Andrea,
Megan, Megan's mother Merinda, and children came to visit us for a long day 1st
of July. It was the first time for meeting Rockwell!
Melissa and Ryan brought their family to stay the week of July
4th. As soon as the children got out of the Suburban, they went to work
creating things out of sticks and bark...Andrew was proud of the carved bark
necklace he made within minutes of being at Camp Zarahemla. Whittled Bows and
arrows kept them busy most of that first day. The next morning, Chuck took each of the boys
out on the boat one by one for an hour of fishing. Mark was the first to
go fishing and the first to catch one....he was so excited! Then Andrew caught one! Andrew had to
clean his own fish for scouting. It made him light-headed and sick
to his stomach! Nathan was excited when he caught his
fish, but had to lie down after digging out the fish guts! By the time it was Matthew's turn to go out on the boat, it
was hot, and the fish weren't biting. He had to wait until the next morning to
go out and catch his.We had a "fish fry" for lunch! We had so
much fun each and every day! I used to love to hunt frogs and crayfish!
It was so fun to see the kids enjoy the outdoors like I did in the "good
ol' days"! The children spent most
of their nights out in a tent pitched in our side yard. It was fun to eat
outside, sit by a campfire, and eat yummy s'mores! Andrew would
bring Melissa her bag of yarn every time she sat down, as a "gentle
reminder" that she needed to be crocheting his hat! The girls brought a
few toys from home...Miriam brought her Christmas doll and Eliza brought
"Anna". The boys got a thrill from jumping into the
lake off of our rope swing.
In the evenings, when all is "quiet",
Chuck goes out on Wylie's fishing boat. One evening he radioed me so
excited to say that he had caught "the Big Boy".....21"
long!
The rest of July was "joyful
chaos" with one Girls Camp after another! One morning, when we were going down to the stage to orient the girls,
someone jumped up and screamed, "I know them!" It was Denise Lybbert
(maiden name) who used to eat lunch every day in the Resource Room at Cheney
High School with Carol when she worked there as an aid and half-time teacher.
Her father (Enoch Lybbert) was Bishop when Carol served as Relief Society
President. He gave Carol a blessing when Chuck was in Seattle and
convinced Dianne Woodard that it was too late to go to the hospital in Spokane...that
they needed to take Carol to the Cheney Clinic, where Anna was safely born
minutes later! Their family has always been special to us...Denise was always
Carol's favorite!
Carol likes to pick
wild flowers in her "spare time"!
Rebecca came with Jack and Charlie the end of July to visit before the family reunion. The weekend before the reunion officially started, we had Chris' family, Anna's family, and Rebecca's family altogether in our little caretakers' house. Anna put up Melissa's tent in the side yard for the children. Joseph was the good sport that slept out with them. Saturday evening, we roasted marshmallows for more yummy s'mores! Kiya was so sweet to help the younger children. Callie's face was one big "STICKY"! Andrea was in HEAVEN!...We think Camp Z is Heaven too!! Haylee was loving that sticky gooey yummy treat! Jack was loving his first taste of camping and was in "Cousin Heaven"! He and Callie were tied in the contest for the most sticky hands and cheeks! Charlie didn't even know how much fun he was missing!
We drove up to Mt. Rainier National Park
Sunday afternoon to scope out the parking situation and trails...so we would
know what to expect before the whole family went up for our reunion hike.
TIME FOR THE REUNION TO BEGIN!
