Times Like These

All last week Eric and Julie and the kids were in town from Cali. We had so much fun with them. One thing we did was take the Frontrunner down to the Gateway. Ryan and Cheryl and their kids also came so we had triple the fun. (We missed you Grammie and Papa) For those who are not familiar with my family, Ryan and Eric are my big brothers. I totally LOVE them. Cheryl and Julie are the sisters I never had. So totally LOVE them too. And all their kids...LOVE, LOVE them!

In case you can't tell, I love my family!

The whole clan waiting ever so patiently for the train.

The ride.

Once we got there the older kids decided to go shopping while the younger kids had some

fun in the fountains...

The boys.

The girls.

Ben and Gavin laying on the smoking hot concrete. Ouch!

Little Sadie is SO adorable.

Eric and his little miracle, baby Troy.

We covered a lot of mileage on this trip. We even made it to the moon and Mars!!

(via the planetarium)

I treasure every minute of the time when ALL the cousins are together. It doesn't happen as often as I would like because of distance so we take what we can get. These times are priceless to me.

This weekend we had a blast camping with Grammie and Papa and Ryan and Cheryl and kids. Grammie and Papa got us a great spot at Curlew with lots of shade and our own little private dock. It really was heaven.

Every time the cousins get together my kids get SO excited. You'd think they were just told they were going to Disneyland. I love it!!

One cute little bonus we got at the camp was this sweet little mama bird and her babies. The daddy would also come and take turns watching over the babies. It really was a neat thing to witness.

We made great use out of Grammie and Papa's kayaks. This picture really sums up our trip... kayaking till the sun went down...

What a hottie. I absolutely love it when Lee breaks out his guitar. I fall in love with him all over again.

OK. So there was one thing about camping that made it not quite so heavenly. This picture is of Eva jumping into the lake. After a long day of swimming Eva along with everyone else layed out their life jackets over night. Well, morning came and it was time to put the jackets back on to go swimming. Eva did, not realizing that about 50 earwigs had made it their home over night. They nested in a little hole in the jacket and poor little Eva wore that thing for quite some time. When she decided to take it off these 50 (ish) earwigs started crawling out all over the dock. I almost lost my breakfast. We also quickly noticed that whatever was left out quickly became home to our earwig friends. We had to be careful with everything we put down. Good times.

Ben and Beau loved throwing rocks into the lake to see how big of a splash they could make. Ben also has quite the arm for skipping rocks too.

Priceless!

Ryan and Papa looking for deer. Like father, like son.

This picture makes me laugh. Aren't we supposed to be camping?! Here everyone is watching Mall Cop. There is something really wrong with this. I guess I should also confess that I did bring the kids' DS's, but they NEVER played them. Good job kids.

Saturday morning Papa took the grand kids fishing on the dock. This was Ben's first time fishing and we tried warning him that it could take hours before he caught something. Well, wouldn't you know it, Ben's cousin Beau caught a fish about 30 seconds after casting his line. Now I was worried that Ben would feel left out because what were the chances that Ben would catch one too so soon? But not 2 minutes later Ben's little line starting jerking. And then shortly after that Livia and then Eva caught a fish. Poor Papa never got that lucky, however.

Here is the video of Ben catching his first fish...

He was happy to catch a fish but wasn't quite ready to stick his finger through the gill to hold it for a photo opportunity. I don't blame you, Ben.

Eva was happy to have caught one to. Like a loser mom I accidentally erased the video of her catching her fish. I still haven't forgiven myself.

Fish heads, fish heads. Yummy yummy fish heads.

Classic picture!

Emma taking charge.

I think Eva is happy in this picture because her life jacket is no longer oozing earwigs.

I absolutely loved taking my kids for rides in these kayaks. I could have been out there all day. Why we do not have any of our own is beyond me. I think that will need to change.

Eva also did a good job paddling.

We also had a cotton pickin cherry pit spittin contest. I never did find out who won but it made for a cute picture.

I love this picture. These girls were out floating around for the majority of the trip.

This was another nest in our camp that had the cutest little baby birds. Everybody grew quite fond of these little guys. It was so cute to watch them opening their little beaks.

Lee and Ella all tuckered out.

That night while the rest of us dined on Tacos, those who caught fish had their own feast. Eva and Ben ate those fish right up and didn't even want to share.

The night before we had to pack up we made smores and listened to Lee strum his guitar.

I am not sure that Eva would want me blogging about this but I just cannot resist. As we were sleeping in the middle of the night Lee and I awoke to what sounded like someone outside our tent. Then we noticed Eva was gone, not in our tent. We then heard someone coming into our tent. Because I was half asleep, I started to panic. I just knew that a man with a hatchet had taken Eva and was now coming for the rest of us. But no. It was just Eva. She had to go to the bathroom so she just took it upon herself to squat and go. Timid little Eva...in the darkest of nights...squatting...by herself...getting the job done without even waking anyone. I asked her in the morning why she didn't wake one of us and we could have taken her to the bathroom which was just 100 ft away. She said that she had to go so bad that she didn't think she would make it. I guess when you gotta go, you gotta go. Eva gets the courageous camper award.

Sadly, our fun filled trip ended on a gruesome note. Ben found those same sweet little baby birds that we all grew to love butchered at the base of the tree they called home.

Interestingly enough, even with the earwig escapades and the butchered birds, I cannot wait to go back. I am already longing for the

"no cares in the world" feeling I had while there.

Floating from one side of the lake to the other with my honey.

The constant laughter from the kids.

The endless supply of yummies.

The close sleeping quarters that only a tent can provide.

Witnessing the grand kids fishing with their Papa.

The security that anything I may have forgotten, my mom had in her magic trailer, much like Mary Poppins' bag.

Goodbye Curlew, aka Camp Earwig. Till next time...