Stephens Family Vacation

I've been putting off writing this post for two reasons: 1) I had about a bazillion pictures to look through, and 2) I knew that looking through them all would make me miss my family. The last time we were all together was three years ago, in 2005. My brother was graduating from high school, and Josh, Julie, and tiny 6-week old Michaela were getting ready to move to Texas. Now, three years later, the Marcums live in Bolivia and have three precious girls, we went to Japan and back and had a baby of our own, and my brother Matt is starting his senior year at ACU. A lot has happened in just three years. A lot more will probably happen in the next three or four years, or however long it is until we are all together again. It is painful to think of all that we are "missing out on" by not living closer to each other. Honestly, this is one of the things that grieves me most about the missionary life.

Alright, enough of that! We had a wonderful week at a totally awesome lake house in Port Sanilac, Michigan, right on the shores of Lake Huron. The weather was absolutely gorgeous the entire week, with the exception of one rainy day. Here's some of what we did:

We played at the park...

Alex and Uncle Josh

Michaela and Alex

Laura and Eliana (Isn't she the cutest?)

We played games...

Scotland Yard is a favorite!

So is Risk.

We swam in the lake, played in the sand, and threw rocks in the lake...

Uncle Matt, Alex, and Rusty

We swang (okay, I know swang is a word, but that just looks weird)...

We blew bubbles with Nyanya...

We read stories...

Reading in the pea-pod was a favorite activity!

Story-time with Nyanya

We helped Nyanya in the kitchen...

As you can see, Alex is not afraid of exploring his feminine side!

Of course, we had lots of yummy food...

Rusty and I made a Japanese meal one night.

And we roasted marshmallows and made s'mores out on the patio.

We celebrated Matt's 22nd birthday...

We snuggled with Baby Jana...

Some other favorite shots:

The cousins, all together for the first time!

Alex and Michaela

Uncle Rusty loves his nieces!

Auntie Laura and sweet Jana

Sisters, friends

For lots more pictures (as if you haven't seen enough!), see Julie's post at the Marcum blog.