This cutie-pie is Maria C. Her older sister, Julia, is in Drew's travel group. Sue, her mom, said she loves the camera! I can tell!
Here are all the kids (minus Maria and Claire who was too shy to pose) who attended the Friday night dinner. Front row L to R: Mia, Julia, Lily, Lana. Back row: Tru, Quinn, Luci, May, Drew, Lin-Ley and Mackenzie.
There was a grab toy machine in the restaraunt and when one girl got a dollar to play, they ALL had to get a dollar to play!
After dinner, the people staying at the hotel all gathered at the pool.
Tru was a little shy of getting in by himself, but Dean quickly remedied that situation and Tru was smiling in no time!
Several of the girls attack John T.
Drew takes a plunge!
Drew had lost her tooth earlier that day, so she put her tooth under her hotel pillow in hopes that the Tooth Fairy would find her. Unfortunately, the TF sacked out early and completely forgot!! Oh no!! Bad Tooth Fairy!! Drew was disappointed the next morning, but we convinced her that the TF showed up, but since our tv was on, she thought we were still awake! Anyway, the next day, was the picnic! The weather was overcast and it sprinkled lightly for an hour or so, but not enough to keep the kids under the shelter! The sand pit was where the majority of them spent most of their day!
A little ice mixed with sidewalk chalk makes some interesting goop!
And very dirty hands!
As is tradition, we give the girls a birthday cake at the picnic every year because most of them have birthdays in May and June, right around our picnic. So we celebrate ALL their birthdays!
Here are 8 of the 14 total girls in the travel group. L to R: Lily, Hannah, Mackenzie, Drew, Mia, Quinn, May and Lin-Ley.
And with the rest of the kids...except Claire who was warming up, but just not quite yet!
And you'll notice that they are all trying to blow out the candle...except for Luci who is still posing for the cameras! She's such a ham!
Tru gets snuggy with mom, Jody.
Hannah tossing a toy plane around.
These three seemed to be stuck like glue to one another all weekend. Drew, Lin-Ley and Mackenzie. Drew is currently penpals with Lin-Ley, but already has half a letter written to Mackenzie!
Silly girls!
Nina S. taking a shot of the camera moms!
Hannah with her mom, Kim V.
Here, they are all working on a top-secret project that none of the parents was allowed to know about or see. It was humorous to see them defend their project, so we each one by one tried to sneak over to see how quickly they'd react!
This is Heather W's youngest...Laken.
Dean...stuck to his phone.
I tried to go over and was charged by Mia with a fistful of sand!
That look means business! Ha ha!
John T. got the closest because they were so engrossed they didn't see him coming! But when they did they yelled!
Michael S. didn't even get close!
FINALLY they finished it and invited the parents to come and see! A big hole with water in it. L to R: Lin-Ley, Mackenzie, Drew, Mia, Lana, Quinn, May and Luci.
Spa exfoliating treatments for rough feet!
These three, Luci, Lana and Claire (yes, she finally warmed up to having her picture taken!!!) are in the same travel group with one another. It's really great that Dean and I travelled to China twice with the same two families, so our older daughters are in one travel group and our younger daughters are in another! They are all five years old.
Luci and Tru did a lot of chumming around with each other and Tru was happily handing out the hugs and kisses! Good thing Luci likes kisses!!
A volleyball games attempts to break out...but the net is too high for them!
Nancy W. and her daughter, Lily.
Wouldn't be a picnic without a dip in the lake! Though it was overcast, it was still warm enough for a swim. The breeze picked up a bit later though and made the kids a little cold after their swim.
Luci catching rays that just aren't there!
Back at the shelter, a hula hoop contest starts! (Note: Dean did NOT win!)
Lin-Ley attempts four at once!
Even Tru was having a blast!
When she wasn't looking, I snapped a quick shot of Claire. She moved at the last second when she saw me aiming at her, which is why it's a bit blurry, but I still thought it was a beautiful shot!
Another tradition...Mackenzie's mom, Donna R. holds the pinatta! There were two girls in the bathrooms getting dressed, so in order to keep the rest of them occupied while waiting, Donna started a game of Simon Says.
Simon says, "Shake your booty!"
After the strings were pulled, the mad dash for candy!
Lin-Ley, Lily and Drew start a game of Trouble.
After the picnic, everyone met at the hotel pool...even the non-hotel guests for a pool party followed by a pizza party!
Everyone attack Dean!!!
Pizza and Go-Gurts! Yummy!
Luci multi-tasks...eat some Go-Gurt while hiding during another round of Lobby Hide and Seek!
The whole weekend turned out so well! Every single parent was amazed that you could get that many 8 year old girls together and not have one fight or argument! Nobody tattled on anyone and they all seemed to really bond with one another this year! It was great for us parents, too since in years past we had to chase or entertain the kids, but this year they just played amongst themselves leaving us lots of chit-chat time! It was fantastic! Here's a shot of the girls just getting out of bed on Sunday morning. (This was right before Drew reached under her pillow and pulled out a crisp five dollar bill! Good Tooth Fairy!!!)
The whole weekend turned out so well! Every single parent was amazed that you could get that many 8 year old girls together and not have one fight or argument! Nobody tattled on anyone and they all seemed to really bond with one another this year! It was great for us parents, too since in years past we had to chase or entertain the kids, but this year they just played amongst themselves leaving us lots of chit-chat time! It was fantastic! Here's a shot of the girls just getting out of bed on Sunday morning. (This was right before Drew reached under her pillow and pulled out a crisp five dollar bill! Good Tooth Fairy!!!)
Sunday morning, the remaining hotel guests met at the hotel breakfast area and ate breakfast with each other. Lots of hugs and byes afterwards and we were finally on our way home after a simply wonderful weekend! We leave this Thursday for Brennan Beach for 5 days, then back home to take the girls to the Rebecca Kelly Ballet camp in Potsdam for a week. No wonder summer seems to zip by so quickly...we plan multitudes of events!
Well, here I end this post. It is 12:45AM and I can barely keep my eyes open, so I'll be skipping the quote for this one. Until next time!
Great photos! Great post! So great to see you all!!!
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