Chapter 3: Saturday - Anything You Can Do…

Saturday morning breakfast was similar to Friday's meal, with the addition of pancakes. The kids all stacked the pancakes high on their plates and were excited to find chocolate chips among the various toppings to add.

"Not as good as Abba's pancakes, but they are good," Rivka noted to the other kids. The nine kids had pushed the two six-person tables together so they could all sit at one table.

John smirked with a mouthful of food, "Yep, Uncle Tony's pancakes are way better."

At the table of adults, Ziva watched her husband puff up slightly when the kids were mentioning his pancakes. She had to admit that he did make delicious pancakes and they were better than almost any she had ever eaten. As she sipped her morning tea, she observed the other families at the camp session. Most were silent at the tables; the parents and teens had phones in hand. Younger children seemed to be accustomed to no conversation at the table during meals.

"Have you noticed that our family is one of the few with people talking to each other at the tables?" Delilah commented to the others. "That family under the bobcat sign is the only other one that I've noticed that interacts while eating."

Ziva turned to her sister of the heart, "Some of them are so engrossed in their phones that they seem unaware of what is going on even at their own tables. See that group under the black bear? The family with the three children? The youngest one has spilled food on herself at almost every meal so far; the older boy with the other family cleans her up. He seems to be watching over the other children more than the parents."

Breena watched the teen wiping the little girl's face with a napkin, "Four adults, all with their phones in hand and oblivious to the children. The teen seems to watch over his six siblings and the three children of the other family during activities as well. He looks about Tali and Tori's age, maybe a year older."

"He told Tori that he is seventeen. The other kids are all twelve and younger; the little girl is four," Tim added. "He was in the sand sculpture session with us yesterday afternoon with the two youngest girls."

"I saw him with the two middle girls in the jewelry-making class; he said to one of the others in the class that his family came at the suggestion of their family therapist so they could have family bonding time. Poor kid seemed to be giving the impression that he thought the situation was rather hopeless. Said that his parents had no clue about any of the kids' likes or interests; that he was the one who got the younger kids ready for school and cooked meals," Tony shook his head sadly.

"That is so sad," Jimmy lamented. "I really feel for the teen; for all of the kids actually. I'm really glad our family is one hundred percent got each other's backs. And I am glad we established the 'no devices' rule at meals…"

LJ grinned as he handed his uncle the tablet for signing up for the day's activities, "We broke our own rule, Uncle Jimmy." The boy turned to the other adults, "Beth and I need an adult for the wood-burning class this morning; and Charles, John, and Riv need an adult for the rappelling class this afternoon."

The boy turned to go back to the kids' table as Delilah called out to him that she would be the adult for the wood-burning.

"Thanks Aunt Dee…. Oh, and Tali and Tori signed us all up for the cat-eye night hike!"

The morning sessions went by without incident. Dee, LJ, and Beth each made an ornament in the wood-burning class. Tali, Tori, Anthony, John, and Katie chose the morning-long canoe exploration around the lake and saw several deer drinking from the water, all sorts of birds, an eagle fishing, and multiple rabbits along the shoreline. Charles, Rivka, Tim, and Jimmy played chess in the outdoor area where the yoga and meditation classes had been held the day before. Breena spent the morning in the crafts cabin making jewelry; Beth joined her for the second session. Ziva and Tony somehow managed to be in the same sessions for the morning without telling the other. The first session was an outdoor cooking lesson where they made individual cobblers over a campfire. Ziva used the wild raspberries the group leaders had gathered, and Tony's had sliced apples. The pair shared their cobblers with each other. Their second morning session was the zipline.

Lunch was grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup, chili, and salads at the serving bar. The family swapped stories of their morning sessions over the meal. The kids who went on the canoe 'hike' showed off their pictures of the animals and nature that they'd seen. Everyone oohed and aahed at Anthony's picture of the eagle just as it was touching the water to make its catch.

The afternoon rappelling session took a turn to interesting when Tony, Jimmy, and Tim all showed up to be the adult for Charles, John, and Rivka. As Ziva and Delilah would later say, not a one of the men turned out to be the 'adult.' Breena was sorry she missed the fun and shenanigans, but not the drama that resulted.

