Family Time

Every summer my family (25 in all) plan for some extended time together. It's taken many different forms over the years from tearing down a barn/camping out in Illinois to a couple of cabins at an Indiana State Park to a beach house in Florida to a local amusement park to a borrowed lake house. Much of what we do is determined by the ages of the children and available funds. This year we stayed local and hung out here on the west side of Indy. Three families live within 5 miles of each other so we let the kids "sleep over" every night with cousins and had a great time reconnecting. All in all this was one of our more affordable vacations. Excluding gas it was around $50 a family.

The boys went hiking and camping. I hear it was enjoyed by all. Maybe next year canoing will happen.

(Pictures to come)


Meanwhile, we girls had our own time. We saw Kit Kitridge, went to eat at an outdoor mall, window shopped and then had a pancake pajama party while watching Ever After.



We played tennis (our favorite family sport) and the kids jumped on the trampoline until they could jump no more. Yesterday, some family friends hosted us at their pool for the day. It was perfect for our crowd. They also have an indoor basketball court and lots of fun games to play.



We grilled out, made smores and in honor of my parent's fortieth wedding anniversary played played our own version of the Newlywed Game.
I love my family. We are not perfect and sometimes being such a big group can be overwhelming, but we all cherish these times- times to be just us and relax and laugh and love.



We finished our vacation today by attending the funeral of our friend, Barbara. It truly was a gift to be together at just this time to remember her and comfort one another. As always, God's timing is a beautiful thing.

What's in the plans for next year's family vacation? Mom's still promoting the idea of living with the Amish for a week, but I've heard talk of more camping and a pie bake off....