Lake Anna - Gillman reunion 2012

In July we took a trip to Virginia for a family reunion with my family. We rented this huge house on Lake Anna and had a blast with all the cousins! I posted a lot of pictures because.. well we had such a good time. We also rented a pontoon boat.. cue country song 'Motorboatin.' Scott liked riding on the tube but not Sarah.. as seen below in the video.

 Captain Jared and Janelle

 Motorboatin'!!

 My sister Christy and (not her child) Ellie

 Grant

 My sis-in-law, 32 weeks pregnant, on the tube.

 My parents.. like to relax and watch their posterity be happy!

 We had a massive fireworks show for the 4th of July (thanks Jared!)

 Cousin Kate (who looooves Scott)

 View of Lake Anna at sunset. It was sooo pretty there! Yet soooooo hot. Blistering.

 This cat was Janelle's and the source of a lot of tension around the house

 Cousin Brooklynn, oldest grandchild

 Cousin's Halle and Ashley were the prytechs for the fireworks show

 While Sarah and Ellie played

 My beautiful big sis Christy and I

 This is the house. Massive.

 Cousin Sophia

 Oh, I left Sarah alone with the fingerpaints and found this.. at least she was happy and in a swimsuit!

With my sister and sis-in-law Becky

 My brother brought this bouncy house. It was such a hit!

 My Scott loves his watermelon!

 Sarah and Janelle.. 1 month apart. I bribed them with candy to do this photoshoot.

 Brother Mark and Grant and (not his child) Ellie

 Josie

 Dance party. A daily activity

 We love Grammy!

 Ice cream. I did NOT pose this picture! They were all sitting like this!

 I made this quilt for my mom.. all our handprints on the various branches (1 for each family).

 Whole family

 He never knew what was coming..

 Payback. :) It was just too easy.

 Sarah tried hoarding waterballoons.

 I was a wonderful trip. No real issues.. except traveling was hard. But it always is with kids. It was so good to have all my siblings there and have us all fit comfortably in the house.. be happy and just enjoy each other's company. And the cousins all had so much fun. It's so great for them to get to play together. Until next time!

Roxy

Have you met our dog? This is Roxy. She's the sweetest, most submissive dog you'll ever meet. Except when she sees squirrels or rabbits. Then you'll never see her again.

 She likes to pay with string, like a cat.

She actually tolerates Scott quite well. Better than Sarah, when she just runs away. She lets Scott come to her and pet (or strongly pat) her. Both kids love to walk her when they can. Not her favorite.. but like I said, she's sweet about it. We love our Roxy!

Bubbles! The bubbles!

 We love our baths around here. With bubbles.

 Sarah takes it upon herself to help 'clean' Scott. Every inch.

Play time!

 Just some snapshots of our life this summer...

 Sarah LOVES to swing high in the swings! Who knew!

 So big!

 Ants. They love ants.

 So Scott was having a great time being pushed around until I took this picture. Really.

 Big bike! She prefers the smaller one though..

 Snuggling with Daddy.

 Bike wash! Our favorite activity.

 These kids are monkeys! Especially Scott! He's so nimble and fearless

 Daddy's shoes.. Daddy's little man!

Easter and the Chop-Drop

On the day before Easter we went to a local event: The Chop-Drop. It was sponsored by a local church to raise donations for Operation Hometown Gratitude. It was free and a whole lotta fun! Too bad it was stinkin cold and my camera batteries were on the fritz we we couldn't get a whole lot of pictures.

 This is the chopper that came by the field and actually dropped a couple hundred eggs! The rest of the (empty) eggs were dispersed by volunteers. It didn't matter how many eggs you got, everyone got to come away with a bag of candy. But Sarah got right in there and picked up some eggs! I thought the thousands of people and greedy kids would shy her away.. but she joined in! She LOOOOVED finding Easter eggs!

 Waiting for the chopper and the hunt to begin. The nice thing was that they divided the hunts by ages so the little kids weren't trampled by the older ones.

After the hunt!

Easter morning! The kids were overjoyed that the Easter bunny came and brough them a basket! (Thanks Grandma Tucker!) Wasn't long before Scott realized there's candy in them eggs! Next year the bunny will come AFTER church...

Bunny also brought new balls because the old one got popped..

The best picture in our Easter clothes! Love my little man in his tie! He's so grown up now!

With our sweet neighbor-adopted-Grandma Jan!

 This is Scott. He's a boy through and through!

The best picture of Sarah's Easter dress

It just wouldn't be complete without a dig in the garden. The bunny would be proud.

We're so grateful for the reason for Easter and for our Savior, Jesus Christ. He is risen!