4th of July was Fabulous! There are way too many tales to put them all here, but I will try to give the quick version.
The day started off really hot. When we got to the park, there were already a lot of people set up. We quickly got our shade established and the kids all went their own way to play in the park. People showed up fairly steadily adding to our mess of chairs and canopies. In the end, I believe we had a group of 110 people. Awesome!! My mom kept my girls for the first night of camping and they showed up on Friday afternoon all cute in their patriotic clothes. I was happy to see them. This year they had a jumping balloon thingy and Katy and Bo could hardly stay away. When they finally got in, Katy went crazy. She just chanted "ju" "ju"(Jump). When it was time to get out, she wouldn't budge. Some little girl had to go in and carry her out. The older kids all had friends and cousins to hang out with. It's nice that they can kind of do their own thing without much interference from me. They had games this year, but they didn't announce it like they usually do so I missed it! Luckily my kids didn't. I have no pictures to show though, bummer. By late afternoon, the sky darkened and the rain began! Lucky for us we had our big canopy. Everyone crowded in and we just sat. Well, some sat, mostly standing room only. We tried to count how many people were actually under there and I think it came to about 55. Crazy. Everyone was really good about it. We laughed and talked and the kids played games. Some just couldn't stay out of the rain. We decided to start grilling anyway. We had a nice little assembly line to pass out hamburgers so no one really had to move much since there was very little room anyway. It rained most of the rest of the day. It really just sprinkled so the kids were able to be out playing.
We had lots of good friends to share the day with. I tried to capture a little of everyone in my slideshow. The rain pictures are great! The Stolworthys got hit with the rain wash twice and had to move their shelter. The Johnson's came camping and it was very fun to get to know them better. Our kids all got along great. The Garner's came as a surprise and after a little prodding, I think our kids all came together and had fun. As always, the Taylors and the Garrs came along, we love spending time with them. The rest were family or friends of friends. What a great group. We are very blessed to have so many good people around us.
The day ended with a fantastic fireworks show. We were all wet and huddled in blankets, towels and anything else we could find that was dry, but a perfect ending to a MEMORABLE day!
CAMPING
Camping was a whole nother adventure. I took my 5 boys up earlier in the day. We pulled the camper so we could get set up before night. We decided to wait for Glade's parents in Payson at the park. We got lunch and sat under a pavilion. Before we were even done, it began to rain. Did I say rain? I mean POUR, sideways even! We grabbed our stuff and ran for cover. We were wet. grrrr. We decided to head out for the camp ground. We were heading to Forest Lakes. I have never been there, but was going on direction from my FIL. Long story short, we took a wrong road and ended up stuck in some deep gravel. We tried backing out, digging out, even tried some planks we found. Nothing. Our last resort, pulling forward through some trees and hoping we would fit. Well we fit, but they had placed a big boulder in the road so you couldn't get through. Me and my mighty boys tried and tried to move it, but couldn't. There were a few silent prayers and one more last effort pushing the other direction and we were able to roll it out of the way! Many cheers being heard at this point. We finally found a great spot and set up camp. I was very proud of us for being able to do all this on our own. Glade and the rest of the group (the Johnsons, her brother's family, and Glade's parents with Kent's kids) showed up a couple hours later. It rained a lot of the afternoon, so we just hung out in the camper.
The whole trip was really fun. Everyone got a long for the most part. We went up high enough that we were able to have a campfire, which is the best reason to go camping! The kids were filthy and it rained every single day, but we all kept smiles on and enjoyed the cold and wet. It's actually a nice change! The kids spent much time playing croquet, only you use bowling balls. There was also a lot of competition with the washers game as well. We had a few pukers, but I think it was mostly the result of too much crap! On Saturday, we took the kids back to Payson to swim with Joe and Kathy. It was a nice "something to do" as well as a little "bath". Glade and Jake rode their bikes and we picked them up. By then the kids were tired and clean so the evening was really mellow. It was nice to put them all to bed and stay up around the campfire with just adults. We stayed till Sunday afternoon. I think it was a very successful trip!
the boulder we moved
hangin' out eating popcorn in the tent
Bo would not let that flashlight out of his sight!
Bowling croquet
Katy and Isaac "sharing"
5 comments:
great pictures. Looks like you had so much fun. Darn the rain though, but it makes good memories. right? Hey your family group picture, you look amazing and thin. Ü
We had a great time! Thanks for sharing your HUGE canopy with us. The pictures are great. I especially love the lady in turquoise at the pool. Her bottom was in a few of my shots too, so I had to laugh when I saw her in yours. =)
sounds like you guys have had some great times! fun memories!
What fun!! Such a good looking family. It is sad to me that I see your kids and its hard to remember who is who because I think that Rhett, Stephen and even Nick should be still little....
What an adventure!! And such happy faces on all of the kids!!
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