Swapping Stories, Swatting Bugs

I can’t believe it’s been over a week since we got home from our extended family camping trip!

Country Fair week just seems to consume every spare minute.

But this morning – the house is quiet, the washer is humming, and I’m going to take a few minutes to relax and remember some of the special memories.

Things like our annual family hike. Because of flooding  we couldn’t take our usual trails, so we took the drier – more vertical ones – past the Indian burial mounds and through the mosquito infested swamps.

There’s nothing like swatting mosquitoes and sweating up and down limestone stairs to build some family memories!

And then there was the food. Gallons of my brother-in-law’s famous homemade ice cream, an entire table of baked goods and snacks, and lots of garden produce. Yes – we ate our veggies. 🙂

We had our annual campfire. Hot dogs, and all the fixings – including for the first time ever – the square marshmallow.

These were designed to better fit in a s’more so that there is gooey marshmallow in every bite.

While enjoyed by many – there were still purists among us who insisted the Jet Puff was the only true marshmallow.

We won’t soon forget the infamous family kick ball game that sent one to the doctor and left many of us stiff and sore.

Or the Family Improv Night which proved to be one of the funniest ever.  My brother’s skillful avoidance of wearing a dress and seeing my nephew in a red flannel union suit was priceless. (There are pictures – but I am not brave enough to post them. Christmas is coming.)

And this one makes me smile –

Sitting at dusk in lawn chairs in the back of pick-up trucks parked on the side of the road  watching fireworks.

Perfect.

But this –

This is what I love most.

Sitting around in lawn chairs with the people I love dearly, swapping stories, sharing laughs and swatting bugs.

This is what it’s all about.