessive, they failed to impress the judges but their mothers sure were proud.

Gail had this wicked idea to get everyone on the beach together for a group picture on the dock. I'm surprised by this idea, because the Kurutz family alone nearly breaks the dock every year during family picture time. But since it was her property, I wasn't going to disagree with her or doubt her judgment.

Not to be outdone, we set up our own dock shot with the few people who stuck around after the large group shot. This picture included a very diverse group of people. There were some wild kids, some young adults, and some oldies but goodies for the young at heart.

We tread water in the lake long enough for Jenny to snap a picture of the fearless trio that attempted this dastardly feat. Despite being in the prime our our lives (although I'm getting up there in years) we were quite tired after our swim. Next year, I'm going to attempt a raft-swim from the dock of the furthest cabin (which I believe is #12) and see if I can hold up. I know I'm going to need to find a swimming buddy just in case I don't make it. Maybe Tim will follow me in a kayak just in case. I'll make a promise that only Kevin will read, but I know that he will make me keep to it - I'm going to swim from Cabin #12's dock to the raft. You heard it here first folks. I hope someone knows CPR...

James decided to float upon this blow-up raft to get away from the idol worshiping that was taking place on the beach. Unfortunately for him, the Afterglow Lake waves kept pushing him back to show and towards the very thing that he was trying to escape from. No matter how hard he tried to get away (and believe me, he really did try) the forces of nature brought him back and gave him no choice but to bask in the majesty of their creation.

Most of my family does the sandcastle contest as a joke, but there are some out there who actually take it a little more seriously than we do. They actually put time and effort into their design, building, and storytelling. We just throw some random crap together and ramble some incoherent thoughts off of the top of our heads.

One thing that you learn about Gail is her repetitive nature. There's nothing wrong with it, it's just that you can tell that she sets up this same shot for a new group every week.