Cow Creek 2012 Edition

We made our annual trip to Cow Creek a couple of weeks ago! Cow Creek is a camp that Aaron's family has close to Orange, Texas - really close to the LA border. It's a one room camp house on a creek and it's so much fun! About 3 or 4 years ago several of us started going in the summer and we were able to squeeze one more trip in before our friends Jason, Stephanie and their kids moved to Japan!

Kendall loves Cow Creek. Talks about it all year long. So she was very excited to be going and so was Cooper! Molly was not excited that we were going, and she decided to load herself in the van, even though she was staying in LJ with Frannie and Bud.

The creek is so fun. The cabin is up high with lots of sand underneath, so the kids just play under the house all day and get in the creek at some point each day. It's very relaxing and just great hang-out time! This is Seth, Blake, Lawson, Ella, Aubrey, Brynlee, Sarah, Kendall and Ethan. Such sweet friends!

Cooper was a great age this year - she loved trying to keep up with the big kids and did great just wandering and playing in the sand!

Seth and Brynlee designed a "boat museum" under the house one day. They made us all tickets and took us on a tour. Very creative! This is most of the adults in the box they drew that they had to stand in on the tour...

...and here Seth and Brynlee are telling about the different "boat exhibits." :)

Jason has been the worship pastor at Brazos Pointe since 2006 - the year before we came. The Beams have been some of our closest friends since moving here and we will miss them so much! They were feeling a calling toward some kind of mission work and God led them to a position at a church in Okinawa, Japan. He will be leading them in worship as well as leading their missions efforts. We know this is an exciting next step for them but Lake Jackson won't be the same for us without them!

Before they left, some of us made a little photo book with pictures of our families and notes from us. We gave it to them at the creek and they loved it! I think Stephanie is crying in this picture. :) We have all been through so much together and have grown a lot as we've raised our young children together. So much of all our lives is done together that it is going to be so weird not having them here, but we are excited to hear about their adventures in Okinawa!

I love this picture - Brynlee, Sarah, Aubrey, and Kendall all slept in one big bed together on Friday night. Kendall has always wanted to sleep in our bed at the creek - she's never been old enough to want to sleep with her friends. They were all very excited to be having a slumber party and they all slept all night. I don't think any of the four of them moved. Love it!

All the kids!

We have the best times at the creek! Already looking forward to 2013 and hopefully getting to plan it when the Beams are visiting!