Kendra was beyond thrilled on Wednesday when we arrived at my mom's house. She looks forward to this trip from the moment we pull out at the end of July! My mom decorated the front of the house with pink and green balloons, and she, Troy and the Murph-dog met us at the door. A little while later, my sister's family came over for a barbecue dinner and hanging out. The kids took off and played instantaneously---they played ball in the yard and made a giant mess of the bedroom within moments. Of course, Kendra and her cousin Tessa hatched a plan within moments and begged for Tessa to stay the night (which she did). Just when the Garnetts were heading out we learned that the UPS man had dropped by with Kendra's VERY EARLY birthday gift from my mom. My mom ordered it early on purpose so Kendra would enjoy it while we were here. She received the American Girl doll named Josefina, which was on Kendra's wishlist since last year!
Thursday we headed out to join the Garnetts at the beach where they were camping. The weather was in the low 80's and delightful, and the kids had tons of fun splashing and playing in the sand.
Again, a plan was hatched and this time Kendra stayed at the camper with the Garnetts while I went back to my mom's house for the night.
Friday I packed up and headed back to the campsite because this was the day/night that had already been arranged for Kendra and I to stay over. We did the beach thing again and had yummy taco salad for dinner. 
My sister Erin and I tried desperately to read our books at the beach, but we never really accomplished more than a few pages each. Children's needs kept interrupting us, dang it!
My brother in law, Jack, had his parents camped next door and his Aunt Teresa, her boyfriend Rick, and her son Adam were also in from Florida and came to hang out at the campfire at night with us. Adam is a VERY
accomplished guitar player--he is only 18 and plays in several bands that play in the Cocoa Beach area regularly. He plays at least 2-3 gigs a week. So he broke out Jack's acoustic and played us a concert each night, which was awesome! Adam even knew Party In The U.S.A. so he played it while the girls gave us a little concert, too.
accomplished guitar player--he is only 18 and plays in several bands that play in the Cocoa Beach area regularly. He plays at least 2-3 gigs a week. So he broke out Jack's acoustic and played us a concert each night, which was awesome! Adam even knew Party In The U.S.A. so he played it while the girls gave us a little concert, too.
A fan favorite was Aunt Connie's three wheel bike. Everyone loved riding it around...here is Rick with Kendra in the basket and Tess holding Murphy.
The girls found a little secluded spot in the pine trees and dedemed it their clubhouse.
After a night of smores, Washers tournaments, campfires and great conversation, I squished my long self into one of the camper's bunk beds while Kendra slept with Tessa on the couch fold-down thingy.
We hung out Saturday but then headed back to my mom's house so we could go to church on Sunday. We saw lots of old ward friends but didn't have much visiting time as we only stayed for one meeting so we could get to the family get-together back at the campground. The place where my sister stays is a premiere place for fireworks and the day-pass people come from miles around. The park is absolutely packed, and if you don't get there early enough you can't get in. As it was, we got there at 12:00 and had to wait in a line on the road for 30 minutes and parked so far away from my sister's site that they had to come get us in their car! We did the beach yet again, and then grilled out some burgers and dogs and had some more Washers matches. The park has some bounce houses and a band, so we went there for a bit. Adam even got to go on stage and play a few songs!
The fireworks display was fantastic yet again, and well worth swimming upstream in the mass of humanity! What a great start to our annual vaca in MI!!!!
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