Family Reunion

Back in June, we drove 7+ hours to southern Missouri (Table Rock Lake) for a family reunion. Everyone on my Mom's side was able to be there except for a few cousins. That's my 86 year old Grandma in the middle holding Piper on her lap.

The camp we stayed at was really nice. Between all of us, we stayed in four cabins for three days. My little family was in their own (smaller) cabin. This playground area was in the middle of all the cabins. That's Wyatt holding an empty water bottle he's filled with gravel...a little boy's paradise!

My sister rode along with us. It was nice to have her help with the kids on the long drive... and we enjoyed her company too! She stayed in a cabin with my parents, brother and his family. But she managed to get some Piper time :)

The kids quickly found a "sandbox" to play in... the horseshoe pit. Here Lila is playing with my nephew, Heath (right), and my cousin's son, Logan.

The cabins were right next to a lake. One evening we rented some paddleboats and took them out. Here I am with Lila, Heath and my brother. Wyatt didn't nap at all during our trip. Because he had been going, going, going all day, by the time we got to the paddleboats he had reached the meltdown point. Which meant he refused to put on the life jacket, then cried when he didn't get to go out. 

So we brought the boat back in and tried going back out with Ben and Wyatt, but as you can see, Wyatt wasn't happy.

Since we were all in different cabins, we decided the only meal we would try to eat together as a large group was supper. My sister and I planned those meals. It was an undertaking, but everything went pretty smoothly. We assigned everyone a job - either prep one night or clean up. Here two of my cousins and their kids are doing the clean up.

My cousin Brad holding Piper.

Lila enjoyed the freedom of being able to run around and play outside.

My cousin Amber's little boy Logan, who is 6 weeks younger than Wyatt.

One night for dessert, we made S'mores.

The older kids were pros at making them.

This was the supply station. (The girl on the right holding the marshmallow stick is Emily, who was 2 at our wedding. Now she is 12.)

Lila enlisted Aunt Janina's help in roasting her marshmallow.

"What did you DO to my marshmallow?!!"

She didn't much care for how brown it got on the bottom.

But she decided it tasted good anyway.

(That little purple butterfly ring on her finger was given to her by my aunt Lorna. She was very upset when she lost it the next day.)

Logan trying out the S'more.

Wyatt trying to figure out a way to eat it without getting his hands all sticky.

The "older" kids. My aunt Sara brought glow necklaces for all the kids.

Aunt Janina and Lila, wearing her glow necklace and bracelet - blue, of course.

Piper hung on as long as she could but Daddy's shoulder was just too tempting.

Enjoying the outdoors. The temps weren't too bad, but the bugs did get us despite spraying repellent.

My aunt Lorna and cousin Megan.

Keeping the fire alive.

Wyatt and my cousin Jeff's son, Jamie. 

I hadn't seen Jamie in several years, and when I first saw him I thought he looked just like Jeff did at that age. Of course Wyatt is a little replica of Ben, so I shouldn't be surprised.

We stayed in a 2 bedroom cabin. Lila and Wyatt shared a bed (their first time doing that!), and Piper slept in our pack-n-play in our room. She did pretty good sleeping, only waking once in the night. Now she sleeps all night long, woo-hoo! Lila and Wyatt did pretty good sleeping together. Of course, there was some talking and giggling before they finally fell asleep, but that is just part of vacation, right?

We ate breakfast and lunch at my parent's cabin. This is a picture of my brother, his wife Sarah, and sons, Jim tickling Heath.

Lila, Heath and Wyatt played pretty well together. I can't remember exactly what they were doing here that resulted in this tackle.

Aunt Janina brought along some nail polish, so she painted Lila's nails during some down time.

Lila was thrilled. There was also a pool on the premises which we visited each day, but I didn't take my camera along then.

While they were doing that, Wyatt blew some bubbles.

Another thing we did one day was take the kids fishing. Or I should say tried to take them fishing.

Here's Lila holding the pole.

But that only lasted a few minutes. What she was REALLY interested in doing was taking care of the large worm in the bucket that we had found for bait.

Wyatt also took a turn with the pole. He really liked reeling in the line. But his idea of fishing was to smack the pole in the water, so he didn't last too long.

Mom and her boy.

Ben, however, did catch a fish. 

Lila wanted to touch it.

Then she wanted to be the one to put it back in the water, so here Ben is making sure she has a good hold of it. (I was very impressed by her desire and willingness to do this!)

Grandpa also came along to fish.

One of my favorite pics from our trip - except for the tree growing out of Grandpa's head. If only I had shifted over a couple feet! Oh well.

On our last night there, we took the large group picture at the beginning of this post, and then we took this picture of Great-Grandma with all of her great-grandchildren. Then we took individual family pictures.

Grandma held onto Piper and Wyatt while I took pictures (and Ben grilled burgers).

We quickly squeezed in a family shot before Ben went to man the grill. 

It was fun to see extended family we hadn't seen in a long time. It was fun to relax and be surrounded by nature... to be surrounded by trees. And it was my kind of "camping"... air-conditioned cabin with a full kitchen :)