What a week!

It was time for our 6th annual Kiddie Kamp with the cousins at the lake cabin. However, all of our cousins live faaaaar away at the moment, so it was just us with Mom and Dad this week. Oh, and baby Sophie. But according to my girls, she doesn't qualify as a "real" cousin yet since she is only 6 months old! I will do a post with some of our kiddie kamps past next week, so stay tuned! We still had a great time and the girls enjoyed the activities and lake time. We were glad to have Mama Leslie and Grandpappy there for "support." It was a very full and fun week! Here are some highlights:



The girls swam and played in the sand every day. I read lots of magazines and books. Swimming time is great for me now that all the girls are good swimmers!


The girls worked on digging dinosaur bones out of a block of plaster that I got at Hobby Lobby. Yes, I copied the idea from a friend's blog. She is a friend so I don't think she will mind. They got several bones out after a LOT of work, and still have more to get out. I think we will still be working on this next week.


They did plenty of swinging on the rope swing.


They ate ice cream, and of course enjoyed a few campfires with hot dogs and marshallows. We went for walks, watched lots of movies and did lots of puzzles too.


On Wednesday night my dad helped the girls with sparklers and some Roman candles.


The girls loved lighting their own sparklers! Maybe a little too much--



We headed back to Mama Leslie's and Grandpappy's. Greg met us there for the long holiday weekend. The girls really loved playing with baby Sophie and trying to get her to laugh out and smile at them. Sophie is a very pleasant baby and was so sweet!
Susanna especially loves to help with babies and helped Mama Leslie quite a bit this week. She is going to be a great babysitter in a few years!


On 4th of July we had a big "blowout" as my dad puts it! That means that we had A LOT of really good food and great company! We enjoyed BBQ ribs (Sally, my mother-in-law's recipe-they were so good!), along with baked beans (Mama Leslie's recipe--AMAZING!), potato salad, watermelon, and Texas sheet cake (Angie's recipe--well, I'm not sure exactly where that recipe came from but I'll take credit for it!), AND Blue Bell ice cream straight from the little creamery in Brenham WITH home made chocolate sauce (Sally's recipe again.) It was a terrific meal!!!
Later, we rode the 4 wheeler. Greg took all three girls at once on a ride. Apparently, they tried to cross a muddy ditch that was just a little too deep. Got stuck. No cell phone. Walked to the nearest house to ask to use the phone. Called Grandpappy. Grandpappy came to the rescue and pulled them out. Came home very muddy and learned some great problem solving skills! Thanks for the life lessons Greg!


Later, Grandpappy took the girls swimming. Greg and I went on a ride on the 4 wheeler--he spared me the mud and getting stuck!




Later that evening, Grandpappy, Greg and one of Granpappy's friends helped the kids with a TERRIFIC fireworks display! They had sparklers, roman candles, Texas Loud, Texas Proud, an airplane, a panda, dancing butterflies, jumping jacks, bird cage, some kind of HUGE rocket things, the teacup, bottle rockets, loud firecrackers, and many others that I can't remember the name of! The kids and the big kids (Grandpappy, Lynn, and Greg) were at it for 2 hours. It was a great time!!!!