Baekeland Camp 2010

Baekeland Camp was purchased in the 1920's by my grandmother's grandparents. He was the inventor Leo Hendrik Baekeland and Celine (later known as "Bon Bon") was his wife. Leo only visited Camp once, declaring it a fire trap and preferring to remain home in Yonkers during the summer months. Celine and the rest of the family made the trip almost every summer. My grandmother and father spent their summers at Camp as children, and I have been going there almost every summer as far back as I can remember. Today, Baekeland Camp is owned by another branch of our family, so we are renters rather than owners. But we still try to get up to Camp for a week or two every summer!

This summer, we were there for two weeks. Two-year-old Jude had a blast, and three-month-old Ada did fine (she doesn't really care too much about her surroundings at this age). We stayed in the Main House for the first week. We loved the large living space and huge kitchen and dining areas. The second week, we were in the Roll Cabin. It was nice being right on the water with our own private dock, although four adults and two children were a bit too noisy for that space.

Here is Jude attempting to ring the fire gong.

We own this yellow canoe, which we love using each summer at Camp. This year, we spent some time getting Jude used to canoe trips. Sitting can be hard for him, so we started small, with short forays from dock to dock.

This boardwalk was built so that wheelchair-bound Bon Bon could be pushed between the Main Dock and Main House. Jude loved running up and down the boardwalk.

We had some battles with Jude over wearing his life jacket on the docks and boats. It got much easier once Daddy got his own life jacket. Then Jude wore his with less resistance.

The Milkaholic still loves his bottles of "MOKEY", but one day we managed to get him to drink his milk out of a wine glass. It probably helped that he had a brownie and was sitting in his "Stu Bunny" highchair, an old-fashioned wood-and-leather contraption that we found in a closet.

Jude wanted to sit on the Big Rock for the obligatory "sitting on a rock" photo...

But he eventually agreed to sit on a Tiny Rock instead.

Here is a good view of the Main Dock and Casino. The Casino was completely rebuilt this year, with a new concrete foundation and supports. It looks great and is MUCH more stable.

We can't wait to go back next year!