Bear Lake…the middle

Years ago my parents came up with “groups” for the grandkids.  Group #1:(Let’s pretend they are all in the same picture with their arms around each other for that one…) Group #2: Group #3: Group #4: I love that these guys had a little welcome sign when the families trickled in one by one. Group #5: Group #6: Mostly the babies back in this post and gosh I’m mad I didn’t get a good pic. of them together. I’m not sure if my parents made these groups more to keep them straight or to be sure to have more structured time with them in age groups, (which they do both very well), but one of the things I love it for most is for the jobs at Bear Lake.  Those kids work their little hearts out each summer doing jobs and cleaning up after each other.  Why?  You may ask.  Well, their cleaning frenzy is spurred by the fact that they get “stars” when they do a great job with their jobs and work together.  And whichever team gets the most stars at the end of the summer gets a special wing-dinger reward usually in the form of a late-night movie party.…with candy.  They go ga-ga over that little carrot dangled in front of them. If you look closely you’ll see that “Group #1” is sadly not overly motivated by movie parties (we’ll have to work on that next year), and “Group #5” is a little on the young side for the competition, but boy howdy are those middle groups ever excited about that little golden ticket that could be on the horizon for them if they work their little tails off.  (More “working-together” pics. back in this post.) Aside from the positive aspect on jobs that the “groups” allow, I also love that my Dad shares what he calls “Grandfather’s Secrets” with the older ones.  More about that and how much I love it back here. My Mom takes each group individually to do “Grammie Camps” together.  Those kids come back with stars in their eyes after they’ve had that golden quality time with their Grammie.  …this year most of the “groups” baked bread at their “Grammie Camps.” The bigger girls always do art.…And they always weed.  And work.  I think I like that part the most. Us sisters also did our own little “camp” and took our daughters to see another “Bandito” play on the other side of the lake at Pickleville Playhouse. Let’s get a closer look at that crew:There we go.  I love the name Pickleville. Is that not the cutest name for a town?  But it kind of gives me a hankering for a nice juicy pickle which I don’t have right now so let’s get back on topic. The star of the play was nice enough to pose with the girls.    They were delighted, especially when he asked if they had a matching headband for him… We were to glad to have Dave…at least for a little while and even if it meant he couldn’t get up much with that darn broken foot… I think my mom and I were a tad-bit confused here… We were really glad Lyla left the lake before the “hair-cutting fiasco.”She has never had a haircut.  Not ever.  And boy is her hair pretty. I love that Aja had a few art stations for the kids. …and that instead of having a reunion t-shirt this year, Tal and Anita gave us all a puzzle.  It is a collage of all of our family pictures put together. I thought it was an awesome idea. I’ll just top this off with some “series” of pictures.  Sometimes one picture can’t do enough to capture the moment so here are some picture groupings of Bear Lake stuff. The “begging to drive the old Montero on the beach” series: The “back and front” series: The “sisters with sassy looks” series:ok…only one of them is sassy… The “playing with water-hose fun” series:They create their own “rivers” in the sand for hours and hours and hours with that hose. The “goggle series:” The “group 3 laughing” series: Another “group 3” series (I have about a hundred of these…) The “Group 5 at breakfast” series: The “Lu-on-a-rainy-day” series: The “group 2 making weird faces and jumping series” …And the “awesome-uncle-all-the-grandkids-better-get-their-fill-of-this-year-cause-next-year-he’ll-have-a-new-baby-and-will-most-likely-not-be-as-available-to-hang-as-much” series: I have a million series of Bear Lake weather but must go so enjoy this one for now.