4 the Love of Family: A secret family recipe revealed

Mix 13 adults with 8 kids
Add 3 days of sunshine
Stir in lake water that's the perfect temp
Sprinkle with tales of yesteryear
Bake at 85 degrees for 12 hours

Enjoy!!

FRIDAY:

Sam got reacquainted with cousins while catching bullheads with Great Uncle Dennis

Julia is happy to be here with most of our family.
More will arrive tomorrow....

It's been a big day of traveling and playing outside.
Time to brush teeth and get jammies on.
Bedtime stories at the lake always include "Buster Bulldozer" and his clankity-clank, clankity-clank sounds.

The prayers for good sleeping were answered! Both kids went to bed around 10pm - 3 full hours after their normal bedtime, but there were no battles, just exhausted kids.

SATURDAY:

Rise and shine!!

"When do I get my own sleeping bag mom?"

After some yummy caramel rolls it was time to get silly.

And do some fishing:

By mid morning we were in the water.

There's never been this many kids at the lake before. My first cousins range in age from 4 to 40, but our 8 children (9 - if you count Kristina and Dan's baby due on my birthday) are all much closer in age.) If I remember correctly ages go something like this for the youngest of the bunch - 1 1/2, 2/1/2, 3 1/2, 4 1/2, 5 1/2....

Sam, with all my second cousins. I still can't believe everyone is looking at the camera!

We got out of the water a couple of times to refuel with a smorgasbord of food.

Jasper

Ding! Ding! - that sound means it's time to eat, but only after we

get the obligatory "wash your hands" reminder- except now I'm one of the parents making that statement.
Twenty-one people stood in a circle before every meal to pray. (There's plenty of room for the rest of you next year: David, Lori, Elsie, Porter, Brian, Jeff, Dana, Katie, Brandon, and Kara!)

Back in the water again.... This time to ski (only tubing for me)

Maggie made a new friend. (Move the cursor over the photos to magnify the frog. Can you see what's different about it?)

Cool Slideshows!

Sam was suppose to be napping, but those are not sleeping eyes peeking over the top of the pack-n-play and looking out the peep hole.

The chefs are cooking up some burgers, brats, and hot dogs.

Sam ate his very first hot dog and

Julia took her first boat ride.

Sam fell asleep on the boat and didn't wake up until the next morning. My

mom and I managed to take off his life vest, shorts, and undies. Then we put on a

diaper, pants, long sleeved shirt, his sleep sack, and put him in bed.

It was twelve hours before I saw his beautiful blue eyes staring back at me.

While the sun was setting the rest of the kids took a

dip in the hot tub. When they were done it was back to the "cold pool" as Maggie called the lake.

We ended a perfect day with a fire, sparklers, S'mores , and a beautiful

moonrise.

These tasty treats should be a secret family recipe because they are soooo good, but since you've all made it this far in my marathon post I'll divulge the ingredients: Instead of a piece of Hershey's chocolate substitute a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. Mmmmm. Now that is good!
Thanks for sharing Brett and Lisa!

SUNDAY: