FamJam 2010

FamJam had been on hiatus since 2007. This year marked the "Return of the Jam" and I had been looking forward to it for months. It wasn't meant to be, I guess. I didn't finish my thesis, I got stuck signing a lease I never wanted to sign, and airfare was outrageous. I reluctantly decided to stay home. All that changed when, on the first night of FamJam, my aunt called me from either the Port-O-John or the pontoon. I couldn't quite tell from her message, but it didn't matter. What mattered was I was missing out. And right then and there, I decided to have my own FamJam. Using the actual FamJam itinerary (in italic text below) as my guide, here's what I came up with:

Friday, July 2
Sylvan Lake Retreat welcomes campers for the return of FamJam. For those who are able, come set up your tent, plant your folding chair in a prime spot by the fire, and enjoy an all-you-can-eat weenie roast. Please bring a prepared side dish to pass. Dogs, buns and condiments provided.

Since Chad and I don't have a tent, we had to be creative setting up our camp. We ended up with a fort made from an air mattress, a sheet, and a lot of heavy books.

We planted our deck chairs by the blue gas fire of the Weber and prepared our own version of a weenie roast. We grilled brats while drinking a glass or three of Hawaiian Punch.

When everything (including the pre-prepared side dish) was ready, we lit a new campfire. Pine scented candles almost provided the illusion of camping. At FamJam, we usually catch up on gossip, pop culture, and stories around the fire. So we watched The Soup and became engrossed in the story of Caddyshack around ours.

Saturday, July 3
This is a day to Jam! The day is dedicated to the kid in all of us. Come fish, ride the Gator and the quad, paddle in the paddleboat, float on the pontoon, swim, and hang out with the family. For those early risers, attend the Forest Lake 4th of July parade at 10 am. While you will be on your own for breakfast and lunch, be sure to work up an appetite for dinner: a fish fry with all the fixins. After dinner, officials from the Sylvan Lake Retreat will be on hand to award fantastic prizes for the most fantastic campsites. Down by the fire, enjoy a rousing game of "Minute to Win It" followed by "Lulu's Storytelling Hour."

Because Chad and I were in no mood to be early risers and because there was no 4th of July parade to attend even if we were, we slept in the fort until noon. Cramped, sore, dehydrated, and suffering from a lack of oxygen (just like in a real tent), we finally emerged to begin our day of acting like children. Because we don't have a gator or a quad, we had to ride bikes instead. We rode 2.7 miles to Chick-fil-A.

Chick-fil-A is the best but after a 2.7 mile bike ride, I was too tired to eat. I pretty much just drank a lot of lemonade and water and picked at my food. Then the Chick-fil-A cow came in... that perked me up! Just like all the other kids in the restaurant, I posed for a photo with the cow. We then rode 2.7 miles home.

It was time to swim! This is our pool overlooking the mountains. We spent a long time in here, letting the cold water run through our hair and revive aching muscles. After swimming, it was time to award fantastic prizes for the best campsite. We awarded ourselves Lego Rock Band for our awesome fort.

There's always a game to play at FamJam. From "Amazing Race" to "Survivor" to "Minute to Win It," we've played them all. In addition, there's usually been a musical element to FamJam, like a player piano singalong or karaoke. So Lego Rock Band met two needs. After a few hours of rocking out, we worked up an appetite for dinner. At FamJam, we'd have northern, french fries and corn on the cob. But there's no northern to be found in SoCal.

We decided to modify the menu to correspond to what we did have: catfish. Since we were making modifications, we thought we'd have a little FamJam surf n'turf. The evening was capped off by more storytelling. No Lulu, but we did have someone almost as funny: Bill Murray. We watched Ghostbusters and part of Ghostbusters 2 in the tent, but I fell asleep before it was finished.

Sunday, July 4
After a big breakfast, indulge in a little more jamming before heading home.

Mom told me that the star of this year's big breakfast would be pancakes. So I decided to make the same despite the fact that I hate pancakes and don't know how to make them. This is just about the most disgusting looking picture ever, but the pancakes were mostly tolerable. After breakfast, we read the newspaper, finished Ghostbusters 2, went swimming, played Lego Rock Band, and went out for the fireworks.

Chad and I climbed to the top of our mountain and joined a very large crowd of people in the park to watch the fireworks. This is Riverside's fireworks show over Mt. Rubidoux but we could see three other fireworks displays in the distance. One of these other displays is visible in this photo, next to the solid tree on the right, just above the mountain. Perhaps it wasn't as much fun as watching Dusty and Mike shoot off bottle rockets, but all in all, a pretty good FamJam.