We woke up Sunday morning to overcast skies and light rain. By the time we left for church it was raining so hard that we all grabbed our umbrellas on our way out the door. Our Minnesota church, the Evangelical Free Church of Bemidji, was more crowded than usual as they had combined two services into one. Add to that our extra five or six families and it was a full house!

It was still a little wet and overcast after church so we decided to bump our picnic start time back to 5:00 p.m. By the time the pork chops were grilled and the side dishes ready, the sun was out and things had dried out nicely. The picnic was a success, with all of the usual suspects to complement the pork chops: parsley bread, potato casserole, watermelon, and several salads.

This is one of the biggest groups we have had at our Sunday picnic in many years, with a total of 32 family members. New this year were my sister Barb and her husband Fred, as well as Sandra and Jeremy, Luke, Joel and Lydia. Paul and Melissa added their baby Elle, whom we had all anxiously awaited meeting, after praying for her throughout the year.

Before and after the picnic, everyone found other things to do. My mom is good at crossword puzzles, and her neurologist said it is good for her to learn new things to stimulate her Alzheimer's brain; so Chloe and I introduced her to a new app on my tablet called "Wordscapes." She was hooked! (By the end of the two weeks, several of us were addicted to this new word game, as we helped each other on the daily puzzle, and competed to see who was climbing through the levels the fastest! I think Maddie and Chloe were the winners!)

After dinner, several of the gang, including Tom, went for a spin on the Migizi trail while others stayed home. Deb and I (with Dad's help) started serving brownie sundaes around 8:00 p.m. in our cabin. Family members filtered in all evening long, with the last ones showing up around 10:00 to get their dessert. Our cabin was buzzing with activity all night, until I finally told them to "go home!" so I could go to bed! ;)

Big family, big fun