Memorial Day

 I am sitting here on the couch eating an apple with peanut butter (yum)

 and editing some of my pictures from Memorial Day weekend.

These pictures make me happy and looking through them makes me realize once again just

 how lucky I am to have such a big, close extended family. 

I'm sure when my grandma and grandpa were young and having (so many!) kids they never realized 

just how far the roots of their family would stretch. It is truly amazing to me.

I think my pictures probably tell the story better than I can; we had a great weekend.

In case you didn't read here yesterday, we have been going down to my aunt & uncle's 

cabin (aka: The Farm) since around 1980. Every single year since I can remember. 

It is a weekend we look forward to every year.

*{You can see more Farm posts here and here}

Someone said they counted sixteen kids there this year.
 Sixteen cousins and second-cousins (and maybe even third cousins?) although the
 second-cousin thing doesn't matter to me, a cousin is a cousin.
I love that my kids get to spend time like this with their cousins like I did when I was their age.
My wish for them is that they have the bond and strong relationship like I do with my cousins and
 my extended family. I think that is truly one of the greatest gifts we can give our children.

A weekend of spending nearly all day and much of the night outside, pretty much disconnected 

from the "real world" besides our phones and weather radios.

The kids played in the playhouse, in the sand box and on the tire swing. 

They played catch and frisbee and went on rides on the four-wheeler. 

They hiked through the woods and went fishing.

The adults talked and pushed kids on the tire swing, held babies and ate lots of good food.

Maybe a little too much good food. Okay, way too much.

Like these homemade cinnamon rolls Sunday morning.

My little family slept in our tent this year instead of sleeping at my parent's cabin, which is in walking distance from The Farm. There is nothing like sleeping out in a tent, feeling the fresh air, listening to the bugs and outdoor sounds and seeing the stars right from where you are sleeping.

Well, except for sleeping in your own bed the next night maybe.
I could not count the number of nights we tent-camped when I was little, we camped all over
the country in a blue and yellow Coleman tent.

My favorite part of the weekend?

When we all walked out to the field with our flashlights in the pitch dark to watch the

 lightning bug show. Hundreds and hundreds of lightning bugs. 

It was very cool.

***

Thanks for hanging in there with me for all of those pictures.

Kinda ridiculous, right? I actually think I might have enough to still do another post.

Just looking back over these pictures has me convinced I have a tick somewhere on my body.
And it's driving me a little bit crazy.