Church Camping Trip

If I had to describe our church in only one word, it would be FAMILY. Some of the members of the church are literal family of ours by blood or marriage, but many are family by choice. It is such a blessing to me that we moved home and back into the church family that I grew up in before the girls were born. As always, God's timing was perfect because he brought us back here after we knew we were expecting again and before we found out about the triplets. I can only imagine the stress and urgency that would have been involved in getting our house sold, packed, and moved had we only known what was growing inside!!!



Back to the story.... Every year a large group from church gathers at Tugaloo State Park for our annual church camping trip. This tradition didn't start until after Kari, Adam, and I were already grown, so mom and dad never attended... until now. Mom, Kelli, and I took the girls over for dinner on Saturday night, and it's a good thing we've already made our beach trip because after the hours drive home with my four banshees in the car I don't think any of us would have willingly made a longer trip with them to anywhere. Enough of the bad stuff... on to the good stuff. Cousin RyleeAnn (born just 5 days before the girls) and her daddy were among the first to greet us.


When we arrived the girls wanted out to go and find Kay-Kay. They called her and sang her name all the way down the road on the way there, and eventually they found her. We loaded her up with all her little girlies... my four plus RyleeAnn, and sweet, baby cousin EmmaGrace for a quick picture or 20. I am completely sure she didn't mind!!


The girls took a walk down by the lake to check out some geese with Mimi, Sherry, and Cindy.





When they got back it was almost time for supper. I didn't manage to get a photo of everyone who was there, but here are some shots of the crowd standing and lounging around at dinner time.... we're a very relaxed bunch.





While waiting for me to fix their plates both Maggie and Ella got to take a turn holding baby EmmaGrace. This is Maggie's "I'm Too Cool for School" face... notice the tongue hanging out, so cute!!




After supper all the kiddos headed out and found their bikes. Several very generous little ones offered my guys a chance to test out their bikes, helmets, and motorized vehicles. The campground was not safe while Ella was driving, and yet we gave each of the little girls including RyleeAnn a turn riding on the thing with her! The girls wanted me to say a special thank you to Michael who offered up both a bike and his power wheels for their use... he's great boyfriend material already.




We are blessed to be surrounded by such a loving group of people, and what an awesome feeling to be raising our children here among them. Thank you to all the campers for letting us crash the party. We had a great time hanging out at Tugaloo, but next year I suspect that we'll be renting a cottage or bringing our tents to stay.... because it was FUN, and didn't I mention the late night drive home already?!?