We spent a hot Father's Day weekend on the lake and camping out under the stars with Beau's brother and his family. Gabe and Gina live on one of the few lakeside lots on little Beed's Lake in Hampton, and they practically have their own campground right next to their beautiful home. We packed up the truck with enough loot to last us a week and first headed up to Clear Lake to meet them for a day of boating. The four cousins picked up right where they left off and had a blast racing down the lily pad and laughing at the two grown Jorgensen boys look a bit like beached whales trying to stay upright on that thing! Mila took a little while to warm up to the whole life jacket and lake water, but Cruz was in his element the moment his toes touched that water. And Addy and Livi loved having an older boy to terrorize!
On the lily pad and with kisses on the way back to the dock. We always laugh that Cruz had over three years of being the absolute center of attention on this side of the family, and in a matter of five months, we gained three little women to steal the show (and torment him!).
A perfect boating day!
After a day in the sun, we did all things camping as the sun set and provided some relief from the heat. I joked that unlike his spontaneous brother, Gabe had thoughtfully planned every detail of our night, from the shore lunch over the fire with the big pan his dad used to use in Canada to the little tent set up for the telescope lessons. He even checked his sky map and happily declared we would be able to see Jupiter and Venus in the sky that night! The kids ran around the big yard with flashlights, celebrated with every firefly caught, and settled in for s'mores and stories around the fire before we said it was bedtime. Then with Beau and Cruz in one tent and Gabe and the three little chatter boxes in the other tent, Gina and I wished them well and enjoyed a night in the air conditioning while they did the tent thing. I do enjoy a sleep in a tent every now and then, I happily obliged when the boys said they had it covered!
Saturday morning, we sipped coffee around the fire, watched Gabe whip up a campfire breakfast hash and Darth Vader shaped pancakes for the kids, and went for a walk in our pajamas around Beed's Lake and specifically to the pretty spillway, or "waterfall" as the girls like to call it. Then we packed up our things and headed back home for showers and our own beds, simple amenities not taken for granted after a day of "roughin' it." ;)
We loved our weekend in Hampton and have already decided it should be a yearly tradition in the summertime. There's just something so very special about that cousin time. There's an easy amount of love to share and joy to feel when you're spending time with your cousins! And this picture below? It's a favorite of the four of them. It's bedhead and pajamas, toothy grins and sleepy eyes, and that good mix of summer nostalgia that seeps in deep this time of year. These are the days!
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