FRUSTRATION

So one of my bigger frustrations in life is that I sort of understand computers, enough to attempt things; but I never have it down cold...always run into a glitch here or there.  I have so much to share in the way of pictures over the past several weeks...wondering if this site will cooperate, or if I will be smart enough to pull it off!

Whew, so far so good.  This will introduce you to Cousins Camp.  I will include some of those fun pics!

Our first "event" was Family Feud, played with the Griffins vs the Blackburns (Phils and Travs kids)...Emery was a "floater."  In this pic, first hand down answered the question first.

The Blackburn's won this event...tho it was hotly contested.  Do YOU know how much a newborn wolf weighs?  Ask your kids!

Here we are making sugar cookies.  We made wolf tracks, a howling wolf,  a moon, and other weird shapes.  We took a plate of finished cookies to John, the 90 yr old WW II veteran that I sit next to in church, and he told WW II stories to the kids.  They were all very polite and attentive (except when Rachel first sat down and said "This place stinks."  I shushed her and told her that was rude and she was quickly repentant and was a model child after.  Hopefully, John's old age deafness worked to our advantage!)

Official Cousins Camp Picture...Sort of good, especially Emery's rapt attention and 

Matt's delighted expression

This One's Better

Each family took a turn doing Devotionals.  

This discussion took place after the Sam & Neil shared scriptures about King Benjamins address on service.  You parents would have been proud of your children's Devotionals.  Scripture Power!

              The kids enjoyed beading projects....the little ones made necklaces and bracelets...

.....and the big ones made Geckos that will be sent by a Humanitarian group to poor children in other countries

We made our traditional pilgrimage to Pizza Pie Cafe, where we ran into a face painter.  Various forms of spider man, princesses, exotic animals were found on kids faces.  If you're wondering about Lizzy, she opted for the wolf paint, in preparation for her role as the wolf in her

 Little Red Riding Hood skit, presented later that night.

A Popular hangout...the Hammock

This is Debra to the rescue, reading to Emery who we thought had a broken arm from a trampoline fall (off of Rachels tummy to the tramp surface...I know, how could that be?)  As it turned out, it wasn't, cuz after many tears and whimpers and wails...a very unsettled night, a splint and sling applied by a worried Nana, and an on and off stressful morning, her mother took her to the doctor with the diagnosis:  NO BROKEN BONES

Maybe she was inspired from the skit that night, "The Boy Who Cried Wolf"

(Actually, I will attest to the fact that she REALLY WAS in pain....maybe my middle of the night splint healed her before she got to the doctor)

So here's Lizzy getting ready to wack the pinata.  It was supposed to be a wolf, but a dog had to fill in with no wolves available on Amazon.  It was a cute little puppy, but we tried to imagine it a wolf as we beat on it.

It was actually a rather creepy pinata, especially after Neil decapitated it early on, and we had to reattach its head multiple times with masking tape so everybody could get a turn.

Very patched up pinata, on one of it's last runs.  The kids all had a blast, with Eli applying the final fatal blows to release the candy .

So, that's the end of my pics.  Lots of other good moments, but understandably, I was often too frantic or flustered to be taking pictures.  Suffice it to say, we can put that puppy to bed for one more year.  

I have to add that we missed the Shaha kids terrible.  Talked of them often, and I will be sending them a package of t-shirts, beading kits, pinata candy, etc.  Next year they should be in town, so we'll get them then.  Be thinking of a good theme.....