For the past 23 years my family has been celebrating Memorial Day with a fun-filled weekend at Sun Lakes Resort. For us peeps who camp, this is the beginning kick-off to many more camping vacations during the summer. Since Jenny and Zach now have a fancy house on wheels, they camped up in the park where we always used to camp as kids. Bryan, the kids and I and my mom all shared a cabin for the weekend but we spent most of our time in the campground "pretending" that we were camping too.
We have spent the past
two years celebrating Memorial Day on this side of the mountains since it is a long drive for a three day weekend but with my Grandpa being ill we decided that this year was a definitely must go.
This was always one of my favorite trip to make as a kid and I LOVED how much the kids LOVED it this year. We didn't arrive until very late Friday evening so Saturday morning we got up early to check out Auntie Jenny and Uncle Zach's set up...
Grandma Emily bought the kids a rocket launcher. They launched away for what seemed like hours.
On your mark, get set, JUMP...
A few got stuck the tree above but gradually came down that evening when the wind picked up a little...
Charlie looked on as the rockets buzzed by...
Then Gizzy payed him a visit...
Auntie Jenny even brought a hammock to lay in. I hope she rested up because in a few short months the days of resting in a hammock will be replaced with chasing a baby...
Emily rode her bike EVERYWHERE we went...
While Jack hitched his ride on Daddy's shoulders...
Grandma Emily took the kids to the gift shop to pick out a few toys...
Then we headed back up to camp to play Go Fling...
Grandma and Grandpa Mandeville came up to the camp to visit with us...
Bryan wore his
outfit for the day...
Emily wants to take golf lessons really bad but we are settling for put put golf for now...
Charlie was a trooper the entire time. He loved watching all of the activities from a bird's eye view and was cheering the kids on....
Grandma Emily spotted us and made her way over to join us...
We were HOT by the time we got done so the kids and I decided to do some Water Balloon Wars...
Really...a bucket full of water balloons, a launcher and getting wet...does it get any better?
Ready...
Set...
Launch...
Then it was Jack's turn...
After a few buckets full of balloons the kids working decided to join in on the fun since we didn't have anyone to shoot the balloons at...
WAY MORE FUN! These girls were the best. I just wanted to pack them up and bring them home with us...
Then it was off to our first pot luck dinner of the weekend. Saturday night pot luck is always soup, salads and desserts. We got there a little early so Grandpa Jim kept Charlie company while I got things set up. These two are best buds...
I got a few shots of some of our favorite peeps..
LOVE that Baby M...
My mom with the Copelands...
Aunt Debbie and Uncle Fred...
Jim was in charge of the infamous soup...
I think Zach was worried about Bryan eating the soup...
Our nightly set up looked a little like this. I didn't get our picnic table or the one next to it in the picture but I think it is safe to say that
almost all of the family made it over this year...
When everybody was finished a few lucky ladies were chosen to judge the beard growing contest. Then participants included my grandpa, Uncle Cam, Cousin Nick and Cousin Dan...
Congratulation Dan!
After dinner we headed down to the concession stand and loaded up on ice cream cones and root beer floats...
They even made special doggie cones for the dogs...
When our bellies were full we set off walking to the other side of the lake to go catch a live band that was playing in the new amphitheater...
Mmmmm...cotton candy...
Around 8pm a new crew of spectators began to make their way in and we decided that it must be our cue to make our way home. I think my husband was itching to stay around, drink some beer and become friends with the rowdier crowd but we were feeling old and didn't want the kids to pick up and new habits.
The next morning Bryan and Emily woke up early and went fishing....
While they were fishing the boys and I headed over to our annual omelet and pancake feed...
The cooks were working hard and I have to say it was nice to earn a year off from being part of the cooking staff this year...
As usual Jack resorted to playing instead of eating...
After a few hours I went down to check on Emily and she told me that she wasn't coming back until she got a fish. Bryan was looking a little worried but about an hour after I left they came running up the hill with their treasure...
We cleaned up and then celebrated with some Italian sodas...
When I was a kid my dad always packed these jelly filled pies whenever we went fishing so I came well prepared with a stock pile for this trip...
Later that afternoon everyone headed up to the miniature golf course for our annual Mandeville Golf Classic. It was pretty hot and Jack's adventures golfing the previous day had proved to be A LOT of work for us so we decided to bail out. Instead we decided that the kids would be much happier playing at the new park...
While Emily and Jack played away Charlie sat, ate lunch with us and cheered on his big bro and sis...
We made it back to the golf tournament just as they were finishing up. Somehow my grandpa managed to play 18 holes of miniature golf in just over an hours time. He dragged his oxygen tank in the heat of the sun to each and every hole and was still smiling as he finished up...
My sister gave me a few pictures to post from the tournament since we didn't make it. As I looked through them it was funny to see that EVERY person in the background is a relative...
After golf my grandpa always buys everyone an ice cream cone. The line was super long so Bryan snuck off and bought a few water guns for the kids to entertain themselves with while we waited...
After a FULL day of adventures the kids started to wear down. Emily went back with Auntie Jenny to have some quiet time while the boys, Bryan and I did some kite flying. I love looking at these pictures and witnessing the pure joy in Jack's expressions...
Later that evening we all gathered together for our last big pot luck dinner of the weekend...
Hmm...a blue frosted cookie for dinner...
It was the perfect way to spend our last night...
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