The 12th Gillette-Feffer-Prentice Get-together

 For our annual get-together, we flew out to North Carolina and stayed at the Feffer's new house. They moved out to NC last summer and we've waited all year to come see them! We took a red-eye flight from Vancouver, BC and after stopping in Calgary and Toronto, we made it to Charlotte at 11:45am Thursday morning. Adam picked us up from the airport and we spent the next several days at their house. Russ and Jenn arrived Thursday evening. Everyone left Sunday, so it was a quick trip but we enjoyed every minute of it!

It took the kids about 30 minutes to learn their way around the house and remember each other before they were playing together like best friends! 

Adam and Ashlie live on Lake Norman in Mooresville, NC and we spent the majority of our time in the lake. They have a boat and borrowed a few fun toys from their neighbors. The water was warm (close to 85*) which I thought was just perfect! We had gorgeous weather for most of the time, and did get to experience a thunderstorm and quite the downpour of rain that passed within half an hour!

The only time we left their house was to go out for lunch on Friday. The restaurant was very close by, so most of us walked to it, while Annaliese, Josephine, Eleia, and Holden kayaked over to it!

We had lots of fun on the foam mat!

Malachi

Ashlie, Jenn, and I on the dock

Russ throwing in Eden

Adam throwing Holden

Annaliese and Josephine heading out to the restaurant for lunch.

Holden and Eleia

Josephine, Brooks, Eleia, Holden

Annaliese, Haleigh, Eden

Eden, Haleigh, Malachi

Lunch at Toucan's

Kyle and Lydia

Eleia, Annaliese, Josephine

Ashlie and Kari

The boys went wake-boarding

Dance Party

Eden and Haleigh

Annaliese and Josephine

Malachi, Kari, Lydia
(It took a lot of convincing to get Lydia out on the tube...but she had a ton of fun once she was out there!)

Every year we are reminded of what a blessing it is to have friends like the Feffers and Prentices- friends who we only see once a year but who we connect with and who we get to experience life with. This trip was no different- we ate together, played together, talked with one another, and prayed for and with each other. As the trip drew to an end, the kids exchanged email addresses and we started discussing next years trip!