hungry mother 2015

The second week of July, Ben took off to Young Life camp and the kids and I loaded up and drove to Hungry Mother State Park. (I know! What a name?!) We spent a week at the "cabins in the woods" as my kids call them. 24 years ago, many of the same family members spent a week in those very cabins. In fact, our family was in the same cabin I stayed in with my grandparents when we went all those years ago.

51 members of the Slider Family

12 Cabins

14 kids under the age of 10

It was an epic week!

 

We were missing one family of 6 that came about an hour after this picture was taken. So add in two more adults and 4 more kids!

My grandparents had 6 children. These are the my grandparents children and/or spouses that were able to come for the week.

 And this is 11 of my grandparents 20 grandchildren (the 12th came after this picture). There is an age range of 19 years between the oldest and the youngest grandchild.

And these are a portion of my grandparents great-grandchildren and great, great-grandchildren (at this point I believe we've lost count).

 

Highlights from the week included:

Cruise Ship Director Nathan and his faithful sidekick Laura
nights on Amanda's front porch
the kids going straight to my parents cabin in the mornings for breakfast and long talks
all the kids loving to be together
freedom for the kids to roam between cabins
bike rides, hikes, fishing, paddle boats and geocaching
drive in movie
ice cream with my parents
family dinner night on the beach
bike and scooter riding in the parking lot
dinners at my parents cabin
the craft fair and the kids shopping with their own money
walking all those hills
swimming at the lake with the diving boards
fun days at the beach with everyone
cool, non-humid temps
easy travel with the kids on my own both ways
playing hard
our family cabin
being with family we deeply love 

Aunt Darlene, Dad and Uncle Lee playing cards - as always.

Drive in to see Minions

(Fun experience. Terrible movie.)

Our kids rip roaring around the parking lot like crazy people. Notice sweet Leah even got in on the action on the back of her Dad's bike!

And then we joined in.

Brandi, Nathan, Jeremy, Laura & Amanda

Along with Sara and Charlie, the 7 of us used to ride our bikes and scooters around Paden City like we owned the place. Jeremy rode his scooter many years after the rest of us switched to bikes. This is my favorite picture of the whole week.

 

Hungry Mother is a beautiful state park. Weird name though. When we pulled out on Saturday, I was so sad to leave. We played hard that week. I'm thankful that my kids got to see and experience and know their heritage and much extended family.

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