Bartholomew Reunion-Lake Wapello....WA-pell-oh

After a fun start to the reunion at Deb's house we all headed to Lake Wapello for the "main" reunion time.  We camped right by a lake and had a fabulous time.  It was great!  It was hot, but there were hardly any bugs and the kids had so much fun in the water swimming, canoeing and kayaking.

The beach was pretty close to the campsite.  A little walk through the woods and another campsite.












Joseph made up a candy game...with actual candy!  It was a hit with the kids.












We arrived to Lake Wapello on a Monday and stayed thru Thursday morning.  The days kind of ran together, but one afternoon we had a talent show.








And of course we did a pie eating contest!  I am not sure who won for the kids...


One afternoon was incredibly windy.  Deb and Matt hadn't staked their tent down, but with all their sleeping bags and clothes you would think it would have been fine.  Nope.  The wind blew it over on its side.


Back to pie eating....






Looks like Haley won the kid round!


And maybe Shanna coming in 2nd?








I'll claim to have won the ladies round but I think Rebecca or Makenzie finished the same time or just before or after me.




Not sure about the guy's round either...








When family visited Deb over the past year or so she took them to a ceramics shop where they each picked out a ceramic to paint.  The kids loved it.
















Though sadly, we had several broken parts on the journey home....




One evening was a dutch over cook-off.  One of the camp host's came down to judge. We enjoyed meeting him.  Ethan & Joseph won with their enchilada ring. 






Stephanie hosted a sibling trivia game which was really fun.  We siblings got into it and were debating some.  At one point Clark was telling us to calm down, haha.  Mom brought our family's banner/symbol of a Bartholomew Bee.  And we sang our family theme song, Always Be Positive.










Andy wasn't able to come so we tried to help Steph as much as we could.  We brought her out extra tent and a sleeping bag as well.  Our Chevy was PACKED to the hilt!
























The last night there the moon was AMAZING! 




We took the kids on an 8 mile bike ride.  They weren't too happy about it.  Though Shanna was.  Just at the beginning of our ride she ran over a thorn and had to go back.


We took the trail around Lake Wapello.




















Our last morning there while packing up Haley caught a fish!  Cal took the hook out but got bit in the process.  No fun.


My kids had so much fun with Steven.  He is so cute and chill.










We had a terrific time there! On they way out we stopped at an Amish furniture store, saw a car wash with a VW bug, and stopped for lunch where they sell HUGE soft serve cones.


These were their smalls!!!








Thank you Matt and Deborah for the awesome reunion!