Afterglow 2012...Part 1

Well, this was the last year at Afterglow which is really sad to think about.  We have been going since the year I was born (31 years) and it has been such a meaningful place to go to every year with my family.  I have so many happy memories there from so many different seasons of my life.  It has been especially fun these past 3 years having Addison and Caroline there because I have really felt like I got to have a glimpse of how I was as a kid there.  I was also lucky to find a husband who has grown to love it too.  We are moving on to new place that accommodates our growing extended family which at the end of the day is what matters most.  You can find some more pictures and a better expression of why Afterglow has been so meaningful on my sister Elsa's blog here

 

Part of the Afterglow tradition is going up on Friday night and stopping half way there at a hotel to go swimming, have dinner together and of course spend the night.  Caroline in the front and Addison in the back.

Addison.  They are starting to enjoy swimming a lot more.



My tradition is when we first get there to go straight to the lake and catch a frog.  Here we are going to the first place to look for some.

 

Addison and Caroline had fun helping me catch frogs this week.

There were no frogs at the first place we looked so we moved on to another one.  My little frog catchers following me :)

Success!  Addison (in yellow) got really scared at first because it jumped out of my hand towards her and she was not expecting that.  She warmed up to it eventually.

Sweet little Naomi

Looking at a fish

They were both very good at knowing their boundaries when it came to being on the pier.  That surely made it less stressful for us knowing we did not have to worry too much about them falling into the lake.

They loved putting sticks in the water. Addison

Caroline

Scott gets the photo credit for this one.

I came out of our cabin and found them looking at something and poking it with sticks.  They had found a toad!  They are truly my daughters.  I once took a toad home from Afterglow and had it as a pet for a while.

Mr. Toad

Beach time!  They had so much more fun playing at the beach this year.  It was a lot of fun to see the difference from last year when they would start crying as soon as we got there.

Naomi has no fear

Such a cutey and always ready to flash you a huge toothy grin.

Caroline on the left and Addison on the right

 

Addison

Caroline

Looking for frogs together without my help.  So cute.

Learning to fish with daddy

We borrowed some swimming suits from Linnea.  Excuse me, how cute is Addison!

This was when Naomi too a record 15 steps!  Go Naomi Go!

Sonja was not so sure about the big slide once she got up there.

But she loved it so much and went several more times throughout the week.  She is so adventurous!

Precious little Lucia.