July 1-6, 2010
Mitchell State Park

It was a busy weekend filled with family fun up at Mitchell State Park this weekend.
We arrived on Thursday night, but had to park on a different site for the night. We were grateful to have the driving portion of our trip out of the way and didn't mind moving the trailer over a site on Friday morning. We were nice and settled into our site, when my parents arrived and a couple hours later my brothers started arriving. The campsites were a flurry of activity.
We happily watched all the cousins play while there parents were able to set up camp unhindered.
While we were watching the kids - I caught this great picture of Aiden and Grandma.
Doesn't it just make you want to melt?

We had been talking to Nicholas all week about the possibility that his younger cousins may not be as interested in Star Wars as his is.... however, he was pleasantly surprised to have them asking to play lightsabers with him.

The small lightsaber from Nicholas' dual blade lightsaber was very popular with the little boys this trip. They really felt like they were part of the gang.

Fishing anyone?

The kids watching Uncle Shawn put the boat in the water.
Hey look...6 kids all sitting still!!!!

One of the highlights of the weekend was tubing behind the boat.
All the kids tried it - and we were very proud of them all.

Joshua and Allison walking back to the trailers from the beach.
Saturday night - the park hosted a GLOW DANCE PARTY.
I had found out about it Thursday night when we arrived, so I quickly called Grandma who was still at home to see if she could stop at a dollar store and pick some things up for the party.
The fireworks over Lake Cadillac were a bit of a disappointment - fortunately, the GLOW PARTY was a lot of fun, and that is what they will remember about this 4th of July.

Sunday afternoon we took a walk through the Nature Preserve. It was hot and sticky and we didn't end up walking the entire thing - but we saw a lot of these pretty flowers along the trail.
Don't know what kind they are, but I thought they were pretty just the same.

Taking a short rest along the trail.

Uncle Shawn promised the kids they could have a boat ride through the tunnel that connects Lake Cadillac and Lake Mitchell. We folded the seats of the boat down so they could all go together.

While we were there, Aiden turned 1.
He loved his cake and had us all laughing so hard as he dug into the cake and kept coming up smiling and grinning. What a riot!

Because Aiden's Birthday Party is planned for next weekend - he didn't open many gifts.
However, he did get this car a little before the party so he could enjoy it while we were camping.

Saturday night was the Glow Dance Party and fireworks,
so Sunday night we did Sparklers with the kids.

My brothers and their families left on Monday. Unfortunately, it was after that left that we heard about a nearby playground. So, Tuesday morning before we left we went to check it out.
It was a very nice park and the kids had fun for a little while before we finished packing up to head home.