Sunday, July 31, 2011

Corn Boil 2011

Going to the Corn Boil!
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Can't wait to get there!
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Loving the rollercoaster!
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Riding the rides!
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Heading home with prizes!
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The best part is always the corn!!!
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Thursday, July 28, 2011

Macomb Trip

We took a quick trip to visit friends in Macomb! We swam and had a great time with Papa Bob and Grandma Sherrill!

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Friday, July 22, 2011

VBS at the Park

We had a wonderful team from St. Jo, Missouri, come do a Vacation Bible School in two different parks in the area. This is our second year to work with this team. They are great! We had a very successful event!

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Monday, July 11, 2011

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Day Ten Favorites

No favorites on the day they leave.

Cousin Camp 2011 Day Ten

Day Ten Saturday July 9th
2:40 Nan and CJ Depart


Day Nine Favorites

Aiden: playing with the lightening bugs
CJ: playing with the lightening bugs
Anthony: playing with the lightening bugs
Abby: zoo - alligators
Nan: lightening bugs
Patrick: dancing with the cow
Angie:

Cousin Camp 2011 Day Nine

Day Nine Friday July 8th
Balloon Apples
Snow cones
Shrinky Dinks and cowboys
Make Thank you notes
Phillips Park Zoo
Playground
Chic-Fil-A Cow Appreciation Day
Official Cousin Camp Pictures
Maracas
Painting Bags to put pictures on
Lightening Bugs
Patrick to work

Day Eight Favorites

Aiden: watching cars 2
CJ: playing outside with the water guns
Anthony: liked water guns
Abby: painting her snake
Nan: doing crafts
Patrick: movie
Angie: the popcorn

Cousin Camp 2011 Day Eight

Day Eight Thursday July 7th
Ring around the Rosie
Water guns outside
12:45 Abby to Annie
1:30 Aiden, CJ, Anthony and adults to Cars 2
Bracelets
T-shirt
Door Knockers
Paint a snake
Lightening Bugs outside
Abby and Mommy sleeping
Patrick to work

Day Seven Favorites

Aiden: playing with CJ’s out in the woods game
CJ: playing with new toys
Anthony: playing with new toys
Abby: the rocking chairs post breakfast
Nan: breakfast
Patrick: breakfast
Angie:

Cousin Camp 2011 Day Seven

Day Seven Wednesday July 6th
Breakfast with Mimi and Papa
Shopping – walmart, got Aiden’s glasses, Hobby Lobby, Kids spent bday money
Played with new toys and box
Patrick to work

Day Six Favorites

Aiden: going to bouncetown
CJ: going to bouncetown
Anthony: bouncetown
Abby: eating cake
Nan: cake
Patrick: bouncetown
Angie: cake

Cousin Camp 2011 Day Six

Day Six Tuesday July 5th
Bouncetown
Making cake with Nan
Dr Tom OB appointment
Make Cousin Camp Cake
Ate Cake
Patrick went to work

Day Five Favorites

Aiden: looking for the loot
CJ: gold
Anthony: gold I tell ya
Abby:
Nan: looking for the loot
Patrick: fireworks
Angie:

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Cousin Camp 2011 Day Five

Day Five Monday July 4th
Breakfast
Looking for the loot
Waterfall
Bridge
Set up tent in basement
Aurora Fireworks with a picnic from Wendy's

Monday, July 4, 2011

Day Four Favorites

Aiden: Making up a ghost story at the campfire
CJ: Riding horses
Anthony: Riding horses
Abby: Riding the horses
Nan: Riding horses and making s'mores around the campfire
Patrick: S'mores
Angie: Watching the campers ride the horses! I especially loved it when CJ asked if Ruth and Lois if they ever braided Bernie's tail and Lois showed CJ how to braid the tail. That was a really neat experience! I am so grateful to Ruth and Lois for making this such a neat occasion for the children and for all of the hard work Mimi and Papa have put into Cow Camp!

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Cousin Camp 2011 Day Four

We began day four by attending church at Lynwood Baptist. We love our church family! We ate pizza at the church because Counselor Aunt Angie/Mommy had a meeting to attend. Following our meeting we headed out to Streator to meet up with Mimi and Papa! While we were driving we heard another chapter of Hank the Cowdog! About an hour later we were excited to arrive at Cow Camp!

