Fr. Jerome,

a good friend of ours and a Dominican priest (as well as an outdoorsy type of person), came with us on our camping trip. It was great! We all enjoyed his company and his administration of the Sacraments. We had daily Mass at the campsite -- a beautiful setting for it -- and the kids seemed to really enjoy being so up-close and personal with the Mass. Sometimes they asked questions, sometimes they did acrobatics, sometimes they just watched.

Fr. Jerome was great with the kids and they loved playing with him. Several of the mornings when Naomi heard his tent door open, she went running to the tent yelling, "GOOD MORNING FATHER JEROME!" Then she would take a flying leap onto him and give him a big hug. Apparently that isn't his usual wake up call in real life. He probably got more than his fair share of upper body workout, since he would do some aerial trick with one child and all the rest wanted a turn. And then they all wanted another turn. And another. After several turns for each of 6 or 7 kids, seemed to get somewhat tiring.

We all had a great time with Fr. Jerome and are so glad he came with us. We even learned some new things:

Nephew [somewhat skeptically]: Are you coming swimming?
Fr. Jerome: Yes, I swim like a fish.
Nephew [with wonder in his voice]: I didn't know priests could swim!