I know a bear that you all know...

Yogi! This past weekend my side of the family went to Jellystone Park in the Dells. Thanks to Scott we've been planning this for several months. The Lazans (my sister's family) and my mom got there on Thursday night and the rest of us got there Friday early evening (had to work). Friday we just spent the evening setting up the tent and hanging out. We went mini-golfing at the park and also went on a hayride (where we sang the Yogi bear song). For dinner my mom made Greek chicken kabobs...yummy! One of my favorite parts of this day was hanging around the campfire before going to bed. I didn't even realize it until now but my mom and I polished off an entire bottle of wine...guess that's only about 2 1/2 glasses each technically. Nothing like wine and smores :) Daniel slept with us in our tent and the other two families had cabins. It stormed that night and we all woke up in the middle of it...always an adventure while camping.

Saturday morning started early thanks to tent-sleeping. We started off the morning like we normally do camping lately, with a fire where we boil some water and then enjoy oatmeal and coffee for breakfast. We then headed down to the other cabins and then we were off to Noah's Ark for the day. Noah's Ark is one of America's largest waterparks if not the largest. We've all been there before but it's always a fun time! Laura and my mom spent the day with Ryan and Abby since they're too young to go on rides while the rest of us enjoyed all the waterslides. The best one by far (I think we all agree) was Black Anaconda. It's a water coaster, not like your regular water slide...it actually launches you with this conveyer belt-looking thing. After Noah's Ark we went back to the campsite and got cleaned up and put dry clothes on (one of the best feelings in the world) and then started dinner and played games. I prepared 12 hobos for the family and they turned out great! After dinner my sister brought out a birthday cake for Daniel and we gave him his presents. Then we went to play mini-golf at Pirate's Cove. That was a lot of fun and some of us were reminded of the time several years ago when my brother got a hole in one and fell back into a river because he was so excited. I'm laughing now thinking of it. I was on a team with Scott and my Dad. Our score ended up being VERY close. Scott and I had 61 and my Dad had 62! We pretty much went to bed right after golf and then woke up and packed up. It was a really fun weekend of hanging out...everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves. Hopefully we'll make this a tradition to go to a different place every year.

We got some great shots of the kids this weekend too...






This game was played a lot...Matt and Mom especially ruled at this game.


Sitting around the campfire


Typical meal outside


Ryan's still obsessed with baseball...look at him concentrating


Lounging around the campfire


Busted!




Not really following the rules of mini-golf


That's better




On our way to Pirate's Cove (and a little sunburned)




Almost, Darren!