this one cracks me up...

there's a chance he's got a little Stewart in him...

i adore her...

and to see her joy on these days with the horses is just priceless.

The vineyard....

donna and 3 of the nieces and nephews left before noon.
tate was still with us though as we left for Ardon Creek.
They had live music and wine tasting.
we brought the kids and the dog.
we laid out a quilt and split a bottle of wine and then paul fell asleep.
Camp Cassie may have been a little too much for him. :)
the best part of our day?
donna and steve were there!!
so even though paul was sound asleep in the 100 degree weather, i got to chat chat chat with donna and steve! yay!!
and they also love playing with our kiddos!!

it was a great afternoon!
then sean met us there to pick up tate.
but he quickly realized that it was much to hot to pass up a dip in the pool.
so we all headed back to our house to take a swim.
sean, tate, donna and steve!
fun fun!!
a great end to a great weekend!
already planning for camp cassie next year!

paul

Uummm....camp Cassie did Paul in.
Seriously.

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And then they were gone...

Our tie dye creations modeled by the cutest kids ever!! :)

It was a perfect weekend!
We honestly had NO problems at all.
The kids played well, ate well, slept well and handled the madness well!
There were a couple "only child" kids here, and I was a bit concerned, but they did AWESOME.
We kept them running the whole time.
And I can't wait until next year!!
Hopefully we'll have a couple more here next year.
(hint hint, chris and brenda!!)

And now I'm going to the vineyard.
Wine sampling is in my near future....
:)

the rest of DAY 2...

what is camp without tie dye?
:)
the kids loved it and my hands are going to be tie dyed for months.
guess they put those rubber gloves in there for a reason!

and then we had a group swim followed by a campfire at our park across the street.
paul cracks me up sitting in the background.

he is a professional wienie roaster, too! :
ha!

i'm serious.
he was awesome.
could NOT have done this without NANA B and PAUL.
this was not their idea, but they were amazing.
thank you!!

after the campfire we got the little ones to sleep and the big ones had a night swim.
they were so fun!

and really, the whole weekend went perfectly!
busy busy.
the "keep them busy every second of the day" strategy was a huge success!

DAY 2...Wild Cat Den

it was up and at 'em fairly early this morning.
we wanted to get a hike in before the heat took over.
plus, paul (one of our very best couselors!), had an inspection at 1:00.
and we needed him.
you'll see why in a minute.

remember the toilet paper rolls i've been collecting?
this is what i used them for...

really only tate and ayla enjoyed them, but they were cute.

paul should be a nature guide.
seriously.
he knows the best things.
and he's so patient with the kids.
and gives them all kinds of fun facts about things they find.
i love him.

i think they found some sort of cocoon here in this photo...

which was so perfect because just minutes before i had asked macy what she was going to look for to track in her nature journal and she said "a chrysallis".
i think 3 people said, "what's a chrysallis?"
and i said, "kind of like a cocoon!"
then paul found one.

and we set the timer for ONE group photo.
i'm pretty impressed.
most everyone looking and smiling.
because really, it was totally fun.

and one of the main reasons we needed paul...

we had a little "incident" yesterday.
ayla hurt her knee on the trampoline.
i don't think it's broken or anything, but it's very sore.
there was NO WAY she was going to be able to hike for any period of time on it.
so paul decided to use a stroller as a wheel chair.
it was hilarious at wild cat den.
not prime stroller terrain.
but he made it work.
did i mention i love him?

and drew got to be on paul's back all day.
which he HATED for about 2.4 seconds.
then he was all about it.

gorgeous...

this is the FIFTH frog we have found this weekend...

best friends....

um yeah...we only use the VERY BEST couselors at camp cassie.

we stopped for granola bars and water bottles.

and much to my frustration, we left one of our VERY FAVORITE thermos water bottle by the water.
so annoying.
we love them, but they are not cheap and it makes me very irritated when we lose one.

a great day so far.
babies are sleeping like...well...like babies.
and our rock star counselor, NANA B, is at the pool with the big kids.
i'm setting up our craft for this afternoon.
we are about halfway through the weekend already.
wow!

Camp Cassie...DAY 1

so here's the strategy...
keep the children BUSY every single minute of the day.
our schedule...

donna arrived at 5:00 with the last of the children.
i had supper ready and we were eating by 5:20 and out the door to an activity at saulsbury bridge by 5:50.
we are efficient. :)

we took all the kids down by the cedar river.
they got dirty.
and were perfect angels.
for real.
it was fun.
a million pics to prove it...

hadley was on my back the whole time.
barely made a peep.
it was awesome.
donna was in charge of drew.
worked out perfectly.
the rest of the kids were completely entertained and self sufficient!

(oh...and in case you are wondering...this was a city activity, so there are some random people in some of the pics!)

the whole crew minus donna...

yeah...we did baths...

when we got home it was baths and bed for the babies.
big kids had a night swim until 9:00.
then baths and bed.
i'm declaring day 1 a HUGE success.
i love them all so much!
and now i sleep.
because tomorrow's our long day!
and it may or may not involve a hike, a picnic, the splash pad, tie dying, swimming, a campfire and the trampoline.
yikes.
goodnight!