Grandkid Camp + Stockton's 13th birthday

We were able to go back to Bear Lake at the end of June for my kids' favorite weekend of the year: Grandkid Camp!  We got there Thursday night and the kids had a fun couple of hours playing before we started activities.  The theme this year was "Wild World of Sports" and on that first night all we did was divide the kids into two teams and they came up with team names and decorated T-shirts and posters.  One team was The Bear Lake Barbies and the other team was Team C'Noosens.  (C'Noosens is an inside family joke...one of Ali's boys used to call moose "c'noosens" and it stuck.)  We watched "Rookie of the Year" after dinner and put everyone in bed.  Some of the older kids slept outside in tents (Stockton, Gavin, Grant, Molly, Tessa).  We had a fun night with fire alarms going off (due to dead batteries, not a fire) and a wind storm sending all the tenters inside.

Ben, Chloe, Gavin, Spencer, Tessa, Seth, Molly

Brynn, me, Ali, Grace, Grant, Grandpa in the back, Stockton

Ivy, Stockton, Lucy, Josie

Tessa, Harper, Molly, Brynn

Brynn and Harper

Tessa, Molly, Harper

Ivy, Lucy, Grandpa, Josie

Chloe, Josie, Ivy

Spencer, Stockton, Gavin, Chloe, Josie, Ivy, Grandpa, Grant, Grandma, Harper, Molly, Lucy, Ben

We did all the activities on Friday. We started with roping taught by Chloe.  Everyone got a turn.

The "C'noosens": Seth, Lucy, Brynn, Harper, Grace, Tessa, Molly, Ben

"Bear Lake Barbies": Spencer, Gavin, Josie, Chloe, Grant, Ivy, Stockton

Ivy and Chloe

We loaded into cars and drove down to the Garden City park for the next sporting events.  We did basketball, soccer, and baseball.  The three little girls had been taught and had practiced some cheers.  Ivy was especially an enthusiastic cheerleader.  We had pizza at the park for lunch before heading back to the cabin.

Stockton and Grant

Brynn, Grace, Ivy

Molly and Gavin

Ali, Harper, Brynn, me, Grandma, Grandpa, Molly, Chloe

Ben, Tessa, Grace, Gavin, Stockton, Grant

Molly and Lucy

Josie, Ivy, Lucy

Harper, Grace, Ivy, Josie, Brynn, Jeff

Brynn, Lucy, Harper

Grace, Josie, Ivy, Lucy

Afternoon sports were all about water.  Water baseball with a slip 'n slide.  Water balloon volleyball which lasted about 60 seconds and turned into a water balloon fight.  An obstacle course.  Then ice cream treats for and afternoon treat!

Lucy, Grace, Ivy, Harper, Molly, Josie

Ivy, Chloe, Brynn, Tessa, Grace, Harper, Jeff, Ali, Molly, Spencer, Seth

Abby had a few mini golf type activities for us (she had been at drill team boot camp so wasn't able to join us until later Friday afternoon) and then it was just free play.  We watched Sandlot that night...a classic and a Moyes favorite.  

Saturday morning we woke up to more camp...and Stockton's 13th birthday!  This wasn't his first birthday that we celebrated at the cabin and, lucky for him, he loves it.  He wanted egg casserole for breakfast and I had  made a couple ahead of time for that morning.  We also had Kneaders French Toast, fruit, and creamy chocolate milk.

 

The cousins were to eager to make a scavenger hunt for Stockton that morning.  They also trailed him all over as he hunted and found his gifts.  It was pretty cute to watch.  From us he got his favorite treats (Riesens, life saver mints, and a symphony bar), a Ronald Acuna phone case, and a pair of wooden bats.  I don't think anything was a surprise to him since he showed me exactly what he wanted but he was happy anyway.

his posse of followers

My mom and dad gave him clothes, new Nikes (also picked out by him), and a new sleeping bag.

 

Saturday was spent at the beach.  It had been a beautiful morning but the wind picked up as soon as we got to the beach.  The kids had a blast while the parents stayed huddled in towels to stay warm.  They had rides on the boat, tube, and jet ski.  They played in the sand and played baseball on the sand.  So a success regardless of somewhat uncooperative weather!

Josie, Lucy, Ivy

Brynn, Tessa, Harper

Justin, Brynn, Harper

We went back to the cabin, got everyone showered and gussied up for family pictures that night.  Getting 26 people picture ready after a day on the beach was a feat, I'd say!  We had dinner and were able to squeeze in singing Happy Birthday to Stockton and eating birthday cake.  I made red velvet cake with cream cheese icing, per Stockton's request.  We also had chocolate and vanilla ice cream with toppings.

 

We did family pictures on the beach (rescheduled from Memorial Day when it was freezing) and they turned out so good!  Here are some sneak peaks just from our phones, I'll post the rest of them on another post.

Abby, Tessa, Molly, Chloe

Gavin and Molly

Tessa and Molly

Josie, Ivy, Lucy

Stockton and Grant

Grant, Stockton, Brynn, Molly, Seth, Gavin, Grandpa, Grandma, Ivy, Lucy, Josie, Ben, Harper, Tessa, Chloe, Spencer, Abby, Grace

Most families headed home that night for Sunday meetings.  We got home at 11:30 only to turn around and get to church by 9:00.  Earlier for Justin who had bishopric meeting at 6:30 and Stockton who went early with Justin and waited for a stake priesthood meeting that started at 7:00 that morning.

I decided to do the rest of Stockton's birthday food on Sunday.  He wanted grilled cheese for lunch and meatballs for dinner.  He still loves those meatballs!

 

Gene and April and Brett came up that night and gave Stockton some presents and stayed and played for a little.  They gave him glow-in-the-dark baseballs and a bluetooth clock/speaker for his room.  Since we had done birthday cake the night before, I made a couple of giant cookies and we sang one more time to him before cutting into them.