I know my 30 days of thanks posts were to have ended yesterday, but I was traveling the last several days and had such crummy wireless service that it was really easy to stay offline for the most part (though if you look at my instagram stream you will see I had to share photos!) And I am so thankful for the incredible time we had, that I feel like I have to share it.

So what was it that made my Thanksgiving weekend so incredible? A picture is worth 50+ names 🙂

Yes, that’s the group we had with us for the long weekend — lots of us arrived on Wednesday and just came home Sunday. (The where? A campground I have talked about before.) We had time to catch up on all sorts of things and nothing at all. So what do you do when you are with 50+ of the people you love for the Thanksgiving weekend? Here are some of the highlights (but there are so many more that I simply can’t share them all!):

Campfire Fun

There is never enough campfire time…. and when the weather is cold, a campfire is PERFECT night and day! The conversation ranges from the firewood & stacking method of the logs to what’s happening in our respective parts of the world.

 

Playing Inside

With temps dropping into the teens the first night, everyone came ready to spend a lot of time inside! We had rousing games of Phase 10, Apples to Apples, Uno and more!

     

Playing Outside

We were lucky and had temperatures warm up! That mean the campfire wasn’t the only place we could play! So some of us went on a nice long hike one day and we had the chance to make good use of the playground too!

        

Contemplating

This place has a very special place in my spiritual mindset, so there were several times in which I was busy simply taking in nature and the place that I have loved since childhood. Our first morning, that started at 5:30 am. Yes. I was up that early and no, it wasn’t fully by choice, but once awake, I figured I should take full advantage of it!

    

Cooking, Eating & Cleaning

Since it was Thanksgiving weekend, there was obviously a huge amount of food! We all got to lend a hand and helped provide special dishes and ingredients.

     

Playing Along with/ Entertaining the Photographer

As you may have guessed…. I sort of get to be the official photographer. My cousin Lee is a great photographer too. He did some awesome time lapse, photography, etc but I tend to be the one capturing the crazy faces (I may inspire some LOL) or the great smiles. Here are a few more I am especially proud of this time.

       

So you see, I really do have a lot to be thankful for!

Related articles

• Happy Thanksgiving 2013
• Giving #FoodThanks this Thanksgiving
• #Foodthanks Is a Regular Topic of Gratitude for Me
• Thankful for People Who Take Action When the Chips are Down