Charles decided to tackle the beginner drop, while John and Rivka chose to attempt the more challenging intermediate cliff-face to descend. The kids did well on their respective drops, and then watched their fathers.

"I think I'm going to try the expert descent," Tony mentioned to his brothers. "What can go wrong? It's not like I haven't done this before."

"Yeah, almost twenty-seven years ago at FLETC," Tim quipped. "You're a lot older and less flexible than you were then."

"Go ahead, say it… I'm fatter as well," Tony smirked.

Jimmy looked at the options they had to choose, "It's been longer than that for me; I rappelled at a summer camp when I was twelve or so… Don't you think we should try the intermediate drop?"

"Aw, come on, don't be chickens… I'm doing the expert and that is final," Tony declared as he gave the younger men an 'I dare you' look.

Tim gulped, "If you can do it, then so can I. I'm a lot younger than you…"

"Well… um…" Jimmy peered at the expert drop from above. "I… I… um… if you two can make the expert drop, so can I!" He moved to have the camp personnel help him gear up for the rappelling.

The three were outfitted to descend the cliff face; each took their position at the top and grabbed the rope in gloved hands. The safety instructor reminded them of how to control the descent with the ropes and clips, and how to use their feet and hips to 'bounce' off the surface during the trip down.

"Last one down has to buy the others a dinner when we get home," Tim grinned and gave the other two a thumbs' up. He psyched himself for the initial drop and positioned his feet at the edge of the cliff.

"Okay, on three…" the camp employee sensed the competitiveness of the three brothers. "One… two… three!" Tony, Tim, and Jimmy leaned back over the empty space under them and pushed off with their feet.

"Woo-hoo!" Tony felt the rush of exhilaration as he started downward.

Jimmy gritted his teeth and tried to get the thought that he was going to die out of his head. Once he started down, he quickly felt the rush from the air blowing across his face. He wasn't ready to grin, but this wasn't too bad so far.

Tim started off cautiously, edging his feet down the side of the cliff until his head was even with the upper edge; he pushed off with his feet and started his controlled free-fall. The wind in his face felt good and he grinned at the other two.

"This is great…" he bounced his feet off the wall and dropped some more.

Tony pushed off the cliff and angled towards Tim, "Oh, yeah…"

"Hey, don't get your ropes tangled with mine!" Tim fretted as Jimmy approached from the other side.

"This is cool; we could make a zig-zagging pattern as we go down and entertain those on the ground watching," Tony suggested. "Show 'em what these brothers are made of, heh?"

Tim looked up at the ropes above them coming down from the top of the cliff; he glanced downward at the long drop below them. Al he wanted was to get to the bottom in one piece. He knew he had to travel the length of the rope to get down, and that he could control how fast or slow he moved.

"I don't think we're supposed to be goofing around or showing off, Tony. Safety first and all that," Jimmy reminded the older man.

"We have on helmets, harnesses, and gloves. The clips control how fast or slow we fall; what can go wrong?" Tony bounced off the rock and whooshed downward. "Let's go…"

Jimmy followed as Tim gulped and berated himself for letting Tony goad him into the expert descent. 'If Tony can do this, so can I,' he reminded himself. 'I'm younger, more flexible, and if Tony can do it, so can I.' He psyched himself up and pushed off the rock, heading down towards the other two.

A gust of wind blew Tim towards Tony; the younger man twisted to avoid a collision and snagged his sock on the rocks. He tried to move his foot and realized that he was stuck.

"Um… guys… my sock is snagged on the rock," Tim got the attention of the other two.

Jimmy tried to inch his way over to Tim and as he was within arm's reach, his foot slipped. He started spinning on his rope. The man closed his eyes and called out to Tony for help.

Tony assessed the situation and made his way to the side of Tim; he moved up slightly and bounced over Tim's rope to grab Jimmy and stop his spinning. Once he anchored Jimmy to the cliff face, he bounced back over Tim's rope and inched down to free the snagged sock.

"There you go…" Tony grinned at Tim. "What would you do without your big brother to come to your rescue?" He smirked at both.

"Get in a lot less trouble!" Jimmy replied quickly.

