The Summer Saga: Part 1 - MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND

(I am now officially playing catch-up with our summer adventures: stay tuned for more....and more...and more. You may get bored of reading and seeing it, but since I don't scrapbook or even print out pictures anymore, this is my only way of documenting it. So bear with me.)

The best way to kick off summer is with a snow storm! Right?

Well that's how they do it in Rexburg, apparently. This was May 22nd.

Unbelievable for us Arizonans.

Memorial Day weekend Eric's sister Amy came up from Logan.

Together with his other sister Debbie and their families we took some local day trip adventures.

The cousins posing by the Lower Mesa Falls

(minus Renae who was having a bad day & baby Kayla).

 Unfortunately you can't see the falls in the picture. Oh well.

 It was a drizzly cold day, but we all had fun anyway.

They have a neat little lodge by the Upper Falls where the kids can touch stuff.

They loved it!

This is Renae and I posing in front of Mesa Falls.

The falls were amazing and you really get down close to them.

Next we went to Big Springs. This is a lovely spot.

Another attempt to get all the cousins posed together. Another failure.

Finally a group photo of the kids with everyone looking, sort of.

I guess the secret is food!

But we are still missing two kids -- guess I'll have to settle for what I can get.

Our final adventure for the weekend was camping in the hills

(they aren't really mountains) just 20 minutes outside of Rexburg.

We had a great time: dutch oven dinner, s'mores & lots of outdoor exploring.

Unfortunately.....you guessed it!

I didn't remember to get my camera out until we were leaving. Sad.

 But Eric will say this is the best picture I could have taken anyway :)

Do you HEAR that?

The silence was deafening (that is one of my favorite expressions) and it described my home this morning. ALL my kids were gone to school! Yep, that's right for a few hours a week (4 hrs to be exact) all my children are at school. What will I do with those 4 hours? The possibilities are endless. Today I did: dishes, laundry, ran 2 errands and made 2 phone calls. Nothing glamorous...but it feels so different without kids around.

But enough about me....this is what this post is really about......

 THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!

Sadie started Preschool -- next door!!

Colby started KINDERGARTEN!! Woohoo!

Renae started 3rd grade.

Mason started MIDDLE SCHOOL! 5th grade is in Middle School here. Gulp.

A glimpse of our morning. It was NOT all smiles.

It was actually a really tough day in the Cameron house.

I guess some people (like me!) don't take to change very well.

But Colby got straight to work and had a terrific first day in school.

After 2 1/2 long hours of Kindergarten (yep, that's it)

...he blew off some steam by playing "gorillas in the trees"

 in our front yard with Sadie & a neighbor girl. Good times.

I am soooooooo behind in my blogging. I agonized about whether to start with June, July and work through to August or to start with today and work back. But I really wanted to post about today. Sometimes I skip months and have nothing to say, but I have had the BUSIEST summer of my life and I really want to document it. Maybe I can shoot for one post a day. Now that I have a little more free time (4 whole hours a week!) More soon.