Camping trip

We had such a great time on our camping trip. It was a huge family reunion, and tons of people were there. We spent time with aunts, uncles, and cousins we hadn't seen in years, and some I had never met before. All of Shannon's immediate family stayed in a 3-bedroom mobile home at Lake Ouachita for the weekend, which turned out to be a tight fit. Everyone managed to clear their schedules to be there at the last minute, so we had 21 people in the mobile home, which included ten children and eleven adults! It's not very often that everyone is together like that. The first night we met up with the rest of the family for a cook-out and then everyone stayed up late goofing off and singing--everyone except for Annabelle and me--we went to bed! Rachel (aka Roo-Roo) is in cosmetology school, and she practiced giving pedicures to Mikka, Randi, and Vicki.

The next day we all went to the beach. I forgot to put sunblock on my legs and I sat on the beach with my arms draped across them. The result was a crazy sunburn that will leave stripes on my legs for the rest of the summer! (You'll just have to take my word for that! I won't be posting pictures of my legs for the whole world)
Here are Rebekah and Kade playing at the beach:

And here are Juran, Chris, Shannon, and Derek acting like little boys:

That night we had a fish fry, and Rebekah and Shannon went fishing. Her line had a small plastic fish on the end instead of a hook, so she got to practice casting and we didn't have to worry about losing an eye! At the campsite she was playing with her pole around a little Yorkie, and it ran and caught her fish. She was traumatized! We got the fish away from the dog and calmed her back down. So Rebekah didn't catch any fish, but she did manage to catch a puppy--not everyone can say that. By the way, Mom, I know what you're thinking--Rebekah is not wearing a life jacket because the boat is tied to the bank and not actually out on the water.

The next morning we got up for a big pancake breakfast with the whole family. Kyle and Chris played their guitars, we sang hymns, and Derek gave a message that had everyone in tears. As you can imagine, wrangling all ten kids is not easy, so we didn't manage a picture of all of them, but we did get one of all of them who could stand up (we're missing the three baby girls: Kyra, Grace, and Annabelle). Of course, they weren't the only kids there, but I felt accomplished just getting the first cousins together. In this picture, left to right, are: Rebekah, Gracie, Drake, Wyatt, Tyler, and Siera; Kade is in the front. The picture is cloudy because it was so hot that the lens kept fogging up.

So where is Annabelle during all of this? Well, after the first night when she smiled and cooed and just charmed everyone there, she was worn out and slept for the next two days!