Every year Shawn's Mom's side of the family gets together for an extended family reunion at the cabin his grandfather helped build with his friends many decades ago. The brothers, sisters, cousins, children, etc. have been gathering for over 40 years in tents, campers, and whatever other type of make-shift housing you can find for a weekend in the woods. Here's a picture of some of the tents:
I think Shawn's parents realize that I'm not much for camping. But, we go each year because Shawn enjoys it, it's nice to see everyone, and we know that the boys would have a blast. Plus, it's meaningful to his mom that we go. All that said, thankfully they extended us the offer to stay in the cabin, which was really really nice. It's not air conditioned, but it sure beats sleeping in a leaky tent with two kids.
This year 62 people came, including us. Here's a picture of the cabin. And here's Pine Creek which is right behind the cabin. This was prime real estate that Shawn's grandpa and his hunting buddies bought a long time ago.
We saw eagles and other wildlife while we were there. Shawn's dad took this picture of an eagle perched on the mountain directly behind the house:
Thankfully we didn't see any bears this year (or at least I didn't!). We also didn't see any skunks - another blessing. But, even with bathing in bug spray, I still was chewed alive and have to keep myself from scratching. I don't think the boys were bit too badly, though, so that's always a good thing.
The cabin is right down from Wolfe's Store, where we make at least a daily run for candy or ice cream or some other fattening food. In the above picture, the kids are walking on the bike path to get there. Joshua is holding Grant & Jenavieve's hands.
The kids also had a blast in the tire tubes, which some folks were brave enough to take tubing this year. Here's the truck load full of tubers:
We didn't go tubing this year because the creek was so low there were many places even the skinniest of tubers had to get out and walk their tube down the creek. We've gone years past, and I'm sure we'll go again. This year we just played in the shallow water, sitting on the rocks to cool off a bit. Did I mention there's no A/C up there? ;-)
Anyway, those tubes kept the kids busy for hours. They made towers or 'castles' to live in and then they made a tunnel to climb through:
And the kids took turns climbing through as we adults took turns holding the tunnel together:
And we ate lots of good food, from Bubble pizza to puppy chow to fresh cut watermelon and my favorite Moose Tracks ice cream. Yummm!!! Here are the boys at their table for the weekend, eating their eggs, sausage & potatoes for breakfast.
It's tradition that the kids sing a song for church on Sunday. So, we took them to the back deck to practice singing around 7 pm Saturday night, and they LOVED it! I think they could have sang all night long. Here's some of the kids.
We lead "My God is SO BIG!" and the kiddos enjoyed jumping on that part of the song. Caleb wasn't too sure, but I think he was one of the younger ones in the crowd. There are a LOT of kids in this extended family, which is fun.
And here's Joshua, who has begged for the "peach" song almost every day since then.
And here are us mommas helping lead the songs. Carissa took over and did a great job. I think both the kids and the adults enjoyed the songs on Sunday morning. :) :) :)
And here are a couple links from the practice, if they work:
Bananas for the Lord "PEACH Song"
So Big
Jesus Loves Me
They were adorable. After practice that night, Sarah's little guy named Tyler (approx. 18-months) followed me around everywhere and sat on my lap. He was such a sweetie pie!We watched the fireworks go off together, while my boys sat next to me for part of them.
We enjoyed the campfire for a little while, but it's different when you have kids. They finally passed out right before it started to rain. So, we didn't really hear the typical funny stories, but that's okay. This is a season in our lives, and we're alright with that. :) The next morning was Sunday, and we got ready for 'church' around the campfire. Here's little Caleb in someone else's little chair (he had an identical blue one, but wouldn't you know that he preferred the red one?).
We enjoyed a short service and then everyone started to pack up their stuff to go home. In the meantime, Caleb found a frog:
When I first saw the above picture (which is the line for the playing of volleyball, which is almost sacred up at the mountains), I thought "there's Caleb crossing the line again!" That child was into everything! He opened bathroom & cabin doors, and he just ran and ran and ran. He LOVED it! He wasn't necessarily bad, but he is curious and he doesn't sit still. He didn't sleep well while we were there, which also made him tired and less prone to listening. Shawn ran and ran and ran after him until he was tired. Caleb never wore out.
As Papaw packed up the camper, Joshua got to sit in the front seat of his truck. You would have thought he had won the lottery, he looked so proud! He had also ridden to the Hotel Manor with Papaw from the cabin (just a hop skip & a jump away from the cabin) and we all road in the back of the truck on the way back from the candy store the one day. He thought this was really cool. It all but gave me a heart attack, but luckily he was safe and nothing happened.
On Sunday we took our traditional family pictures. This is what we all look like after a sweaty long weekend with no showers. Well, I think some folks showered, but we just suffered through until we got home since there's always a line for the bathrooms there. Here are the grandkids:
And here's the group that went from Shawn's immediate family this year - Missy & Kevin didn't make it this time.
We left somewhat early on Sunday, and we stopped for lunch with Mamaw & Papaw and Aunt Erica before we headed to Lancaster and they headed to Morris (before going back to Florida). Here's Caleb enjoying a cheese stick appetizer in the ice cold air conditioning at the restaurant in Waterville.
And here's the Bean coloring his artwork and then Papaw helping him to proudly hang it up:
Thanks for a fun weekend! Until next year...
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