Happy "12" Birthday Kennedy

It looks like Kennedy will have a great day. Yesterday was hot....but the kids all survived by jumping in the lake over and over again. Almost everyone jumped in the lake at least once cept for about 3 of us. Yesterday was a hugh crowd....I think we had 23 all together. One Turkey fed us all, but their was only bone picking left. Emily (who claims she doesn't like turkey) started picking at the bones and dipping it into the drippings. Pretty soon she had four other non-turkey lovers gathered around picking and dipping every last bit of meat from the bones. It was an exceptionally good turkey and the potatoes, onions and carrots were a big hit as well. Some how along with a couple of salads Chris Sedesky and Kim made and some desserts that Cindy Kish and others brought we fed all 23 well. It was a feast!! The day was filled with lots of swimming and tubing and lots of great conversations on the deck. I spent as much time in the cabin as possible but still wanted to be hospitable....so would go out in short spurts and then retreat back inside...finding something to do to look like I wasn't avoiding people. During the flurry of activities, Rob Kish brought the exact tool to get the bolt off the floating raft, so that they could put the new ladder on and then anchor it out so the kids could swim to it and spend a lot of time jumping off. Tom and Doug had spent a lot of time the day before trying to remove this old bolt to no avail....so Doug had called Rob and told him what he needed to get it off...and it worked!! Karen usually is the one to dive down and get it attached to the anchor that they leave in the lake, but this year she needed a lot of help just finding the anchor so that she could do her annual job. This morning Karen, Annie, Judy and John Kays took off at 8:30 a.m. to run to Target in Buffalo to get stuff for the birthday party, hoping to be back before the kids were out of bed. Last night after Kennedy went down to the boathouse to watch the fireworks and sleep, the rest of the kids decorated the cabin in great birthday style, and tradition. So when Kennedy does get up this morning, she will be greeted by it all. Their will only be about 16 of us today, so not such a crowd, but we will celebrate and eat just as well as we did yesterday. Jimbo, Ann and Nick will be arriving this morning, and we will have new conversations, and new jokes and much laughter and the sun will shine on us all. Love and prayers, m