Camping 2025 - Boys

The girls camp ended and the boys camp began. Kristen picked up her girls around 10:30 on Wednesday morning and dropped off Mark. Megan brought Bryce and Jake soon after and then took Cassidy home with her. Awstin didn't arrive until around 4:00 as he had a 6th grade graduation to attend in the afternoon so Melissa brought him after that. While we waited for Awstin to arrive Steve and Mark went grocery shopping to replenish our supplies. I took Bryce and Jake to the playground and then when Steve and Mark returned we went swimming in the pool. This was Jake's first year to come camping and unlike his cousins he had no idea what camping really meant. All of the other families regularly go camping and own a camper but he doesn't, so it was really fun to see his excitement as he experienced it for the first time.

After Awstin arrived we went mini golfing and then for ice cream. We basically did the same things with the boys that we did with the girls except not all of them did crafts and we did a lot of swimming with the boys. I was glad that it got warmer as the week went on and the water heated up nicely. All the boys loved swimming so it was a great activity to do with them.

Ready for mini golfing!

Jake had never played mini-golf before but he caught on very quickly and loved it!

Bryce :)

Mark kindly posed for a picture for me.

Jake :)

Our friends had a cool swing in their yard and the older kids especially loved it.

Jake tries his hand at some crafts

The older boys also liked the Ninja course that our friends had in their yard.

The sandbox was a hit for Bryce & Jake

To say the boys loved swimming is an understatement

Love this picture of Mark & Jake walking to the train station.

Awstin & Jake are ready for the train ride...

...as are Grandpa & Mark...

and Bryce.

Whoops! Jake just couldn't stay awake.

Bryce is fascinated with the scenery.

Group picture before we leave the railroad!

Awstin took this cool video of the engine going by us to hook up to the other end.

On Friday morning we packed everything up. Kristen came for Mark around 10:30 and then we hooked up the camper and headed home with the other three boys where their mothers picked them up when we got back. I feel like it was a very good week. It certainly had not been a vacation for Steve and I but we did not intend it to be. It was time that we could spend with our grandchildren and hopefully give them some good memories of fun times shared with their grandparents. 

Will we do it again next year? Thankfully we have a year to decide. :)

Camping 2025 - Girls

Well, we did it again. After camping for the first time last year with the grandkids and knowing that they liked it we decided to go for round two, however we made some changes. Instead of going a couple of days with some of the kids and then a few weeks later, taking other grandkids for a few days, we decided that Steve and I would stay the entire week. We brought one group in the beginning of the week and another the end of the week so we only had to pack up and tear down once. We also switched it to an all girls camp and then an all boys camp.

We went to the same campground, Country Acres in Gordonville, where are friends, Randy & Diane Lapp live and we borrowed Josh & Julissa's camper again. We arrived on Sunday afternoon and Josh came and helped us set everything up. After we were settled in, Steve and I went grocery shopping for all the hungry mouths that would soon be descending on us. We grilled burgers and just relaxed around the fire, enjoying the beautiful evening. It was really nice to have a quiet, peaceful evening before the grandkids arrived. I can honestly see why many retired couples buy rv's and use them for rest and relaxation. There is not much that can top sitting out in the coolness of the morning and sipping a cup of coffee while listening to the birds chirping.

Monday morning at 10:00 the girls descended on us. There were six of them--Alexis, Lydia, Hannah, Clara, Janae & Cassidy--all sisters except for Cassidy. This was also Cassidy's first time to camp with us and she was so excited. Just watching her joyous expressions made my heart sing.

All ready for a game of mini-golf!

We had a great time with all the girls. We took them min-golfing, rode the Strasburg Railroad, treated them to ice cream and did a few crafts. Janae had the stomach bug over the weekend so we were a little concerned about her health as well as the rest of us possibly getting it, but it wasn't something we could just easily reschedule. She seemed fine on Monday but then in the evening she said her stomach hurt and she wanted to go home. I wasn't going to take any chances so Kristen came and got her and she went home for the night. She was fine on Tuesday morning and Jay brought her back and she had no other problems. I found out later that Hannah threw up doing the night on Tuesday and didn't even tell me. She managed to make it through until Kristen picked all the girls up around 10:00. Thankfully, no one else got sick.

