Aunt Laura's Summer Camp, part 2

This time, the camper was Darnel, my 14 year old nephew. No homesickness, so all was well. We went to the library, to the DE State Fair, to Killen's Pond's Waterpark, to the beach, to "Rocket Ship" Park in Smyrna, and then stopped to visit Gram before taking Darnel home for football practice. We had a great time having him visit us...though I'm not sure we can afford to feed teenagers ;-) Wait, what am I talking about? Jake and Jon already eat like teenagers! ha! We're in trouble!

The boys relaxing on the couch watching a cartoon
Beach Day

Darnel is certainly not built like the Merkles...tall and skinny, what?

We met Andy for lunch on base out at the park by the flight line. C-5s taking off and landing provided some exciting entertainment for us.

Jon was so excited to try on Daddy's hat. Looks good on ya, buddy!

The kids under a tree at the park on base

Darnel did a little rock climbing at Rocket Ship Park

All the kids, yes, even Liz, climbed up the huge rocket ship and had a blast! Lizzie actually went down the tunnel slide that goes down from the very top all by herself and got mad when I took her over to the little kids version of the rocket ship. She's a climber!

We surprised Gram with a visit. She was THRILLED to see us and just tickled that Lizzie ran right over and climbed up into her lap and just sat like this for a couple minutes. Of course all the other ladies were making such a fuss, so that probably made Gram feel even happier!

I think she got a kick out of showing us all around her new place and just hanging out for a little while. And Darnel fixed her cable, so she was happy about that, too.

Thanks for coming, Darnel! It was an absolute pleasure to have you (aside from your barneys

;-) )and we would love to have you come again any time! We love you!

To the Beach!

Makin' Mama proud...working so nicely together
This looks like it should be on the front of a greeting card or something


Hard at work Jake

Monkey see, monkey do...

Love it!

Jon lovin' the waves...and apparently the taste of the salt water



A great day at the beach for the Merkle family, followed by Grotto's pizza on the way home. Can't beat that!

Aunt Laura's Summer Camp

My niece, Natalie is 7. She's been asking to come down to visit for months and we just haven't made the arrangements. So, at the brunch for Grandmom's birthday, she asked again. "How 'bout tonight?," I asked. Well, she got so excited! Gabrielle, who is 10, decided she'd like to come, too. So, they drove back down to DE with us in "the Funk" and of course we didn't get very far before we all started singing the catchy song from the Honda Odyssey commercial, "Aw, we got the Funk, gotta have that funk..." And so it began, Aunt Laura's summer camp...

It was late when we got home, so not much fun stuff, just to bed. The next morning, we had chocolate chip pancakes, a camper's favorite breakfast, and decided to head to Brecknock Park to play for awhile.

The kids had a ball operating their fast food restaurant called "Fasties." Later, Jake left Fasties to open up a competitor restaurant, "Yummies." Ah, the imagination of a child!




Gab atop the castle

Hard at work at Fasties

The boss, Gabrielle, let Jonny take a break from making ice cream to pose for a picture. Jon just informed me that he thinks bosses should be boys. Excuse me????


After we got home and had lunch, Liz and Jon took naps while Gab, Nat, and Jake read some books and then played. Then, Andy came home from work and decided to turn the sprinklers on for the kids to play in (asst. camp counsellor??). They played sprinkler tag.

Nat running away from the "it"

Gab getting sprayed! What a great picture!

We all had a great time together. Unfortunately, as with a lot of campers, home sickness set in and Mommy and Daddy had to drive down at 9pm and pick up the girls (who by that point had showered, changed into pjs and fallen sound asleep on the couches in the family room) and take them back home. So, camp was cut short, but we had fun while it lasted.

We had to head to the beach by ourselves the next day... Lots of pictures of that soon to come, but I better go make dinner right now or I'll have four upset people!!! We Merkles like to eat!!! ha ha!

After the Brunch...

Lizzie just loves Grandpop Crispin! I love this one of him reading to her.

You might be a redneck...

If you make a giant slip-n-slide out of heavy duty plastic held down by milk jugs filled with water! That's okay, the kids had an absolute blast! Here's Darnel about to take out Jake!

And Gabrielle, with her gorgeous smile

Miss Kara Sue looks like she's bound and determined to take somebody out with this slide!

I guess Lizzie took my cousin, Adam's socks and dunked them into the bucket of water. Then Jon got them and it became a "throw the wet socks at my brother and cousin" game of tag. Kids make up the greatest games!

