(Almost) The whole Fam-Damily | Devil's Lake

Hello Everybody!

For about six months now, my Dad's side of my family has planned on taking a family camping trip to Devil's Lake State Park and since we only get together about once a year, I was super excited! I love my family!

It's pretty difficult for us to all get together since theres about 55 of us total! 

Three of Dad's brothers and one of his sisters live out of state (along with various cousins) so for some it is more difficult to find time to travel, especially for just one weekend.

Pretty much what we were surrounded by all weekend. Definitely not complaining. 

Using Grandpa's original Coleman lantern. Took a bit to get it working, and man did it work!

But, for those of us who could get together, we had a fantastic time! Friday evening we all compared stories on how difficult it was to find the camp and our sites. Mom, Dad, and I ate dinner pretty much last as our grill wasn't heating up the fastest. But, we all got together afterwards around the fire. Once almost everyone got to sleep, a few of us were left and my cousin, Cody, couldn't grasp the concept of 'quiet hour'. We also heard coyotes, and had a good laugh as Ralph tried to find the bathroom, with Cody's help, of course.

Although, the weather didn't cooperate like we wanted on Saturday, so we didn't get to go swimming or kayaking. 

Total Bummer.

We did, however, go hiking on the bluffs along the lake. Which, was a bit more of a work out than I had expected, but totally worth it!

It was quite foggy/hazy out (as you can tell) but still a beautiful sight. 

Anyway, check out our hike!

 Me, Aunt Ann, Uncle Paul, Brook, Veronica, Tim, Aunt Mary, Erica, & Ralph

My fave.

Demi rock formations doe.

After our adventure, it was dinner time! 

We had a pot luck which consisted of a competition for two groups, smoked meats, and some sort of chocolate dessert. There were ribs, meatballs, bacon wrapped dates (which were surprisingly delicious), fajitas, and a plethora of salads. For dessert there was lemon bars, and rice krispy bars with chocolate on top (with or without peanut butter). Everything tasted great. I just wished I had pictures of everything!

We celebrated Stella's (Brook's daughter) Birthday. She was definitely a princess for the day; tiara and all. 

Couldn't put her balloons down.

Saturday night, we sat around the fire rhyming names. Aunt Mary's was the most successful. Veronica and I checked out people getting kicked out around quiet hour, and were called guys by some foreign men. We used hashtags in front of every sentence and played Sequence until we got too tired and started to hear weird noises in the woods.

 

It was a fantastic weekend, and I loved seeing everyone! I can't wait until we can all get together again. 

I love you all!

Hope you are all enjoying your August so far and are really enjoying the end of summer. It's one of the best times of the season, so enjoy it while you can!
Fall is right around the corner (oh boy).

xoxo