Kat:
Each year my family gathers for a week of shenanigans. For nine years the gathering happened at my parents house in Spring Grove PA on Lake PaHaGaCo, hence the gathering was dubbed Camp PaHaGaCo. Starting last summer the gathering was moved to Rock Hall MD where my sister and her family have a weekend house. We don't all fit in the house but between the trailer and my parents boat, a 40' Catalina, which is berthed at the Haven Harbor marina across the cove, we manage to house us all. However, we are down five people this year as my brother John and his wife Brandi are enjoying a long awaited vacation in Greece and my other brother, DB and his wife Natasha are expecting a second child so they and their kiddo Vivian, have stayed in San Diego. The smaller numbers has meant we have not needed to charter a second boat like we did last summer to accommodate everyone. The week here has included a road race, parade, fireworks, tie dyeing, drone flights, sailing, swimming, dance party, a multitude of games, and some fabulous meals.
I've asked the girls and Ryan to contribute to this post to talk about their favorite part of camp so it's only fair I include my own. I find that my favorite times are those unscripted moments when you look around at your family and you see people going about doing their thing, two playing a game here, a few organizing a meal in the kitchen, a group over there looking at pictures, and you are happy to have the time to enjoy each other. I have thoroughly enjoyed all the activities but really what makes this week what it is is the people. And the animals too... My sister's family recently got a golden retriever puppy, Winnie, and my parents have a cockapoo, Dory. Quiet a bit of the week involved yelling at Winnie to "DROP IT" or Dory to "shhh!" Despite that their adorable fuzzy selves just add to the fun atmosphere of our gatherings.
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| Winnie and Me |
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| Meg & Me with our kiddos |
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| Dinners on the deck were always followed by spectacular sun sets |
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| Fourth of July Parade in downtown Rock Hall, MD |
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| This year's T-Shirt design |
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| Kid pyramid! |
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| The kids spent a lot of time playing in the pool at the marina |
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| Clare and Kinsey walking to Durdings. |
My favorite part of camp was...I don't really have a favorite, all of it was so fun. I liked going to a really awesome ice cream store called Durdings. We went twice. The first time I got Moose Tracks, it was so good. It's brownies chunks, chocolate chips, chocolate and vanilla ice cream and a tiny bit of fudge. The second time I got lemon sorbet, that was miraculously soft and lemony. So if you ever come across a Durdings shop I'd recommend you go there. I also liked playing at the pool. We played games like, Categories where your pick a category like "Disney Princess", for example, and you think of things in that category and if the tagger says that thing you have to swim to the other side of the pool and not get tagged. If you make it you swim back, if not you are the new tagger. Other games we played were Sharks and Minnows and we had relay races. We had contests too like the biggest splash, smallest splash, quietest splash or loudest splash. I discovered that I could do cool jumps into the pool that I had never done before, like flips and round-offs. I didn't want to leave because I was going to miss my family. I played games inside and outside with my cousins. I made crunchies with Grand Mar, and got to ride in the dingy with Popov. We watched fireworks on Grand Mar and Popov's boat, Brunelle.
Camp Soup
By Zoe
To cook camp soup
one must be precise
however,
the recipe can be tweaked
once or maybe twice
To start
gather the families
(be sure to get the kids)
along with some puppies
and toss lots of love
right in!
Then find
a pool that they
all could swim
and add six or seven
boats
For a little extra kick
add paddle board
a kayak
and some Popsicles
too
To finish it all off
stir together in a
cozy house by
the sea with
kisses and hugs
from me
Ryan:
Camp week with Kat's family has always been an amazing and somewhat decadent marathon of good food, drink, and fun, but what has become my favorite part in recent years is catching up with everyone and watching the kids enjoy being together. There are other times when we might see parts of the family throughout the year, maybe for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or a "May Baby" celebration (because so many of our kids have been born in May), but camp week is when we really get to live together a bit; whether cooking or gaming or doing some sort of project or doing nothing at all, it gives us the time to connect in a way that those quicker, more organized events don't necessarily allow. It is also a lot of fun to see the kids kind of doing the same thing. Because of their ages, they tend to play in certain groupings, but you can tell they really love being together. It's fun, but it also makes you feel good because while they all change so much from year to year, it takes almost no time at all for them to seem as if they are together all the time. Watching them, you get the sense that they are building the bonds that will support them as they build their own lives and families. Every year camp is a little different, in large part because the kids grow up so much from year to year, but also because of what's going on in everyone's life at the time and because of who may be missing. As Kat mentioned above, some of the crew were missing this year, as they are off on their own adventures creating great memories and awaiting the newest future camper. This year's camp was maybe a bit less crowded, maybe a bit lower key, but still a great week and definitely one for the books.
This awesome aerial footage was taken by my brother Sam.
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