Saturday and Sunday at Bellefonte KOA

Saturday morning at Bellefonte KOA started out slowly.  Bianca had slept in the second bedroom in our cabin, and we enjoyed the quietness.

 

Dick started a fire to re-heat the bacon in our cast iron pots.  I had fried and frozen it to make it easier for him.   I made room on the messy table to make French toast on my electric griddle.  Everyone ate as they arrived.  Destiny's State College friend Hailey joined us for the day as she usually does.  

We thought there was a chance of rain on Saturday, so getting to the pool was a priority.  As it turned out there was no rain all day, but lots of sunshine!!  So many, many wonderful hours were spent at the pool.  Elizer learned to swim without his floaters on.  Older cousins kept an eye on him to make sure he was ok.   Tasha didn't want to get in the pool, but she enjoyed sitting poolside and holding Ketsi.  I got in the water and pushed Ketsi in her "raft."  

Frank arrived late afternoon with Jada.  Alaya and V'anni were spending the week with their other grandma, so they didn't get to come along to KOA.  

Some of the kids went on a long hayride after they got out of the pool.

Our dinner was the chili I had made ahead and frozen, served with rice, tortilla chips, tomatoes, lettuce, shedded cheese, sour cream, French dressing or Ranch dressing.  Delicious!!  I took this picture after most of it was gone unfortunately.  

We had finally managed to get three of Anthony's plastic tables set up under canopies. 

Sam and Steph arrived late afternoon, and when I realized that four of our boys were there at the same time (a rare occurrence!) I remembered a picture I had taken on the first day of school in 1994.  Sam and Frank had just joined our family.  All four boys would be at Manheim Central High School that year - Jeremy and Frank in 9th grade, Sam in 10th, and Anthony a senior.  I told them they needed to recreate that picture.  So they tried!  

Then Anthony found THE picture in his phone!

Later he used Ai to put their 2026 selves into our 1994 kitchen.  How we cracked up!!!  Probably the highlight of the weekend!

The kids loved the jumping pillow and the hammocks, but as older cousins take care of the younger cousins I seldom get down there to watch them anymore.  I took this picture from the pavilion, zooming in.

At 8:00 pm we all went to the pavilion for their ice cream social.  They serve various flavors of the famous, local Berkey Creamery ice cream and a choice of toppings.  I was having a good time eating and talking and never remembered to take a picture of all our family eating at our three tables having a good time.  I got these when some had already left.

Back at the campfire they were having a good time talking and reminiscing late into the evening. 

The kids played games.  The three boys on this picture, Brennan, Ruben, and Hunter are all very close in age.  Ruben recently turned 11, the other two are 10.  Ruben (Ozzy's brother) SO enjoyed being there and definitely wants to come with Destiny next year.

On Sunday morning the troops were slow to wake up, so I took the opportunity to take these pictures.  Top photo is behind our cabin, bottom left photo is our long table under the canopies, and the bottom right photo is a view of the other cabins our family slept it.  They each had a queen bed and a bunk bed.  We had six cabins this year.  

Frank had texted me the night before what time breakfast would be.  I answered, "Whenever you get up."  I put out a variety of bagels and cream cheese, yogurts, my homemade granola, and berries, and everyone helped themselves as they arrived.  

Bianca's 12th birthday was on Sunday!  Steph had brought a birthday cake for her, so we had that with our lunch.

Lunch was grilled Italian sausages and hot dogs with peppers and onions on sausage rolls.  So scrumptious!

The star of the weekend was Ketsi of course!

Late morning Jeremy took Mike to the State College airport.  Mike had to fly home to Portland because of his job.  Jeremy and the kids would be staying on the East coast for another week.  

Sam and Steph and the kids had to leave early afternoon because Bianca had a flag football game.  Others were saying goodbye as they prepared to leave. 

Destiny and the kids were the next ones to leave, needing to get all the way home to Indianapolis!  Elizer and Ruben would have their first day of school on Monday!  As I look over the pictures I realize I hardly got any pictures of Elizer.  He was always on the go with the other cousins.  Bianca especially took care of him. 

Cleaning and packing up was a CHORE!!  It was such a hot day.  No pictures of that process!  We had good help from Anthony and Lori and Jeremy.  Frank wasn't there at that time because he had left earlier to go over to Anthony and Lori's place to work.  They have hired him to remodel their basement playroom into a studio apartment for Lori's nephew William.  

Jeremy and the kids were coming to our place for a couple of days, so we had wonderful help unloading when we got home.  I can't even remember what we did that evening besides unloading.  Jeremy decided that we would take all the sheets and towels and our other laundry to a laundromat on Monday, so we didn't start any laundry that evening.  What DID we do??  I think we played a game, but no pictures of that, so it's just a vague memory, lol!  I was SO exhausted! 

Next post will be about our two wonderful days with Jeremy and the kids.