Camp Bradley - 2010

With an official logo designed and the now required "Free WiFi Hotspot" sign in position, "Camp Bradley" (my parent's house in Sacramento) had one of its largest gatherings of family and friends this Labor Day Weekend.  25 family members plus neighbors and friends arrived to the camp on Saturday with a sense of excitement, joy and a desire to experience the wilderness of Camp Bradley, while enjoying all the comforts that a home in the city has to offer, including flush toilets, nice (clean) showers, a fully stocked kitchen, multiple refrigerators and freezers, a dishwasher, running water, pool, electricity and of course WiFi and 3G coverage.  This year Camp Bradley visitors enjoyed swimming in the lake (pool), the famous ranger presentation (looking at pictures from past events and slides from before some of us were born) incredible food (at least one meal was prepared by each family attending), sleeping in the wilderness (tents in the backyard), satellite TV under the RV awning (well okay, it was under a balcony on a deck), playing in the sandbox, a campfire complete with s'mores (and a few burnt marshmallows) and of course lots of card games, some "Speed Scrabble" and conversation.  We even had time for a field trip to see a neighbors home renovation (kitchen, master bathroom, master closet, ...) and a rare sight for the Camp Bradley neighborhood, an open house.

As a founding member of the Camp Bradley team, I hope to see everyone and a few more (speaking to those of you who were in Maui) back in 2011.

PS: it is important to take note, that those 25 family members are brought together by five brothers, all with the last name Stanley. Of those only one is still alive and after this generation the name may fade away, but the memories and the traditions will remain.