Sunday, July 27, 2014

Experiencing Nature!

On the mountain there were lots of squirrels, chipmunks, birds, bats, skunks and such.  Nothing like getting close to nature.  When we got back to camp after our lake outing Nathan said that a chipmunk had run right by his feet, jumped onto the table, stole a m&m and ran away.  We decided to sit and watch and see if they came back.  Sure enough they did. 


Here is the little guy now...


Finding some toffee peanuts.

Sniffing on the table.  They were so fast!  There were 3 of them running all over :)



The kids all stayed so quiet.  We sat like this for about a half hour.  Lorna did so good just watching.  I guess it helps that they LOVE animals ;)

He got a green one!

Coming back for more

Now a red one is gone

Jeff spread out some m&m's on the floor to try to entice them more, but it didn't really work.  Well, I'm sure those wild creatures were up for a while after that sugar rush!

Nathan and Tiffany had found some great fallen trees to take some pictures one.  We headed up the mountain above our campsite to get some fun cousin pictures before packing up the camp.  

Grant, Talmage, Mhari, and Bree

Sandra and Owen

Daddy and Clark

Too cute!

The cousins!  We are so glad they love each other so much and that they were so good together!

Our beautiful kids!  

Grant

Sandra

Lorna

Sandra

So fun!

Chica

Eating our last dinner together.  Almost all packed up to head down the mountain in the morning.  

We woke up at 5 am and started breaking down camp.  We were on the road by 6:30 or so.  Clark fell asleep again on the mountain roads :).  Meanwhile in the other car poor Bree was feeling sick and really wanted off the mountain.  She made it and all was well.  Oh the fun times of camping and vacations!

Lake Fun!

We all went down to the lake to play :).  Well, maybe not play, but we had fun with the rocks anyway!

The kids got lessons in skipping rocks.  It took a few minutes but Sandra and Grant really got the hang of it.  Mhari figured it out and Talmage didn't care too much for it (because it didn't come easily to him).  Clark is still an expert rock thrower... look out!  

Here are some fun photos of the fun!

Sandra

Grant


Daddy and Mhari

Mhari

Bree

Owen



Clark - with rocks in the air ;)

Daddy and Mhari

Jeff

Found a big one

Going to try to skip it ;)

Didn't really work

Lorna

Talmage trying to catch the little fishies... with his hands



Ella playing in the lake


The two oldest ;)



Riggs Lake

Last Day and Badminton!

Our camping trip wasn't very long, but we stayed busy and had fun.  Here are the morning pictures of our last day on the mountain:

Breakfast time!


 Clark

Sandra, Ella, and Lorna

Our tent and the boys behind it

Nathan and Tiff's tent with the girls behind it :)

Mhari and Bree wanted Tiffany and me to play Badminton with them.  It took a while to get them to be able to hit the birdie.  It was a hard concept because they had to coordinate to hit the birdie and then not hit it too hard.  They were doing OK and then Jeff wanted to help teach too.  I was happy to step aside and let him help out.  He was getting Mhari to hit it much better.  After a while Clark wanted to join in the fun too so Jeff taught Clark too.  It was good entertainment, even if they didn't really play Badminton ;)

Mhari and Clark



Such a good Daddy!

Tiffany and Bree



Nathan helped by holding Lorna ;)





After a while Bree wanted Nathan to help her too.  

It's great to be around and help the kids learn something new :)