Failed Camping Trip Renewed

This past weekend was supposed to be the first family gathering of my dad's side of the family in nearly 10 years. We all have reconnected on FB and all the cousins wanted some type of family get together. My brother started it all and passed it on to me. I had camp sites reserved at Pace Bend, menus planned, activities planned, and we were just waiting on the date to arrive. As the date approached, families started dropping like flies one after the other. So by Monday, my brother and I decided we would just cancel the entire thing and do what we do best - somehting together with our kids and my mom.
Friday evening the 11 of us went out to the beach and enjoyed an early evening swim and dinner (best time of day to go to the beach!) Everyone stopped and picked up their own Subway sandwiches. I brought cookies and chips, my mom brought fruit and drinks.


So after lots of....

skipping along the boardwalk...

jumping waves...
finding many hermit crabs and ...

many smiling faces...
on three of the prettiest girls...

...we decided to return the following morning to sein the waters. My camera was left in someone else's truck who did not bring it to with him the following morning, but I won't mention my brother's name or anything like that, so we don't have pictures of the many fish caught or the unusual one that looked like a dog fish but they said it was something else or the STING RAY!

And that is exactly what we did Saturday morning, followed by an afternoon being lazy and swimming in the river. The kids love playing together! After swimming, we had fried shrimp, crawfish, baked potatoes, and salad...YUM. To finish off our time together was bike rides and ice cream in the driveway.

Sunday we had intended on going to Splashway, but since my dad's back is hurt and my mom hurt herself as well, plus Steven is heading back to work Monday, we all spent a lazy afternoon at home. The kids and I took a bike ride around the block, played in the sprinklers and spent some quiet time watching "Fresh Beat Band." (much better than Wiggles!) While riding bikes around the block I realized I need to video Jordonna riding her bike - that girl can ride, forwards, backwards, and FAST!