Update on Cousin Camp

After finally recovering :) from 3 days of going nonstop, I (Julie) had to fill you in on this year's camp.  We had a fabulous time. My cousins, aunts, mom, and older kids helped out so much which was the key to making it all come together.

Here are a few moments from camp to make you feel as if you were there!

Bryan guiding William around on Peaches.

We did the 50 foot water slide last year and it was requested again.
(I bought heavy duty black plastic at Lowe's - two 25 foot rolls.)
Bags of sand are better than dodging big rocks!  I bought old curtains at Goodwill and sewed bags.  This was Bryan's idea.  I guess he didn't want to doctor bleeding kids.  Good plan.

Dodging rocks or not, it still got a bit crazy.  This is Gibson jumping over Kate.  

Anders and Tyson (one of the twins) before bed.  This is what I love about Cousin Camp.  They will have these memories to relive when they attend each other's weddings someday.
sniff. sniff.

Little Hayes.  He's only 2 1/2.  Not really big enough to hang with the big boys, but someday!

Each kid had a number on his/her back according to when he/she joined the family.
My dad is quick to remind me that I produced 8 of the 16.  Yes, Dad, I know.
I claim #1,2,3,5,9,11,13,and 16.

The whole gang!

Mealtimes went amazingly well.  I wish I had this much help all the time!

Taylor (the other twin) and Jonah meet for the first time.

The sand Bryan had brought in was a hit.

He also saw these youth kayaks at Dick's Sporting Goods.  The kids loved them.

Face Pillows - a Pinterest project

My mom and Alicia aim at clay pigeons. Everyone was pretty good.  Alicia was really good!

Of course, these guys (Kyle, Gibson, and Tyson) were good too.

The only girl cousins under the age of 14.  Fashion shows and make-up kept them busy.

Climbing up to the treehouse during our campfire lunch.

The zipline.  Only a couple minor injuries this year.

I just adore this picture.  I guess it's the anticipation. 

Andrea, Aunt Pat, and Alicia.  They live in the Kansas City area.

Patrick during a marshmallow relay race.

Gibson can use this picture for his future political career.

Gibson and Anders with their mom, Alicia.

We also made a movie called Odd Jobs which is about three siblings who come up with odd jobs in order to raise money to buy their mother a birthday present.  It is hilarious.  Look for the two old twins at the end!  Glynne and I collaborated on it; I came up with the storyline and she wrote and directed it.  She wants to put it on the next blog.  Something to look forward to! :)

Cousin Camp: Day 1

    This week has been full of preparations.  All but one of our cousins on my mom's side are arriving for 3 days of Cousin Camp fun!  We have been working for the past couple of days to get the house ready for the event. This means dusting, vacuuming, mopping, de-cluttering, organizing, grocery shopping, and cooking. It may sound like a lot, but with all of us working hard it doesn't take too long. Having a big family is handy for stuff like this.
   
        Emma and Noah Camp set up the tent.  This will be the sleeping quarters for possibly 4-7 boys.

Since there will be people staying in the boys' room, it needed to be cleaned and made presentable. As an extra thing, my mom and Mrs. Gardner made up some baskets to make their stay a little more hotel-ish. 

(Katie Gardner made the soap.  She sells it too!)

As of right now, we're still waiting for them to arrive. Everything is set and ready. We even have a schedule made for today! 

Hopefully everything goes well today here at Cousin Camp 2012, and we hope you all have a fun week! 

Jackson Turns 5!

     Today is Jackson's 5th birthday! Instead of throwing him a party at home, my mom had yet another idea. Do you see a theme here? She always has some idea up her sleeve. This idea was a park hopping party!

We started his birthday journey at the train park in Ark City.

Then headed back to Winfield! Lions Club Park was next. 

After we finished playing freeze tag there, we headed to our last destination - Island Park. 

We ended the park hopping party with cupcakes at Island Park. This may sound bad, but it was such an easy party! We drove them to the parks and the kids took care of the rest. It certainly seemed like they had fun and we did too. 

We love you Jack! Happy birthday! 

At the Beach

     Usually we love to spend a few days in the summer at our local lake. Unfortunately, this year our lake was closed down because of a potentially dangerous algae. But not to worry. Mom had the idea to turn our pond into a miniature lake complete with a private beach! Awesome. 

Ally actually smiled for this picture! Yay! 

We never have problems getting Kate to smile. 

Jonah enjoyed chilling out on Mom's lap and being carried into the pond by Emma. 

Haha! I think Isaac may have had a mouth full of food in this picture. 

I was trying to blow this up... but it had a hole. 

Happily, this one didn't! What a surprise. 

Jonah was so cute. All he did was play in the sand and suck on a plastic cup. Aw. Adorable. 

Emma turned Kate into a sand mermaid. I think the technical term is sandinas mermaidius. 

Dad and Landon had been mowing all day. They were miserably hot and covered in dirt, so they inflated our boat and joined us for a dip. This was quite an inventive way to get it down to the pond. I'm not sure how safe it was...

Doesn't our mom have some of the coolest ideas? I have a feeling our summer will include many days spent in this pond as long as it stays fairly cool. Oh, and pond parties too! Can't wait! 

I hope your summer is as awesome as ours is turning out to be. Have a great week!