Summer Update

I thought it was time for me to give another summer update since it was 1 1/2 months ago since I last posted! It's been a very busy, but fun summer so I will break these up into several posts so they aren't overwhelming! First...

Warder Family Reunion in July

My mom's family - mom, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews...you get the idea!

Every other year my mom's family holds a family reunion and this was the year for the big gathering!

Our family before the festivities started

The reunion draws people from all over the country and can have anywhere up to 150 attendees....lots of family members to visit with during the weekend :-)

My mom, Brennan and my Grandma (mom's mom)

It starts on Friday night when we go to eat crabs - they were delicious this year. On Saturday we all gather at Marbury Run Park for a day filled with food, fun and laughter. Each family brings a dish and it goes on the table family style - boy did Brennan like that idea! ha ha The kids got to participate in a bubble gum blowing contest,

Alyssa won this contest!

McKenna preparing to eat the apple...with no front teeth!

apple eating contest (no hands allowed), water balloon throwing contest and tug-o-war. The weather, surprisingly enough, wasn't overly hot and we had a really good time. Unfortunately, not as many people showed up this year - especially kids - but that meant my kids got to win lots of prizes!! The big hit all day was the tree swing (man it's old - I used to get on it when I was a kid!!) and the creek - couldn't keep my kids outta there for some reason :-)

On Sunday we went to Capt. John's Crabhouse for another round of crabs and finished up the weekend Monday with a trip to Kings Dominion. Needless to say, the kids really loved that!

Brennan, Alyssa, McKenna, Jayci & Cousin Callie at Kings Dominion

Alyssa rode every wooden roller coaster at the park....Grizzly, Rebel Yell, Scooby Doo...over and over. Unfortunately, McKenna still isn't tall enough so she didn't get to ride all of them. But she still had a good time and really loved the waterslides....especially watching how scared her mommy was on them! ha ha Hopefully next year she'll hit the magical height to ride all the coasters.

Next post...Florida vacation...coming soon!