Craft time! My friend Diane helped me come up with some crafts and was generous enough to allow us to do them on her nice big deck.

Clara lines up her next shot!

Cassidy getting that ball into the hole!

Concentration from Alexis

Janae taking a break :)

These two had a lot of fun together. They also enjoyed the playground but I didn't get any pictures of them there.

Sweet pose from Hannah

Lydia smiling for the camera

All aboard the Strasburg Railroad!

These two were so great! Even though they are teenagers they were always happy to be involved and to do what ever activity we had planned.

Trying to hide that smile but she just couldn't help it. She was always smiling. 

Clara wasn't going to let a small thing like a broken arm stop her! The only thing she wasn't allowed to do was go swimming which disappointed her very much. However, the weather was cold and when Hannah and Janae went for a swim, they didn't last very long, so she didn't miss much.

Posing at Down on the Farm Creamery where we ate our lunch and got ice cream!

Just playing a little shuffleboard.

Meal Time

The two older girls really enjoyed this swing in Randy & Diane's yard.

It was a great couple of days with the girls. They left around 10:00 on Wednesday morning and then the boys arrived. See next post.

It's Been A Little While....

Wow! How can it be June already and I haven't posted anything on this blog in 2025. Well, I guess there is no time like the present so here is a little recap of the first half of the year.

I spent many of the cold winter evenings putting puzzles together. This is a very relaxing activity for me. I enjoy the challenge of the 1000 piece puzzles but I like when they have a lot of variation of color and the pieces are different shapes. I call them easy 1000 piece puzzles. Here are a couple that I put together.

Also in January we celebrated Jake's 4th birthday.

It was a "Cars" themed birthday :)

In February we kept Hannah & Janae for a weekend while Jay and Kristen went on their annual cabin getaway. This was the first year that Alexis & Lydia stayed home by themselves. I have a feeling that next year the children just might all stay home together. How quickly they grow up. We enjoyed the weekend with the girls.

Playing games

Silly, sweet Janae :)

Hannah :)

I treated Hannah to ice cream since Janae got to go over to Cassidy's house to play and Hannah was stuck with me.

March 15 was a big milestone for me as I became an official Medicare recipient. As we get older we tend not to enjoy birthdays that much, but I must say that reaching the age of 65 felt like a joyous occasion. I was happy to start receiving my health insurance through Medicare.

In April this little cutie turned one year old.

Sweet Naomi - how can it be a year already?

Also in April I spent a weekend away at a cabin with three other ladies from church. It was such a good time of enjoying each other's company, eating, playing games and laughing. I am so thankful for my friends from Victory church.

April also brought Easter. We enjoyed going to church and celebrating our risen Savior and then spending time with family later in the day. The traditional grandchildren picture... 

Thirteen is the lucky number! We are so thankful for each grandchild.

May brought two more granddaughter birthdays.

Lydia on May 19

14 years old!

And Janae on May 27

The hat says it all -- she is 5!

Also in May we kept Jake & Kyle for a few days while Megan & Jeremy enjoyed some time away celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary. They kept us busy but we had a lot of fun with them.

They love trains

Jake loves playing with Legos

And Kyle likes his little trucks and cars

Picnic at Muddy Run!

Grandpa showing them how to skip rocks

Here are a few other pictures from happenings in the first part of the year.

Handsome Bryce just completed preschool and will be starting  Kindergarten in the Fall. I have been keeping him every Wednesday since he was a baby and will still have him in the mornings next year as he will be in afternoon kindergarten.

I am so enjoying these little boys who are just 2 months apart in age. They are just too cute!

Hannah quizzing. Alexis, Lydia and Mark also quizzed this year, but sadly I neglected to take pictures. We did enjoy going to almost all of their quizzes.

On separate occasions I took Awstin, Bryce, Jake & Cassidy to the Choo Choo barn just because I enjoy it as much as they do. Here is Cassidy posing for a picture.

And here is Jake enjoying ice cream after going to the Choo Choo barn

I also keep Cassidy & Seth on Wednesday mornings while Julissa works the store. Bryce is here too and they generally get along very well, but in this picture Bryce is telling Seth not to mess with his Lego creation! :)

That's it for now. My next blog post should be fairly soon as I want to write about the camping week that we had with the 10 oldest grandchildren the first week of June.