So sweet!

Lizzie and Gabrielle

Miss Natalie striking a pose

David with the wet socks...what a fun game...they were running around the yard laughing hysterically!

Lizzie with Uncle Mike (I hadn't planned on the water stuff, so no swimsuits...the boys borrowed David's, but Lizzie had to wear an old tank top of David's. Ah, it worked!

We had a BBQ with my family and had a fun time together.

Happy 80th Grandmom!

We all got together at a restaurant in Jersey for brunch and surprised Grandmom Crispin for her 80th birthday

Grandpop showing Lizzie the fish

Natalie showing me the blueberry and watermelon skewer she made. The kids had a blast dipping fruit into one of those chocolate fountains! I'm just thankful they didn't start sticking empty cups under it! ha ha!

David, Gabrielle, Lizzie, and Jake posing for a picture...Jon and Darnel were probably still going up to the buffet (the kids counted their plates...Jonathan, age 4 mind you, had 13 and Darnel, age 14 had 14 empty plates! GEEZ!!! We are so going to be broke when our boys are teenagers!)

Happy Birthday, Grandmom! We all love you!

Independence Day

Grab a snickers, it's a long one!

We actually started the fun on July 3rd and just kept right on going til the weekend was over.

Uncle Bill and Aunt Chris invited us to join them and my Gram for a picinic lunch down at Riverview Beach Park in Jersey. It's a pretty park right on the DE River. We all enjoyed seeing the big ships go down the river, seeing the planes fly overhead, playing baseball, playing on all the playground equipment, walking around, eating great food, and just enjoying each other's company.

The boys by the river.

Free ride

Doesn't Gram look ornery in this picture??

Liz loved the cup holders in Uncle Bill's chair!

The five of us with Gram

Aunt Chris, Uncle Bill and Gram

Jon asked Gram if he could get his picture taken with her.

I love this one!

You can imagine how much they liked this one...climbing and train all in one!

We had a great time. Thanks guys! It was great to see you all!

After hanging out for awhile at the park, we headed to Woodstown (just 15 min away or so) to Mommom and Popsy's house for a nap...and then lots of swimming!!!

Jake actually swam to the bottom of the pool to fetch this thermometer that came untied (can't imagine who did that?) from the side.

This girl loves the water and loves to be THRILLED!

After a yummy dinner, we headed out to the Ewart's house. They live near a campground that does a nice fireworks display and have a great view from their front yard. They're kind enough to invite us each year. Jake had fun catching fireflies.

And so did Jon, of course. Those two are never far apart. And that makes a mama happy.

Since the fireworks didn't start until 9:30, Liz went in her pjs...and jacket...it was chilly!!! I can't believe it, but she stayed awake the whole time!

Andy, Popsy, Mr. Ewart, and Andy's friend Mr. Edwards all played this fun beanbag game. Popsy is one tough competitor, let me tell ya!

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree....

The next morning, Andy and I got up early and went out to the rec field to run the annual Woodstown Firecracker 5K! Aren't you proud of us? Andy's been running, but my lazy behind hasn't run in years...seriously. I was running on the treadmill when I was pregnant with Liz, but not since she's been born. And it was a long time before that that I actually ran outside, so I was happy I made it the whole way...and in 29:30. Andy was way ahead of me. Anyway, after a quick shower, we headed downtown to the parade. Aunt Kimmy came down to join us.

Lizzie LOVED the parade. She got so excited at everything...firetrucks, bands, CANDY, POPSCICLES.

Jon giving me his cheesy grin. Anyone know when those cheesy grins stop and I get nice natural smiles again?

Must have been a long parade. Jon needed a rest.

Lizzie showing off her little fireman's hat.

And time to swim again...

That night, my folks invited us to go out to the Cowtown Rodeo! I haven't been in YEARS! Andy passed to stay home with Liz so she wouldn't be up so late two nights in a row, but I took the boys. They really had fun...and they always have a great time with all their cousins. We sat right down by the fence at the end where the bulls come out of the stalls. It was pretty exciting!

Sunday, the neighbor that lives behind Mommom and Popsy's house invited the boys to come try out their zip cord thingy. Here goes Jon!

And Jake! It looked really fun! I don't think it would hold me though, but I would have done it if it could!

And why not swim just one more time? I think Aunt Kimmy might have taught Jake this cool trick.

Jake was getting pretty good at swimming by the end of the weekend.

This face says it all...FUN!

Happy Independence Day, America!

We're blessed to live in such an amazing country.