Spinning Through Life: Happy Birthday America

Happy 4th of July! I hope this 3-day weekend is making you smile as much as us. We are truly soaking it up. We started by sending little missy off with her Nana and Papa on Friday night, so we could enjoy a delicious dinner at Kool Beanz and an old-school bowling party to help our sweet friend Caroline ring in her 30th year. I say it here often, but I'm so grateful to have all of our family (less the Beantown sister) to give Blaine and I "us time" when needed.

Saturday morning found us headed to the Cherry Lake 4H Camp located in the metropolis of Madison, FL. For as long as I can remember, our family has celebrated a family reunion here over 4th of July weekend.
As a younger child, it was wonderful. Running barefoot, lakeside; sleeping bunk-style in sticky, hot cabins; spending the days on the boat and nights in the Mess Hall playing games. As many of you know, I have a very, very large family {as in my mom has 16 brothers and sisters}, so there were always plenty of cousins to play with.

As my teenage years set in, my perspective changed slightly....I started to notice the cabins were sticky and hot and saw the bugs crawling the walls of the shared showers; I outwardly complained about this forced family fun, but in actuality, still looked forward to the annual visit.

Recent years have found us not always able to come - often traveling elsewhere for the holiday weekend - but this year, we decided to stick close to home so we could spend the day there. And how my perspective has changed again. Watching my sweet girl experience the same memories is priceless. The place has changed - those little cabins pictured above were left unused this weekend, replaced by new airconditioned units, still with "sleeping porches" but a bit more comfortable. And the lake is filling with more and more large homes, as more people discover this little gem.

However, the concept is still the same - memorable nights and days with those we love the most.

An afternoon game of wiffle ball, LE watching her daddy next to one of her favorite people in the world - Zachary.

Not too thrilled about the life jacket....

But managed to get over it when we pushed off.

With silly Brady - doing her knew "close your eyes and mouth" face. So glad you made it from Boston, Brady {but wish you had stuck Kathy in your pocket to come too}

This collage pretty perfectly showcases what our day at the lake looked like.
From left to right, top to bottom - Chloe off the high dive; LE sucking up a CapriSun {note, these are not the norm for Logan}; Braxton teething on a rock {again, not really the norm there either}; Logan's sweet smile each time she spots cousin Zachary; Sweet Uncle Cecil and Caleb; evening games on the lawn; Logan splashing in her and Maggie's little pool; Zachary & Logan playing together; beautiful lighting as LE and daddy board the boat; LE in the arms of my Big Todd, whom I adored growing up in the same way Logan adores Zachary; what would the 4th be without potato sack races?; Zachary in his "canoe" - he has asked for a real one for his 6th birthday; Maggie and Mandy relaxing lakeside; sweet, tired Braxton at the end of the night; and the two fast pals Maggie and Logan watching the bigger kids.