Sandy Pines on the Fourth of July Weekend!

Q fam with Gr and Gr K

We were blessed to be able to spend the holiday weekend with family and friends at Sandy Pines.   We made the best of the rain with a picnic  ~ enjoying friends and playing silent card game with 15 kids in a trailer!  amazing how that keeps them quiet :)  Then we were blessed by 3 beautiful summer days, fun at the water park, the beach, the parade, fishing and playing with cousins!  Well here are some photos from our trip. 

Big and Little friends!

Fun on the playground (before the rain)

Luke and Naomi had fun too! Special catching up with these little ones who change so quickly!

another great group game under the pavilion (during the rain!)

Another little buddy!

The Sandy Pines Ice Cream Store is the BEST!  trust us order a baby cone!!! :)

Fun catching up with some cousins too!

Mom and Dad K

Q family red and blue (guess we forgot the white!)

Waiting for the parade to begin

Steve with Dad and Mom Q (color coordinated well for the 4th!)

Exciting times, at 12 you can get your "golf cart permit" at Sandy Pines!  so we now have another driver with her permit as well as 2 with their golf cart license!  we also enjoyed have our 15 yr old get some drive hrs in on the way up (yes we made mom sit in the back seat but she remained quiet enough we didn't have to use the duct tape!)

Our 2nd FAVORITE stop.... the CANDY store :) now with 2 drivers they ended up there often!

 We have completed 8 out of 10 conventions so far this season and this little girl has been a trooper!   We are so thankful to have such great big brothers and sisters to help out with her.  Thought you'd enjoy seeing some of her many faces!  We are blessed to have her smile in our family!   Blessings on the rest of your summers! 

please pretty please more candy???

learning how to swing takes concentration

keep looking up!  

High in the sky

The campground has a wonderful new feature this summer... a high ropes course which was enjoyed but all but the youngest and oldest (who is not so thrilled with heights as stated in a previous post!)

It was hot but they didn't want to come down!

their courage was amazing to watch!

stepping out in faith comes to mind

what a fun free activity for the kids!

even Eugene was having a blast amidst not being tall enough to reach some of the support ropes he ventured all over it! Already getting excited for next summer :) Anyone want to join us for a week of camping????

Summer Memories

Another plus of a meet the new cousin trip was we were able to celebrate Grandpa K's birthday with him, the Sandy Pines Ice Cream is the BEST! Dad doesn't usually get to enjoy the best ice cream store ever but our quick trip up allowed him to indulge with us~ he was pretty happy (he didn't eat both, one was mine and he did give it back!) Yeah for Mackinaw Island Fudge! Lots of fun playing with cousins and friends at the park
We hit the right week ~ Vacation Bible School ~ with over 300 kids there its tons of fun to enjoy. The only hard part was Grandma couldn't fit them all on the golf cart, the boys were thrilled to ride scooters there (amidst Grandma's safety concerns they did great!)
This was our home sweet home -- a little cabin with just enough room to sleep most of us, Grandma kindly invited the older girls to her trailer to enjoy sleepovers with the cousins!
So thankful to enjoy a few beautiful days on the beach and spend time with family. We ended up leaving Ria and Eugene there - NO we didn't forget them! Then they could enjoy the rest of VBS and summer fun for a week while we went back to work another convention! Gr and Gr brought them back home for the big 1st birthday party... more on that later!

funny .... i am not sure what to say!

I keep thinking I should post about something, but for me when there is too much to say, I dont know where to begin! Actually when there is too much to DO, I don't know where to start! With all of our traveling this year and a baby keeping us busy I haven't gotten school "packed" up as I like too yet. This week I have pecked away at it, however the mountain is still pretty high! A friend had 4 of the children over for the whole day a few weeks ago, I just had the oldest and youngest.... you'd think that would mean LOTS would be accomplish.... well I realized how much all the others help! and what a horrible procrastinator I am! I did get through lots of books made a give away pile of ones we have outgrown or have doubles of, reorganized all the new books for this school year and moved out all of last years. this is where I really miss my sister Jill! She is an amazing de-clutter! sorta scary when she comes over I am afraid of what she will want to throw away but its a great balance for me the packrat! (still not sure how we are related :) )

well, thanks for letting me ramble... just had to get it out of my system I guess! Since starting this post we got the school room painted and are beginning to get it reassembled :) Feels good having a green room (instead of pink with floral boarder!) green should GROW creativity at least its more calming :) Well more of a sensible post soon just had to let you know we are still around just too busy with working, sorting and raising some great kids. Going to get my iced tea and attack the school room once again!

Blessings on your summer days
Amy Q

Thankful to be Americans

Thankful for the many freedoms we are able to enjoy today in the good ol' USA.the right to raise our children to know the one true God,
The right to gather with believers and worship our Lord,
The right to have our voice heard,
the right to go where we want to go
the right to smile freely :)
the right to wave the American flag
which stands for freedom
and we won't forget the men who died to give that right to us
And we'll gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today,
cause there ain't no doubt we love this land,
God Bless the USA!