Jack and Carrie visit!!!

They just arrived Sunday afternoon and we are having a really nice time.  Carrie has a baby in her belly and has been carrying him/her around for 28 weeks now!!!!

Here is the beautiful miss making us ginger beef for dinner!! 

My entire family cooks when they come to visit!!

{mainly because none of them can stomach the camp food!!}

 Jack and Elliot -- LETS RIDE!!!!

 oh to be pregnant and need to pee every few minutes, no matter where you are!!!

 Jack and Carrie: Jack drags his mom out every few minutes for a quad ride......

the boy is super sweet but totally relentless!!!

 Not sure what we just finished doing here...but i love how terrified she looks!!

 Thank you for being here carrie.....i love you so much....you are such a great mom!!!!!

Typical conversations around here:

"Elliot, please stop crying, Kevin said you can't be a Head Hunter tonight......"

Really....don't you hear that in your home ALL the time??

End of the evening found Elliot succeeding in being a head hunter.....

{note black bandana=headhunter}

persistent kids my boys...which will serve them well later......

 The Headhunter and the Snake and Hippo sleeping after a long day of playing.....

Snapshots of Saturday....

Rachels day off = shopping trip to victoria sans enfants!! 

Merci Grandma and Grandpa for taking the boys over night!! 

 Sad the summer will be over only because we will be saying good bye to dollar ice coffee days!!!!

 JON!!!!!!

 J and J!!!

The dinner on saturday was nice -- having people up is always a highlight for me.....didn't take too many shots of everyone.....but it was nice.

Continuation from the last post.......

Yes, i am going to 'miss this' {camp! people!}.....but i also just miss this:

Tranquility......quietness.......

After this past week of watching my husband continue to run around like a crazy man trying to make the week amazing....i feel tired just watching him.  {remember that he has worked 6 months in 4!! We did the math this past week.}

He has a vision for this place to make it the best place for kids to come to meet jesus.  Its been a tougher summer in regards to getting everyone onto the same page, and each week he has to do that with a different team of staff.  We are going into week 8 {or is it 9?}....and i can feel it.  I am on the outside, and I can physically feel the exhaustion of the staff.  It feels heavy.......and i think many are excited for the weekend already.

I know I am......

But I am excited for a few things....mainly for a certain new staff family who will be joining the team shortly who will be a real breath of exciting and fresh air.  I am really looking forward to this new chapter.....

I no longer want my husband crawling into bed at night and not being able to sleep though he is exhausted.

Its been too long coming and its time to start fresh.

i am so going to miss this.....

This morning was sweet....Christie and her kids came for a few hours to swim and enjoy the sun!  No pics...but it was similar to yesturday....Cristin and her kids came yesturday morning and played with us til early afternoon.  Its been nice having friends come visit....

This afternoon was spent on the beach.....this evening we watched Kev explain the game to 120 kids:

My kids had already gotten home before me and I came home to this super sweet sight:

I headed back down to camp to try to convince chris to come home a little earlier for a bonfire....but to no avail.  But i did have a fun tackle session with Mel and i smelled Jinny's hair for a good few minutes {oh my, it was so nice.....}, i love them.  But by the time i got home with fresh cookies from the cook from mug up....Mitch joined us for bedtime snack and we started a game of Blokus....but Isaac convinced him to read them bed time stories.....



I already feel, in the pit of my stomach, the sadness that will engulf this family when we have to watch these people leave at the end of this summer in a few short weeks.  Currently, as i type this, mitch, rachel, sarah {who is cuddling with Isaac who has weasled his way out of bed} and Chris are all on the couch with me watching AFV.....i am so going to miss this. 

Chris takes a day off......

i know...i know!  i think this is the first blog entry all summer with chris IN it?!  Its a sad reminder of how much this boy has been working this summer!!  He added up all his hours in the last 4 months since 'summer' started...and in 4 months, he has worked 6.  Blow your mind, doesn't it?

 Chris took the boys to the finished Kinsol trestle this afternoon while i drove boats for the camp!!

We are currently all chilled out watching 'Rio' {super cute btw}....it was a challenge to get Elliot away from Kevin tonight as they were about to start the Safari game.  Elliot loves being a bad guy with the sock smacker...you know the sport sock with flour in the toe and you whack campers with??  He lives for that!!!  We finally yoinked him away from Kev, tears and all......but i think Chris has had a relaxing day off. 

Isaac and Evans FIRST sleepover!!!

Evan was dropped off yesturday afternoon and my boys were still with the LIT's, so he finished up my boating shift with me til dinner.  I think he had alot of fun watching me pull campers......it was sweet to watch him laugh as they (only sometimes!) would fly through the air!

Dinner at camp, playing at the park, bugs bunny and airhockey upstairs til bedtime. 

Here they are starting out in the computer room.

This is where they ended up.....

This morning they have explored, had a water fight, ate pizza pops, played more air hockey and leafed through isaacs favorite Spy Book {thanks jenny!!! It doesn't normally leave the side of his bed!!}.......

Chris just made them a code they have to decifer with a code that Chris made up....

so that should keep them busy for a few minutes anyways......

A wonderful MIL

meg and "gini"

The rain feels appropriate today...sort of a reminder that summer fun is almost over and serious times lay ahead with school starting for both boys {but we won't really speak more than that about school yet since we still have just over 2 weeks left of official summer break!!}

The house is empty and dark and calm with the rain sounding outside.  The boys have been feeding themselves, playing, watching movies.....its been a wonderful, restful morning.

But i have to admit, that amongst all this quietness....I am missing these girls.  and i couldn't choose a favorite shot, because in doing that, i would be missing the 'phase' of the fun photoshoot we did together. 

 Gina....you made my summer. You make me laugh more than anyone in this world i think!!! Everything is funny and i know i can say anything and you will never be offended....

what freedom that is for me!!!!

 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 

  i just couldn't get my lips right......

 Megan...what a surprise you have turned out to be.  The ease that we have as we have seamlessly glided into our friendship feels like such a gift.  Chris and i have loved Brett since the beginning of our camp life here.....to know that he has such a perfect partner, thrills me....but it is such an added bonus that I have grown to love you so much too!!  You are an easy friend who makes me laugh even though you wake up just looking the way you do....i try not to hold that against you. 

Quote from Jeff Bridges in "the mirror has two faces"...

"i don't care if you are beautiful, i love you anyways...."

i miss you both......from the bottom of my heart...thank you.....

Meet my little friends!!!

Sunday....

Out of bed by 8:30...quad to breakfast by 8:33.....chapel at 9:30 {great band this week}

Full house still with some fav people.

Lunch

 After lunch:

Meg helps me get the house back in order while Gina is packing the trailer.

 Brett:

Relaxing in the hammock.

 Jeff:

Prepping the trailer for departure.

 Kale and Isaac are off exploring while Elliot and Kadence:

play toys quietly together.

i just went around quickly after lunch to snap where everyone was...i loved that everyone was doing something.  After an hour of this, it was time for a swim....so everyone went and jumped in the lake.