camparoo

i'm sure i've mentioned our family camparoo before on my blog, but i'm too lazy to search for it now. this year's camparoo was held last weekend. our very large family all get together at my grandparent's farm, pitch tents, campers & such and spend the weekend hanging out. we usually just go for the day on saturday because we don't have a tent to stay in. hopefully next year we'll have one and the boys will be old enough to spend the night outside. i'm sure they'll be so excited.

we look forward to this weekend all year. i'm so blessed to have such an amazing family. unlike many families, there's never any drama, just plain old fun-times.



early saturday morning, my family was out in the yard helping grandma and grandpa get some work done. things like cleaning out gutters, trimming some trees, etc. here's the little dude "hauling" some of the fallen branches and leaves with his newly thrifted crane.



there's loads of stuff to do at the farm. everyone brings their atv's, there's a shooting range, volleyball, games, etc. never a dull moment. here's the baby testing out the 4 wheelers. he loved sitting on them until someone turned one one. then it was a different story!



and here's my dad with 3 of his 4 grandkids after a ride around the marsh. it took a little bit, but the baby finally decided it was ok to be on one while it was running!



for the past few years we've had the "del ponte olympics". my aunt and uncle arrange it all and each year they have a different theme. since we have such a large family, we form 6 teams (one for each of grandma & grandpa's kids) each one having an aunt or uncle as a leader. this year's theme was "county fair". i don't have photos of the first 4 events because i was participating, but they were comprised of a "cow pie" toss, a knot untying race, cow "milking" race, hay bale flipping, and finally a pie eating contest. luckily only the "team leaders" (ie. my mom and aunts and uncles) had to participate in this last round. the above photo is taken at the start of the race. i'll be kind and keep the final photos private. ;) my team, which happened to be comprised of all women, took a close second place....only 1 point shy of first place.

unfortunately there was a loss at the camparoo this year. my aunt and uncle's dog rex passed away on saturday after long 14 years of life. the family was all there to support them and rex was laid to rest on the farm....a perfect resting place.

we're already looking forward to next year!