Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Cousin Camp 2014

My sister had the incredible idea of doing a Cousin Camp for our kids each summer.  We started this last year (see posts here, here and here) in Houston.  This year's Cousin Camp was in Dallas and my parents were gracious enough to let us, including five crazy kiddos, use their house for five days.  My sister once again had everything completely planned out and ready to go when she arrived on Wednesday night.  She seriously amazes me, y'all!

The verse for the week was:

"The man looks at the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the heart." ~1 Samuel 16:7

All the big boys had it memorized by the second day.  And I will also proudly say I was able to type it out just now by memory as well. :)

Last year I split this up into three posts but I'm going to try and get this all in one...so get ready!


WEDNESDAY

When I got to my parents' after work on Wednesday Kristin already had the Cousin Camp sign up.  Naturally we had to get a picture of all the kids in front of it.

 
This is our first day picture and I'm kicking myself for not getting a genuine last day picture.  :)
 
 
 KiKi made these awesome pillow cases for her kids for their recent beach trip and she was so sweet to bring them for my boys too!

 
The big boys had been doing extra chores the week before to earn money to "help kids".  That's all we told them at the time.  We took them to the Dollar Store to pick out items we could donate to these kids.  They loved it!  And they were really good about not asking to get anything for themselves.
 

Later that night we made our official Cousin Camp t-shirts.  The littles loved getting all messy in the paint!  We made shirts for ourselves too...even Daddy got in on the shirt making fun!
 

 
 
 
THURSDAY
 
We took a tour of Scottish Rite Hospital on Thursday morning and this is where we brought all of our donated toys for the kids.  My sister grew up going to this hospital so it was pretty special to be able to tour it and see it as an adult.  This place is absolutely amazing!  They don't charge ANYONE for care and they have so many volunteers to help keep the hospital running.  Everyone there had a smile on their face and I felt so humbled and blessed to be able to learn some of the patients' stories and have our kids experience this place, even in this small way.
 
My mom came with us and helped us keep all the kiddos in line.  We had an incredible tour guide, Mr. Thomas, and the kids did really great!  I'm so sad we forgot to get a picture of all the kids at the hospital. 
 
Their  yummy popcorn.  It's only $10/can and all proceeds go to the hospital.  It makes a great Christmas gift!  Just sayin'. :)
 


 


After the hospital tour we went to Klyde Warren Park right in the middle of downtown Dallas.  I have heard so much about this park and I was not disappointed.  I will admit it was quite freaky to look up and see Dallas traffic all around us but we felt safe inside the park.  We ate lunch from one of the yummy food trucks and then let the kids play for a while.  We had to head out when the rain started but we got a good amount of play time in.




I know I'm partial but we have some pretty stinkin' cute kiddos!
 






We went back to the house and just hung out for the evening.  Some sweet moments with all these kiddos!
 
 
And we were so happy to have Grandmama join us for our cookout.  I just love seeing her with her great grandkids. 




Oh my! :)


Journal Time - one of my favorite parts of Cousin Camp!
 


 
 
Friday
 
Friday everyone came over to my neck of the woods.  We had a "wild" day planned so KiKi had the great idea of letting the kids have a Wild Hair Day!  They loved it!
 
 
True gangstas right here! :)
 


 
 
We headed over to In Sync Exotics in Wylie.  Whodathunk there was such a cool place right there in Wylie?!  It was really great and everyone enjoyed it, including Grammy who came along to see the animals with us before going into work.
 
The cutest baby lion EVER! 
 

They warned us these mountain lions loved to "stalk" little ones.  This one never took his eyes off Ethan.  It was funny at first and then seriously creepy.  :)
 


Our little wild ones!
 

 
Next we headed over to the splash park in Murphy.  We had lunch and let the kids play.
 
 
Later that afternoon we went back to the house so the little ones could nap.  Our cousins came to visit us for a bit and then we took the kiddos to the park...after having a silly string war of course.
 





 
 
Later that night we went to dinner and then to shoot off fireworks with some friends.  I didn't get any pictures but my sister managed to snap this cute one of Ethan and Ellie.
 


SATURDAY

Saturday my cousin from Colorado and her family came over to hang out, along with my Grandma and aunt.  We had a great time and I loved meeting her sweet boys!





Later that night my sister/parents were kind enough to watch our boys while we went to a Leadership Banquet for our church.  We had a great time!
 
Some of our Life Group - love this group!

Two of the girls I sing with at church - love them!

 
We went back to my parents' and the grown ups stayed up talking and playing games.  So.much.fun!!!



SUNDAY

Sunday we went to church and then Friday's for lunch with my cousin Lauren and her family and my other cousin Billy and his family. 
 
We were so happy to be able to see this beautiful girl on her actual 1st birthday since we missed her party the day before.
 

It's sad it took us until the last day to get a picture together.  Love my mom and sister!

Ana and Me

Kristin and Ana


I promise he really does love me! :)
 
I love this picture of Billy, Elliana and Garrison!
 
Papa and and the Littles

Cousins!


Some of my other favorite pictures from the weekend...

Cupcakes with cotton balls in them.  Ha!!!



Lots of chess was played.

 

 
What a fun, crazy, chaotic weekend full of laughter and love.  Lots of memories made...and that's what Cousin Camp is all about!
 
 
~Jewels*
 


 


1 comment:

  1. I seriously love this!!! Such a awesome tradition yall are creating!

    ReplyDelete