Reunion 2011

We take our crafts seriously at our family gathering.

We had so much fun in the water...

And of course the boys always find ways to challenge each other....

This one was POOPED by the time we left.

A few bumps and bruises, and LOTS of skeeter bites, but it was all worth it.

swimming lessons

The boy LOVED swimming with his dad.

The dog was thoroughly enjoying himself as well, as you will notice in a few pictures...

 The dad gave the boy a few swimming lessons.

But he preferred being up high...

After a long day in the sun and water, the boy crashed. Hard. Nothing could wake him up.

Notice his blue bandaged hand....why is it people feel the need to break glass beer bottles all around the fire pit and leave it for poor little boys to fall in?

Now for the important part of camping....preparing for smores.

The grand finale of the evening...

YUM

He's back!

How is it that one can go from taking hundreds of pictures to taking none? And go camping on a beautiful weekend and take a total of 4 pictures? Well, thats how things are done around here.

So here you have the mountain man wondering off into the wilderness with his chainsaw. You see, that's how REAL mountain men get their firewood. The idea is to conserve your energy for more important matters.

The mountain boy wasn't too thrilled with the idea of the chainsaw. He did, however, love cleaning up the aftermath and hauling it back to camp. That became his official job. And I have never seen a better fire keeper.

I challenge everyone to get out and enjoy the quiet, beautiful wilderness we are blessed with. There is nothing like taking your family away from all of the worlds distractions and spending time together...

Not so long ago it snowed. Lots.

But then the sun came out. So the boy and I planted a few seeds.

Then we went rock pickin'.

Then a tornado blew papa and gramma all the way over to play.

But then the wind blew them away.

So we went camping.

But it rained and rained and rained. And rained. So we played in the trailer.

So much that it may or may not have made a few of us a little crazy.

Then we slept. And when we woke up, it snowed. So we packed up and headed home.

But look! Our flower bloomed!

And our little seeds were actually growing! Maybe spring is coming! At least in the house...

The End.

morning nap

It's a long one. The post that is. Although the nap seems to be lasting a long time. Maybe it's because his eye is swelling shut.
If this little family has nothing else in common, we have this: 1. our eyes swell shut. 2. we love naps

Naps on the couch.

Naps with the dad.

Naps on the floor in overalls.

Camping naps.

Speaking of camping naps- We LOVED camping in ISLAND PARK with everyone.

suspicious jo

locked-out lu lu
dirty feet by the fire

What's not to love?

Ah, its the girls turn in the boat.

All the boys stay behind. All but Captain Rob (and suspicious jo). Someone must drive the boat.

And show us how to wakeboard.

Good thing we let Captain Rob come along.

Boys turn again.

Papa Ken will show us his moves.

Now mine will go.

But of course. My batteries have died, and my spare set just so happen to be dead as well. Of course.
Now all I have to do is figure out what to wear today. And OBVIOUSLY the laundry needs to be folded.

home sweet home

Thursday our mini-mountain man tried on his winter hat and mittins. Why you might ask? We were going camping!! He wanted to be prepared for cold mountain nights.

We packed up our barometric pressure guage and headed out.

We got to our campground just before dark. As we lay in bed that night, all three of us, we listened to the booming thunder and the steady beat of the rain pounding against our cozy little trailer. "Boy am I glad we have a trailer" I thought as the rain continued to grow stronger. Stairing up though our beautiful little skylight above our bed, I slowly started to doze off. But as I did so, I felt the slightest splash of cold on my forehead. Tired, I ignored it for a short time. Deciding I should check on the boy one last time, I reached my hand up to find not only his soft, chilled little face, but also a puddle of water growing larger right next to it. The big mountain man and I quickly adjusted to pull the soundly sleeping little mountain man away from the faucet that had been turned on above our heads. Slightly less comfortable, we all settled back down and waited for sleep to come over us. As I lay there, I had a familiar feeling. Deja vu if you will. That feeling continued to grow stronger, as I realized that section of window was now leaking. Before I could sit up to re-readjust, I felt it lower, at my feet. Yes, indeed, the entire window had started leaking. Lucky for us we have a few extra beds, so as I curled up against the wood panel wall with my little one, Tyson moved to the bunk bed. Now we could sleep.

After a long wet night, we woke up and prepared for the day. Rogan lay bundled up from the cold weather as his dad prepared us a delicous breakfast of blueberry pancakes.

And I took advantage of the quiet to read as Tyson headed out on his dirtbike for a few hours.

The day went by as well as another, less wet, night. The next morning we packed a few necessities and headed up the road on the 4 wheeler. Although a bit windy, Rogan enjoyed the long ride in the sun. He even managed to get a few naps in.

So in all of this, Rogan taught us a valuable lesson. Even in the middle of summer, always be prepared.