12th Annual Cuzzies Camping - 2023

You guys!  I went back and dug it up.  12 years!  We've been doing Cuzzies camping for TWELVE years.  That means we started this tradition before any 3rd tier cousins were born.  We started it before some of the people on this trip were even dating!  We started it before some people on the trip were even out of college!  Wow, now I feel old.  This is how it happens, right?  You're just going along, living live and having so much fun and all of a sudden you've been doing things for a really really long time and even though you feel old, you also feel so thankful.  So blessed.  And so so happy!

12th annual Cuzzies took us to a new location - the Indiana Dunes.  While I hate the drive to north west Indiana, we did it anyways and we had an amazing time!  We call it Cuzzies Camping because that's how it started.  But this year we found a private campground that also had cabins and it turns out only 2 of us actually camped.  It's ok, if it makes it easier for others to hang out with us and do something we love so so much, fine by me!  We had a total of 25 people and 3 dogs and I think next year might be even bigger!

We landed an amazing day weather wise.  Partly cloudy (perfect for the beach) and cool enough that we could complete the 3 Dune Challenge (hiking the three tallest dunes in Indiana) with the kids (t-shirts to prove it!) and still have the energy to head the beach for a few hours.  We had an amazing day with the kids - truly!  The big kids did amazing and played together so nicely - us adults were in heaven, feeling like "we've arrived".  

The families with little kids that still needed naps went to the beach somewhere else and we all ended up back at the campground for a big community dinner together.  The cabins made it perfect for the little kids to go to bed and their parents were able to come back out and join us for a campfire, 'smores and lots and lots of laughs.

The weather was amazing.  Cool enough to do everything we wanted to do and warm enough to make the beach fun.  On Sunday as we packed up, you could feel the temps rise and we started the first of a 6 day streak of temps over 100 degrees and high high humidity.  As I type this, it's still hot, but tomorrow the temps start to fall again.  It's the hottest it's been all summer and I'm so thankful that we had great weather last weekend.

**Look at our sweet dog.  He's a pain in the butt a lot of times (especially when it comes to camping) but THIS is why you get a Golden.  He's a good boy and I wouldn't trade him for anything!

Good god do I love a big group photo!  These are some of my most favorite photos ever.  Thanks to Sarah and Jenny for making this one happen.  I was feeling tired and lazy but they pulled everyone together for maybe on of my most favorite photos of the season!