Tim sighed, "I second that!" He noticed movement above them, "I think they're sending rescue from above…" He pointed to the rope dangling from the top of the cliff.

"WE DON'T NEED HELP!" Tony called out. "ALL IS OKAY NOW!"

"You sure?"

"YES! We're moving down again very soon." Tony inched away from Tim and indicated to the other two to start downward again. All three men pushed off the rock and glided down the ropes.

Tony let his clip loosen and zipped down, followed by his brothers.

"WOOOOOO…" all three felt the rush of air and near free-falling. One last 'bounce' and they were on the ground.

Tony grinned and gave a thumbs' up to Tim and Jimmy; he was about to say something about their adventurous descent when he heard a familiar voice.

"Anthony D. DiNozzo, Junior, if you try anything that reckless again, you will be in time out for the rest of the weekend and then some," Ziva scolded from behind him.

"You also, Timothy Farragut McGee," Delilah admonished her husband.

Tim and Tony shared a sheepish look. Jimmy just looked relieved to have two feet on the ground again.

"Guess we're busted?" Tim whispered to Tony.

Tony shrugged, "I'm not gonna say no… Ziva will have my hide either way."

"What the hell did you think you were doing?" Ziva got in the men's faces when they exited the area after stripping off gear. "You are grown men; you are supposed to be setting positive examples for the children…"

Jimmy looked around for Breena, "Breena didn't see?"

"But we will tell her," Delilah emphasized that he wasn't off the hook.

The dinner bell started ringing, much to the brothers' relief.

"This is not over," Ziva huffed as she turned away from Tony towards Delilah. "Shall we go get some dinner, sister?" The two women mostly ignored the men trudging behind them as they discussed consequences for their husbands.

Dinner was cowboy steaks, baked potatoes, corn on the cob, and ice cream bar for dessert. Everyone filled up on the delicious food, even though LJ tried to get his parents to let him eat dessert first.

The family had some down time between dinner and the cat eye hike so they trekked back to the cabins. Since the night was cooling down, all of them changed to warmer clothing and grabbed jackets. In their room, Tony apologized to Ziva yet again.

"I got caught up in showing off… you know… anything you can do, I can do better," he quipped as he sang the infamous line from Annie Get Your Gun. At Ziva's scowl, he stopped and moved over to her, wrapping his arms around her. "Hey, I said that I'm sorry… forgive me?" he nuzzled her neck.

"I want to… stay angry… with you… but…" she giggled as he nibbled at her favorite spot. "Do not think you can… distract… me…" She spun around and pulled him to her, kissing his lips.

"IMA! Rivka is wearing my jacket," Beth ran into the room as her parents pulled apart. "Tell her to give it back to me!"

Tony pressed his lips to his wife's and then stepped aside, "I got this." He followed Beth to the twins' bedroom.

"Abba, she has my jacket," Beth pointed to the one on her sister. "I want it back so I can wear it tonight."

"Not yours, it's mine!" Rivka snapped back. "Yours is in the chair over there." She pointed to a similar jeans jacket.

Tony picked up the jacket on the chair and found the garment label inside the side seam. He turned the tag so both girls could see the large 'R' in indelible ink written on the tag. "I think this one is yours, Rivka. Please apologize to your sister and give her jacket back." He held out the girl's jacket to her.

Riv stripped off the jacket she had on and tossed it on the bed, "Sorry, I guess."

"Abba, she's being mean. And she threw my jacket on the bed," Beth whined.

"Hey," Tony got the attention of both girls. "It was a mix-up. It happens when your clothes are alike. Beth, please stop whining. Riv, please say the apology sincerely."

The older twin sighed, "Sorry. I thought it was mine. I forgot to look at the tag."

"Okay," Beth grabbed her jacket from the bed. "Wanna go find the others and get ready for the cat eye hike? We need our flashlights."

The sun was setting over the lake as the families and campers gathered at the dining hall for instructions for the cat eye hike. Each group would complete the search for the reflective cat eyes as a unit, setting out from the dining hall in ten-minute intervals. Each cat eye sign had further instructions to continue along the hike which would find them at the clearing for the nightly bonfire eventually.

