Labor Day = Family F-U-N with an Amazing Sister

On Labor Day weekend Kendell and the Rills joined us on our annual pilgrimage to Spring Hill. It was so much fun.

One of our many trolley rides around camp.

I began dating this guy 24 years ago there. He thinks he looks a lot worse - I totally disagree.

Tire swings are always fun, right?

Playing at the sprinkler park. This is only one of a few pics I have of T, and I only have a couple of B & Sky. They were off playing bb guns and doing big kid things by themselves, or else I was playing, so no pics, or I was trying to conserve my memory space because I could not remember what pictures I downloaded off my full memory card. The good news is that when you travel with Tammy, you know there will always be more pictures!



One of the reasons this weekend was so special for me was that it was the first time I really got to spend any time with my new niece Mei Lynn. She was nervous with me at the beginning of the weeknd, but by Monday morning, she held my hand, spent the whole morning with me without her "bonding" people, and wanted me to do things with her. I can't even explain it.



The jerseys did a bit of exploring. It was great, - they had enough space to make them feel like they were big guys, but close enough that we could make sure they did not end up doing something too crazy.

Dinner out.

Rock climber girl.

This project so fun, a courtney thing to do. It starts by spreading out shaving cream.

Add some drops of food coloring and make designs with a spoon.



or your hands.

Lay a piece of paper on top, then pull it across the tray to take off the excess. Too bad we left them to dry and forgot to pick them back up :(

Blow up waterslides!

Saige, my horse girl.

So a couple of years ago, I was there when Livs traded her overwhelming fear of dogs to fearless love. Then earlier this summer, when she stayed with me, she began collecting and catching bugs. Labor Day, I took her on her first trail ride. I hope Tammy doesn't hold this against me.

After having the pool and the giant waterslide to ourselves for over an hour, the five little kids and I headed to archery.

It was fun teaching them all to shoot. The Rill kids couldn't believe their mom had been an archery instructor when she came to visit me at camp.

Crazy girl!

There were so many great things we didn't get pictures of - zip lines, the blob, gusher, obstacle courses, canoeing, kayaking, bb guns, bike riding, the petting zoo, paintball, and David.

The only junky part was that it was so hard on Tammy. Really, really hard. She was in severe, excruciating pain for more than a week afterwards. Really, I am always amazed that she chooses to push herself to do things her kids will love, knowing that she will pay for it in pain later on. Then again, it shouldn't surprise me, because our mom would do the exact same thing, and while I knew she did it because she loved us, I don't think I ever really appreciated it. I wish I could tell her. Actually, I wish I could tell her so many things - why didn't God let me know all of this stuff before she died? I wish I could know that she understood that I would grow up even after I was a grown up, that I would have done things differently, if I understood what I know now. I wish I could have loved her better. I wish I had forced her to take better care of herself so I wouldn't be sitting on the couch now sobbing. I know God is sovereign, but I don't like it so much...

I guarantee she would have been with us a couple weekends ago, I would have lifted her and her wheelchair onto the tram a hundred times, had her wheelchair flipped back as I pushed her over the gravel. She would have "WoooHooed" when the kids went down the waterslide and clapped from the bottom of the rock climbing wall. Those are the things that we tell the kids and we remind ourselves of all the time. Thanks for letting me tell you.