Family Vacation... Wedding... Reunion

I'm not sure we could have packed any more into one week... but it sure was fun!

We started out a little more than a week ago planning a camping trip to Custer State Park (Custard Park as cousin Kelly said) in a camper (lent to us by our dear friends). We spent Sunday - Wednesday enjoying the sunshine, trees, lake and wildlife of the park. For me it was one of the most relaxing camping trips, due to the camper. I might be ruined now for tent camping?? All things considered, it probably was the only reasonable way to try to camp with a two month old -- and Liv did GREAT. It was very nice to have 3-4 days bonding as a family again. The kids LOVE having Dirk around more. Thor thought maybe Dad should have the whole summer off (from work) like he does from school (not a bad idea!!).


Next came a houseful of company - my family, the Moellers - as we prepared for the wedding of my brother Jonathan to fiance' Chary. As you can see, it was a pretty "full" event, even though Chary's family was not able to attend. Chary is from the Dominican Republic, and will be going through the paperwork now to get a permanent visa. This is the 2nd marriage for both Jon and Chary, so it was a simple event, but still a celebration of God's covenant of marriage. Ray Phipps from our church, Dove Christian Center performed the ceremony... later we enjoyed cake, fruit and punch in the fellowship hall. Jon and Chary opened the gifts from the family... and then went on to enjoy a short honeymoon.



The next day the whole family travelled to Kamp Kinship. When we got to our cabin I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was a lovely, modern cabin with very new bathrooms, furnished like a mountain retreat -- not a rustic Bible camp building. Tyler said "Aunt Nancy, this is NOT like Bible camp, this is like a motel!" It suited our needs perfectly! Each family could have a room to themselves, if they wanted. There was a great room in the basement with a big screen TV/DVD player, pool and ping pong.. a full kitchen set up on the main level, coffee maker and dishes and everything. We enjoyed most of all the Kamp dining hall. We had arranged for 2 meals a day -- and just had to show up. The food was very good -- and PLENTY of it too! No dishes to do... no shopping, preparing or cooking! It really WAS a vacation!

The camp had so many fun options for the kids -- it let us grown ups have a relaxing time, not having to caravan around to keep the kids busy... the kids were immediately busy on the basketball court and playground... Over the course of the weekend we did so much, I hope I can remember it all:
fishing - paddle boating - taking ATV's up into the hills (Jacob was sure it he was going to die out in the forest when his dad got them "lost"!)
basketball - football (red-heads against the tow-heads) - zip line (WICKED AWESOME according to Abigail or Brianna) This is ANIKA on the Zip Line... can you believe it!! She LOVED it! - climbing wall ( picture of Thor) - roasting marshmallows by the campfire
- singing together late into the night - board games (of course, Acquire!) - even a little bit of resting and being lazy ...

We didn't even get time to do any hiking, swimming, playing on the beach or boating/canoe trips. I guess we'll just have to plan another weekend for that! We ended our weekend together sharing God's word -- Jon shared scripture and some personal thoughts, we sang together, and I had a short kids lesson too.



Even Liv had a great time! She got some good bonding time in with her cousins... seems like Tyler is one of her favorite people!

I think this might become the new Moeller family Father's Day weekend tradition!