It's bittersweet to write this post 6 months after our amazing lake vacation.  Living deeply in the winter, the long days and warm nights feel very far away, so hopefully reflecting on a week of active relaxation on the hot Little Sebago warms our souls.  I can almost remember the feeling of swimming in the warm open water!  Almost...Below are the movement-related highlights as I remember them:

• Vacation started for me at 0300 on Saturday 8/23 when I left the driveway for Mount Washington.  I met up with my buddy Joel on the road in RI and my ole college friends Ben and Cali in the Pinkham Notch Parking Lot.  We hiked the Tuckerman Ravine Trail to the Summit in a few hours.  I've hiked Washington in the summer and spring, but have never felt so strong and comfortable!  Thank you Neuty!

• The next day was Tough Mudder Great Northeast!  It was cool to have the First Laidy, my dad, brother Tom, and sister Ali join me and Los Neuty Osos for the most relaxing Mudder yet!

• Monday marked my first official swim of the vacation.  I had already been in the lake a bunch of times, but mostly for bathing and hadn't gone exploring yet.  I started out with a nice 1/2 mile loop around 2 small islands.  It felt great to move without impact as I had 3 consecutive days of pretty intense activity (Friday before NH we hosted a birthday party - keeping up with over a dozen 9-year-old's is extremely demanding!).  Here was my path to the lake...

• Monday was also Men's Lifting Night at WolfPack Fitness.  I reached out to the owner, Luke, a few weeks earlier.  He and his crew were so cool and accommodating for arguably the most awesome group exercise experience I ever had.  I knew it'd be badass when I stepped onto the  Pontoon Boat headed for "the island."  Barefoot in the sand, we performed a challenging chain of MovNat and strength moves.  The cooldown?  A dip in the Androsoggin!  Then, my eye caught the rope swing.  It was pretty intimidating but I had to do it!  Luke guided me through climbing the ladder attached to the big tree, grabbing the rope and shuffling along a limb overhanging the river, then, Geronimo!  It was the perfect punctuation to an incredible night!

• Tuesday was an easy swim day. We spent the day in Brunswick so I ended up going out later for one of the most enjoyable swims I've ever had.  I went for about 3/4 of a mile at sunset and completely took it in!  I kept thinking to myself, "you're swimming in a beautiful lake during a summer sunset!"  It was perfect!

• Wednesday we rented a paddleboard and explored the lake.  I always think of the "4 corners of the feet" and kettlebell mechanics when paddling.  It's an extremely fun and effective workout!

• Thursday we did more paddleboarding and I swam around the lake some more.  Laurie got her class at Wolfpack for Ladies Lifting night.

• Friday was the longest swim of the trip for me.  I did a 3 island loop that added up to about 1.25 miles.  I can't stress enough how fun it is to swim (or move in general) for the pure act of enjoyment in lieu of treating it as training!  I also think that swimming ranks second in my list of favorite MovNat skills right below climbing.
• Saturday we left the Lake for a friend's house in NH.  We got together with a bunch of friends from high school and partied pretty hard.  As a result, the day involved little movement and lots of eating.
•  Sunday was a blast!  We coordinated a canoe race between the men of the group.  We laid out a course (approximately 1 mile) and created some fun rules that I can only say involved certain challenges unrelated to physical fitness but rather mental acuity and tolerance to mind-altering substances.  In short, we won and it was the most fun I've ever had on a canoe!   Afterwards the competitions evolved to races and flips off the dock as well as lake bottom rocks/paper/scissors.  Classic adult behavior.

So on this cold winter's day, we're thankful that we are past half-way to seeing Summer again!