Our Griffin Family Reunion was the first weekend in May which also fell on Mother's Day weekend. We headed down to Pine Mountain to FDR State Park on Friday afternoon. Kaylene and my parents saved us a spot next to both of them overlooking the lake.
While Donald set up the tent, I walked Stella over to Jamie and Carla's camper so Stella could play with Laney, Kallie and Eleanor.
That evening we snacked on salami, cheese, crackers and hummus on our picnic table. Then we drove over to Aunt Katha's cabin to see who was still up. In the cabin, Katha, Carla, T, and Kathleen were all in the living room chatting. The girls were all up running around like crazy people and Stella, of course joined in the festivities. Donald, with all of the guys hung outside by the fire.
We didn't visit too long before we headed back over to the campsite to hit the sack.
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Stella slept in her sleeping bag the entire night until 6-something. She said she was cold and wanted to cuddle with us. She crawled in and I expected her to just stay awake and chat, but she actually went back to sleep and so did we! Yay! We didn't wake up until 8:15 or so.
When we got up, we had homemade breakfast burritos and fruit salad. Kaylene and Casey walked over and joined us, along with Lolly and Pop. Stella ate an entire burrito along with the fruit. Stella made a new friend, Evie (pronounced EeeVee) and they played together for a while that day.
We then headed back over to Aunt Katha's cabin, the main hub for the weekend to hang out with family.
Unfortunately, Michael and Jessica couldn't make it along with Dana and Jodi and the girls, Jennifer, Adam and the boys and Duke and Hadley.
It was cool that morning but very nice. It warmed up nicely, but was still cool in the shade. The weather was perfect all weekend. Aunt Katha brought coloring books, crayons and bubble wands for everyone.
We had a delicious outdoor lunch of burgers and yummy, summery sides. I made a huge salad from fresh salad greens from our garden and not a single speck remained.
Some certain children enjoyed the chocolate cake!
The looks between these two! Stella wouldn't share her cake with Aunt Katha.
Good times rocking Baby Easton to sleep.
For supper, Uncle Kevin and Brian smoked pork butts.
I helped Uncle Kevin and David make sandwiches.
We set it all outside and pulled out the remaining sides and a few new ones.
What's going on here? Hook tying lessons? Best way to bait a hook? The sharing of fishing stories?
The view of our spread from the other side of the lake where us,
Kaylene and Casey and Mama and Daddy camped.
My little ham!
Our view looking up.
After supper the girls hunted for baby tadpoles as the sun set.
Actually, if I'm being honest-this view almost destroyed what little makeup I had on for the weekend. It was very difficult watching this with so much family around. I kind of wanted everyone else to disappear and just let me watch this moment until all of the light from the sky was gone. I grew up camping here with my parents and brother. This is one of my favorite places and I have very good memories of being here with my immediate and extended family. Growing up, I was very motherly. I was always the one babysitting and watching over the younger kids, playing and interacting with them. The kids were like my kids. So to see these beautiful girls, now nearly grown playing and making memories with Stella in the same way I used to do, at the same place was so very emotional for me. I hope this image and memory stays with me and Stella forever.
Stella ended up passing out on my back in the Tula as the family stood around the campfire. She was doing so much fussing and fighting trying to decide if she should sit with us or not sit with us. She played hard and had a good day with her cousins.
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Sunday morning we had some homemade pumpkin zucchini bread. I had made it a few months ago and froze it, but it honestly wasn't all that good. It wasn't sweet enough.
We went back over to Jamie and Carla's to say "Good morning/Happy Mother's Day/Goodbye" to them all.
We finished packing up and drove over to Katha's cabin to say goodbye to the few who remained.
Here's our only family photo from the weekend and my only picture with my girl on Mother's Day. Thankfully David captured it for me.
As always, we enjoyed our time at Pine Mountain. The weather was fantastic and can't wait to do it again next year.
