Final days of vacation: Family

For the past five July 4th holidays, my family has gathered together to spend a few days just hanging out with each other. It is the one time of year that no one is rushing off to another place, and we have a few days to just be with each other. This year, we headed to Maumee Bay.

The first day we arrived early to camp, and Tif, David, and Noah also came early to start their vacation. We all hung out together around the campfire waiting for mom and dad to also arrive for S'mores.
David and Noah both practiced their lumberjacking skills to help with the piddly four dollar wood pile I thought would last the night.


Thanks to David -- and Noah-- my wood pile grew!

A big focus of these trips is eating. Yes, eating, and lots of it! Noah enjoyed some awesome corn straight from the grill.
Andrew loved his S'mores.

We were also creeped out that a weird phenomenon that we noticed in Kentucky followed us to Ohio. When we camped, tons of daddy long legs would gather on the outside top portion of our tent. You would open your eyes and see them all there on the top of the tent. Freaky!
Some of our other favorite activities from the rest of the weekend included:

Kite flying (even though they look too exhausted to stand)

Playing with sparklers


Swimming

Taking Nature walks -- and just plain hanging out with their cousins
My favorite part? Truly? Just being able to talk to my family. We talk and laugh and tell the same stories every year, but it is what I look forward to every year. I love it. Being with my family "fills me up." I didn't always know it, but I do now. I have a wonderful family. Thanks mom and dad for the awesome trip.