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Upon our arrival we found out the shocking news that Mimi and Papa's cows had been taken by a gang of Rustlers! The Sheriff was on top of the case and it was up to us to keep an eye out for any suspicious activity! We decided we better go talk with the Sheriff's Posse and get a little training, in case we needed to ride off in the sunset after a cow or a crook! Deputy Sheriff Lois and Deputy Sheriff Ruth walked us through all of the ropes, with the help of their trusty steed Bernie!

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All of that cowboy and cowgirl training worked up quite an appetite for us! Luckily Mimi's Cafe was serving up some amazing treats! The Menu for the night included:

Hank The Cowdog's favorite burgers - 3 kisses
Rootin Tootin hotdogs - 2 kisses
Yippee Aye A Fries - 2 kisses
Texas Ranger chips - 1 hug
Florida Cattleman's dip - 1 hug

Your choice of beverages: Home on the Range Rootbeer, Cactus Gulch Apple Juice, or Silver Spurs Water

And for dessert - Ooey Gooey Ranch S-mores

Well, if you've never eaten at Mimi's Cafe you are missing out! The two cooks are out of this world! We enjoyed a feast!

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With our energy regained we played on the rock pile! Mimi had us help pull some weeds, we worked for our supper that way!

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Then, we had a camp fire and ate delicious s'mores. There were many important discussions. Two being how to properly throw a plastic bottle into the fire and the right way to eat a marshmallow. Mimi and Counselor Aunt Angie/Mommy are very partial to the completely burnt variety!

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Finally, we headed off to sleep under the stars in our tent. It was amazing to look up through the roof of the tent and see the hundreds of lightening bugs flitting around. A great night's sleep was had by all!

Day Three Favorites

Aiden: Swimming!
CJ: Swimming!
Anthony: Waiting in the car while Daddy went into Wal-mart to get stuff for dinner.
Abby: Swimming!
Nan: Watching Patrick be so patient making breakfast with the kids.
Patrick: Going to splash country!
Angie: Swimming! That water felt so, so, so good!

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Cousin Camp 2011 Day Three

Cousin Camp began with everyone helping Chef Uncle Patrick/Daddy make a big breakfast! Patrick always amazes me when he cooks with the children. He is incredibly patient with them and they love helping him! He believes that no little one is to little to "help" him in some way!
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Plus, it's always delicious! CJ was eating "Uncle Patrick's Grits" and said, "mmmm, mmmm, mmm, mmm, mmmm!" It just doesn't come across the same in print. :)
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Those who weren't helping cook busied themselves with a little tea party while they waited for their turn.

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Then, I found out that Patrick was having some back pain. I couldn't believe how patient and wonderful he had been making breakfast in such pain. THEN, I found out he had been having the back pain for over a week and hadn't told me. THEN, I found out on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the worst pain, he was at an eight! And THEN I took Patrick to an urgent care center to get checked. Silly boy. I don't have any pictures of that little visit, but while Patrick and I did that, Nan held down the fort full of campers!

The campers painted some beautiful sun catchers in a western theme. I love how Abby, at 17 months old, is painting so well with a q-tip! Her fine motor skills amaze us!

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The finished products are gorgeous! Just look at those proud smiles!
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We finally got Patrick out of the doctor's office and on some high powered medication. We were thrilled to find out it was only a lower left lumbar strain. Nice! He hurt the right side of his back playing soccer back in high school. So, now he has a matching back!

We decided to head to Blackberry Farm for a little picnic and some fun! Blackberry Farm is a local place with really neat historical buildings. Throughout the year they do alot of special events that teach the children history. There are animals, a carousel, and a train to ride. It's a lot of fun! We enjoyed all of that and our Kentucky Fried Chicken lunch!

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It was a very hot day and right across the street from Blackberry Farm is Splash Country. We had never been to it before, but you can buy a joint ticket for Blackberry and there. We had so much fun here and will definitely be going back! We found out very quickly that all four of our campers are actually fish!!! Last year for Cousin Camp we went to a different water park. It was amazing to me the difference a year has made in our three big kids! They all have some Mad swimming skills now!!! The very cold water felt amazing! We don't have alot of pictures from this, mainly because, well we were having fun in the water! All of the big kids really enjoyed the lazy river, the slide, and the big pool. They were very sad when we said it was time to go.

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We left wet and happy! We stopped at Walmart and Patrick ran inside for some food. We all stayed in the car and waited since we were wet. Then, we finished off the day with sandwiches and a big slice of yummy watermelon. It was a great day!