Camping Trip 2008

Aint' it great to be crazy?
(Karissa, Kelsi, Jacob, Sam, Gavin)

Sam with his cousin Gavin.
Gavin and his family joined us for part of our camp out.

Our favorite vacation as a family this year is this camping trip!

Are we happy to sail?
Just a bit nervous :)
(Mindy, Sam)

Here are the experts.
(Kelsi, Jacob, Bryan)

Easy Breezy!
(Karissa, Kelsi)

'New Horse' got to come camping too! Wow!
This is a TRUE family vacation!

Bryan made each of the kids 'walking sticks'.
They proved for all sorts of fun!
(Kelsi with her stick)

Hiking.
(Kelsi, Karissa, Sam)

Roasting marshmallows.
(Karissa, Jacob)

Collecting flowers.
(Karissa, Jacob)

THE BOYS
(Jacob, Sam)

THE GIRLS
(Karissa, Kelsi)

Kelsi--Her name doesn't mean 'brave' for nothing.

Karissa gets out there too.

Jacob also goes for it.

Bryan laid this log down across the creek for Sam and Mindy.
It was much easier to walk on!
(Mindy, Karissa, Jacob, Kelsi, Sam)

(Bryan, Mindy)

Sam LOVES his walking stick.

'Ohhh! Brrr, it's COLD!'
The kids had a lot of fun playing in the creek,
but the water was super cold.

Our friend, the chunky gopher.

We had a ton of fun feeding all the critters around our camp.
This one looks like it's holding a heart, but it's really a carrot.
(Photo taken by Mindy--we're planning to use them for valentine cards next year)
We had the pleasure of critters company our entire trip.
While we were sleeping, Bryan heard something munching
and crunching outside our tent. He thought it was a bear!
This completely freaked Mindy out, who could hardly sleep
the rest of the night. Turns out it was a raccoon eating a can
of Jalopeno Pringles that Uncle Toby accidentally left out.
Toby said that raccoon's going to be sorry he ever touched those chips!

Sam rides a 2 wheeler!!!

Go Sam!

Sam learned to ride a 2 wheeler! It must be the most fun thing he's done in the past five years! He is so excited! And of course, he constantly wants to ride his bike. He goes SO fast! Bryan and I had been working with him for about the past month. Just the other day, Sam said, 'Mom, come watch me ride my bike!' I assumed that Bryan had taught him and it had finally clicked.

I went out and watched, and he took off and did awesome!
When I asked Bryan when he had taught
Sam to ride his bike--he said 'I didn't'.
I guess Sam just made up his mind to do it
and voila--he's riding his bike!! Yahoo!!!

Kelsi, and Sam

"King for a day"--brought to you by Kelsi!

Kelsi is so good with younger kids. Sam just loves it when she plays with him. Today, she was playing with him, and she dressed him up as king--he thought it was the coolest ever. Then, she got instruments for him and they went outside and marched around like they were in a parade.

Gone Fishing

Bryan, Jacob and Sam went fishing with Gavin and Toby. They had loads of fun! Jacob caught a fish, but it was too little and so they put it back. Sam caught a fish and got to bring it home! He was SO, SO excited!! Fishing with Gavin has been a big highlight for Sam and Jacob this summer!

SO Happy!!
(Sam, Gavin, Jacob)

Here's the fish I caught!!
(Sam)

Sam and Gavin are so excited they can't hardly keep still!

So happy together!
(Sam, Gavin)