Camp Meeting

  Will's grandmother's family has been attending Camp Meeting at Indian Fields Methodist Campground in St. George, SC for years and years.  There are 99 'tents' which are really more like log cabins in a giant circle around a field with an open-air tabernacle in the middle.  Each family owns their own cabin and spends the week (or whatever part of the week they are able) at their cabin and it's a family reunion of sorts.  

Will took Mamoo last year but for some reason the children and I were not able to make it.  We made it a priority this year because we knew how important it was to Mamoo that we attend.  It took a little while, but in the end I think both Olivia and McIver had a good time.

Will took the kids upstairs in the 'tent.'  I didn't get a picture, but there's an open-air kitchen in the back.  It's amazing more of these cabins haven't burned down with all the children, fires and cooking going on.

The children heard through the grapevine that there was a candy store somewhere.  Olivia had been pretty bored up until this point.  (Note to self:  Let Olivia bring a friend next year!)  But things perked up once she got her own cup of boiled peanuts.

Olivia and McIver showed me around the upstairs of the tent.  There are two rooms with wooden platforms for blow-up mattresses and sleeping bags.  (There was also a handicap toilet seat with a plastic bucket underneath.  That's pretty much when Olivia and I decided not to drink anything all night long!)  

Will, GranGran, GranDaddy and Olivia - you can kind of see all of the tents in the background.

Olivia and Will kicked the soccer ball around for a little while.

Mamoo loved visiting with her family and seeing so many of them all in one place.  It really does her heart good to be surrounded by her people.  Here she is having dessert with McIver and a cousin, Foster.

A sweet, old man was walking around blowing a horn to get everyone to come to the tabernacle for the church service.  A few people were taking turns blowing the horn. I was SHOCKED when Olivia said she wanted to give it a try.  It was harder to make a noise than she thought it would be.  When the man told her that 'you really want to kind of spit into the hole' we were totally grossed out and kindly thanked the man for sharing the horn with us.  Blech!