"Beware the giant cat, for he prowls these woods at night," the event guide told the campers. "Be sure to read the instructions with each numbered set of cat eyes and follow them carefully so the big cat doesn't decide to make you his dinner.

"I will start you off in the direction for the first set of eyes; then you are on your own," she warned. "Listen carefully as you proceed for you may hear the big cat on the prowl!" She directed the first group to proceed.

Two other groups set out before the DiNozzo-McGee-Palmer family had their turn. The adults let the kids lead the family and use their flashlights to find the reflective cat eyes hanging on the trees or along the paths. LJ found the first set, and ran towards the tree where they were fastened. The others followed behind him to read the first set of directions aloud.

"Beware the big cat. He is watching you even now. Tread lightly and cautiously as you head to the second station. Take one of the sacks from the pile to gather your rewards for making it safely to the final station. Head in the direction of the arrow on the tree to your left," Tali read the card to the others as Tori spied the stack of bags.

The teen opened the clip to free the handles of the family's bag. All of them jumped when a growling sound seemed to come from the dark behind them.

As the group moved in the direction indicated by the arrows, a second low growl came from the opposite side of the small clearing. Instinctively, the family clustered closer together and proceeded to search for the second pair of glowing cat eyes.

"This is kinda spooky," Katie grabbed Anthony's hand. "I feel like we are being watched."

"Gotta be motion sensors or something," Tim and John reassured her. "We tripped the sounds when we moved or when Tori unfastened that clip holding the sacks."

A sharp crack like a snapping twig in the dark brush had them closing ranks. Breena grabbed Jimmy's hand; Riv and John reached for each other's hands as Beth and Charles moved together. Tim held on to Delilah's wheelchair. Tali and Tori came side-by-side, but the two teens and LJ still led the family. Tony reached for Ziva's hand and intertwined their fingers. She squeezed his hand lightly as they followed the others; the last two of their group.

At the next three stops, the directions led them to boxes of graham crackers, bags of marshmallows, and a case of chocolate bars, all inside sealed containers to keep the night critters from stealing food. By the time the family arrived at the seventh station, they had all the fixings for smores and several long sticks to roast the marshmallows over the fire. They were reading the direction at the seventh station when Jimmy let out a yell.

"Something brushed against my legs!" he told the others. "Something big!" As he spoke, they heard a rustling sound in the brush. Tony shined his flashlight in the direction of the sound. A pair of shiny eyes glared at them.

"See? It's huge!" Jimmy pointed at the eyes.

Ziva shone her flashlight at the eyes and chuckled, "It is a raccoon. The poor thing is probably as afraid of us as we are of it."

With that, the raccoon ran off crashing through the brush. The others laughed with relief that it had just been a raccoon. Jimmy even laughed at himself, but the thing had not been small. He'd thought a wild dog had rubbed against his leg.

At the eighth station, they were directed to a large storage bin with lidded cups with hot chocolate mix inside. The sack was almost full when the family arrived at the ninth set of cat eyes. Anthony started reading the card.

"You are almost to the end; but the big cat is watching you with hungry eyes. You must find his food and appease his hunger before you can proceed to the last set of eyes. Look for the large yellow drum and take out one bag of fruit and scraps for the big cat. Find his feeder and empty the bag for him to feast. Move quickly where the arrow points to get to safety and the final station."

The others started hunting for the yellow drum. Anthony stepped to the side of the tree with the cat eyes to shine his flashlight into the woods. Something jumped out at them, and the entire family nearly screamed as they moved backwards from the tree.

Delilah was the one who realized that they'd been 'attacked' by a cloth balloon shaped like a bear. Anthony's light had triggered the motion. The family had a good laugh as Jimmy spotted the yellow drum and retrieved a bag of the food for the wildlife.

As they moved towards the final station, searching with their flashlights for the final set of eyes, several times, the family heard rustling in the brush. In a small clearing, an owl swooped down and sent them scrambling for the path to the bonfire area.

"That was scary but fun," Charles and Beth noted to the others.

Breena was still holding Jimmy's hand tightly, "At least we have a reward for making it through!"

"Yeah, we get to have smores!' Katie held Anthony's hand as the family walked in the direction of the bonfire clearing. She was good with no more cat eye hikes!