back from camping!

This weekend we had our annual "family camp." I won't even tell you how the mice took over our camper over the winter and left us tenting it, ewwww! Next year will be 20 years the tradition has carried on. Actually, its been longer than 20 years but its been organized for 20 years. I have wonderful memories of my family camps as a kid and I am so warmed that my children will get to make their own memories.

You wouldn't know that she just navigated swan poo - she said "mom! swan poo is as big as human poo!!!" I love the things kids say :)
Weather permitting we always spend time at the beach. This is my beautiful niece, you'll see more of her.My son has finally learned the finer art of blowing bubbles. I can see in this image, just how soft he's blowing. He would dance around in shear joy after each round of bubbles.

Through the years we have been fortunate enough to have a parade of honorary family join us at family camp. For the past few years my dear friends have camped with us but this year they had a conflict but still managed to come out and visit us for a couple of hours. My son is in love with her :) (and this picture was taken by my husband).
As promised, more of my niece. This one cracks me up. I asked her to show me her bracelets and this was the look I got - think she was annoyed with me?
And here is her happy face, sharing candy with someone.
With camping comes lots of dirt! The first thing we did when we got home was to soak and scrub everyone. I did finally find my children under all the dirt!
This last one was taken by my sister-in-law. We were saying our goodbyes and my oldest was wrapped around my leg with tears streaming down her face. She was so sad to leave! She had made the best of friends with her second cousins who came in from Minnesota. Look closely and you can see the tear sliding down her cheek.