The Downeaster '08 and fun times with family...

On Friday the 8th around noon, Everlea and I hooked up with my parents (had lunch with Brian M. first, Lisa in Africa) and headed up to Maine.

We weren't expecting great weather, but were pleasantly surprised as the rain held off most of the weekend. We enjoyed an evening of singing in the chapel on Friday night and ice cream sundaes afterwards.

Saturday was jam-packed with activities, most of which I participated in, including a scavenger hunt in the a.m., some word game contests, horseshoes, a baseball game, many volleyball games and a bonfire with s'mores in the evening. Everlea had a great time riding bikes around the driveway, playing on the swings and in the bounce house, doing crafts, a hay ride (minus the hay) and enjoying time with her cousins.

On Sunday we attended church and enjoyed a potluck afterwards.

After the festivities had wrapped up, a bunch of us (family) decided to go play disc (frisbee) golf at a nearby course. It was alot of fun (I've only done it one other time many years ago) and we went out for ice-cream afterwards. We then headed back over to the Parkers to enjoy dinner together and to celebrate my mom's birthday. We headed back to NH around 10 p.m.

Some highlights of the weekend for me:
-Spending time with family, uncles, aunts, cousins etc.
-Playing sports again and realizing I don't totally suck at most of them (horseshoes is still in question... hee hee

-My mom and I (we were a team) winning our first and only horseshoe tournament game against 2 men, we were down 18-6 and ended up coming back for the win. The tournament ended up dying out and my mom was given about a 10 ft handicap due to arm strength, but the victory was still sweet. :)
-Playing disc golf and laughing at almost every hole as one of my aunts (no names mentioned hee hee) managed to hit almost every tree that was right smack in front of her (it made it that much more fun). Laughing with her not at her. :)
-Enjoying all the totally awesome homemade desserts and great meals put together by my Aunt Lois, especially the cinnamon buns with cream cheese icing, homemade key lime squares and chocolate zucchini cake! Yummy!
-Being able to spend my mom's birthday with her as she was happily surrounded by her mom, some of her siblings and nieces/nephews.

-The Dukelow cousins photo shoot

- Everlea and cousin Carrie catching frogs together

I'm sure there were more, but that is what initially comes to mind. Everlea was a good girl the whole weekend, despite the late nights and all the activity. It was a really great weekend, despite the decreased number of attenders this year. It was a nice mix of people and it was the time for me to see and enjoy time with my extended family.

I do miss them all now that we've moved away, but as I was reflecting on that while we were together again, I was thinking how thankful I was that we lived in NH long enough to see many of my cousins grow up and graduate and some of them head out of state for college too. That means a great deal to me.