Chasing the sun!

We were heading towards the sun. Destination unknown. The first lake was extremely cloudy with a chance of raining meatballs. The second lake had a slight over cast with complete clearing by the afternoon! There was sixteen of us and lately with our family we have to take two vehicles. Today we ended up at Sproat Lake where the water bombers are. The weather was calm and warm. Our children enjoyed swimming and playing freezbie. It was a great day! Another great day because most of us were together, my husband joined us and we were able to relax and enjoy our family. Speaking of family, I am very, very excited! So far this summer we've had to cancel different plans including travelling up North due to weather and road conditions. SO our family is coming to stay with us! Believe it or not, if we're all together between our two families, there will be 33 of us. 17 of them and 16 of us in our home and travelling on daily adventures! For most, 33 people represents an occasion or party of some sort. For us, it makes us complete! The weeks we spend together is not only going to be adventurous day trips all over the Island, it will be meeting new nephews and a niece. My husband's brother adopted another little boy who is now our nephew and they will meet their new nephew and niece too! I can't express enough how exciting this is! For approximately two weeks once a year we see each other. We're thrilled that our summer tradition continues! AND believe me the weather up North has made many families chase the sun south! You know what I've noticed about large families? Numbers don't matter. We continue to grow, we add friends and like today, we had some of our children's friends stay with us. Adding another child or 2,3,4 doesn't matter because we know how to survive with a large crowd. We often get asked, "How do we handle this many children?" This question will always exist to many unless your like us, "Crowd control doesn't matter" We live daily as a larger family, meals are prepared daily with often left overs. Nothing is chaotic because I continue to believe the larger your family is, the less chaos it really is due to organization skills, structure, routine and consistency. My answer to any question is those four above words. We always ask ourselves, "What's another two children?" My husband and I are confident that we create a better life for our children. This is our dedication. Again, we are not perfect. We do the best we can. Like us, I know of other larger families that can confidently raise more children no matter what their special needs are, no matter how big their family is. Of course being larger our challenges can rise, especially with teenagers that seek their own independence. Eventually that independent voyage has a docking point and that's why family is most important. (Ultimately it's better to be adopted, to have a family, then remain in foster care) As you know I ramble off topic when writing, it's like ADHD with a pen. All I can stress is; bigger families work! So if you see 33 people (mainly children) this August, yes that's us and they're all ours. One big proud family even with some challenges. AND sometimes the biggest challenge is on the other side of the fence, "Society" Questioning, "How are we possible?" In conclusion, our children's friends have been with us, witnessing our family's interaction and sharing our adventures the past couple of days have said, "This is the most fun we've had all summer!" That says a lot!