Family Fun

We recently had a sweet and joyful time camping together.  It was so nice to be together for a bit without the pressures of daily life pulling us in every direction!  Our campsite was next to a park again this year so the younger children had lots of fun playing...

 And the volleyball court was next door, too! 😀  It's a good thing we brought our ball.  (Although the last day we were there the boys were throwing it around while we were packing up and it went over the cliff and into the river so it didn't come home with us!😯)

 Not volleyball, but the little guys had fun in the sand, too!

Wallace and Calvin have been storing up camping and survival gear (after listening to lots of Little Bear Wheeler).  They were thrilled to chop wood for the campfire!

It's always fun to prepare camp food!  We like to eat hearty meals over the fire!  Elly, Selah, Sherrod, and I had a great time putting together "hobo dinners" (YUM!). 

We didn't get pictures of the chefs this year, but Michael, Sarah, Abby, and Sydnee put together this awesome breakfast and hot drinks - perfect for the very chilly morning!

 Of course, roasted marshmallows are a must!

Singing about camp food is always a treat...😂😂😂

But I really love the serious time around the camp fire...💗

Everyone loves hiking!  There wasn't a lot to explore at this park, but we still had a lot of fun!  The hiking trail wasn't super long so all said and done, from our site and back was only around 3 miles.  But they were good miles...

Of course we had rain coming in one night, so we packed everyone up and headed to a hotel.  We ate at a restaurant that night...one of our favorites, Cheddar's!

At one point we looked down at the end of the table and the girls were all chattering away excitedly so I snapped this picture.  It was so good to have them all together again!

The boys were pretty worn out when we got back to the hotel.  They ALL fell asleep during reading/singing and Sarah snapped this picture of Andrew practically climbing on top of Knox. 😂 None of them seemed to mind being all squished in one bed, but we did move them to their own areas before we all went to bed.

 The next day, we went to the Precious Moments Chapel in Carthage, Missouri.  I collect the figurines and the last time Michael and I had been there was when we stopped by on our honeymoon.  It was fun to take the children.

In the birthday train room...

 Just relaxing outside...

Of course she found a throne!  Hahaha!  I'm not even sure what this is (or WHERE it was...I never saw it)! 😂

 Inside the chapel...

 Recreating a photo (sort of)...

25 years later...

 The campers...💕

Since the rain was only that one night, we went back to camping after our little detour and picked right up where we left off.  What better way to spend the day than introducing the children to a little flag football?

I learned a couple of things about my family during this little game.  1) There is no such thing as a "no contact" sport with the Ocker Clan. 😳 And 2) Calvin and Knox are slippery little dudes!

 Sydnee is a pretty good receiver...

And Michael, Sydnee, Selah, Calvin, and Adelina ALL did a weird little happy dance when their team won! 😂😂😂

Fun, random photos...

Some sister time, hanging out and relaxing after everything was packed and ready to go...

What a blessing it was to spend this time together!  I am so grateful!  It is so sweet to gather them all together, even briefly.  I am so, so thankful for this Clan!  And for friends who are really more like family.  We so appreciate a special someone who came to hold down our fort.  Not only did he take care of all the animals and the house, but he even surprised us by making some much-needed repairs! Such a nice welcome home surprise! 💕💗💕💗