Memorial Day

Since it was too hot at Caprock Canyon we went to the lake with Alycia and Nick's boat.  The water was really choppy so we found a little cove to eat lunch.  After lunch we hooked up Renée and Sydney in the tube and headed off.  When we were in the middle of the lake the engine cut and we were stranded in the middle of the water.  The water was so choppy that we quickly floated to shore and tied on to a private dock.  The Murry's rescued us and towed us to shore.

Carter and Sam trying to fix the boat.

Thank you Murrys

So we ended up at the Crawford Farms pool.

We did add extra stuffing to our double stuff cookies.

Creative Genius

A flashlight, piece of a nerf gun, and a roll of tape and Carter is very inventive.  Especially when he is supposed to be asleep.

Caprock Canyon

We left for Caprock Canyon State park on Friday at 4pm.  I don't know what took us so long to get ready, but that is how it usually goes.  We traveled with the Nelsons and stopped for dinner.  We end up getting there at 10:30pm, which meant we didn't get everyone to bed until midnight. The kids were up by 6:30am.  After breakfast we went to a fishing class for kids.  We got a ton of free fishing stuff that we don't know how to use.  Renée was super thrilled to win a fishing game.  After our instruction everyone got to fish.  I think it was too hot because we didn't catch anything.

The fishing game that Renée won.

Sam and Carter fishing.

Waiting patiently

Gavin fishing.

After we went fishing we ate lunch at camp.  The little boys needed a nap so Alycia and I stayed with them while Sam took the four older kids to the lake.  Nick went for a run through the canyon.  After naps, we joined them at the lake.  It was so hot.  It hit 106.

Swimming at the lake.

Sam and I took Blake and Gavin on a hike to see an abandoned railroad tunnel that is filled with bats.  It was 4.7 miles there.  We got there too late in the evening and all the bats were already gone.  The highlight was seeing a rattlesnake with a shrew in it's mouth.  The boys were got pretty tired and were relieved when the ranger pulled up in his truck and offered us a ride.  We ended up hiking about seven miles.

We crossed a lot of railroad bridges.

The highlight of the hike for the boys.

It was too dark to get a picture of the tunnel, so I stole this one from the Collingwoods.

We took the kids on a morning hike into the canyon.  The men dropped off one of our vans at the bottom, so we only had to hike one way.  It was really hot but everyone did great accept for Carter.  He whined and complain the entire time.  When we finished the hike he threw his hands in the air and yelled, "I did it!  That was so fun.  Fist bump."  He is such a little punk some times.

Carter, Gavin, Renée, Sydney, Blake, and Trey

Gavin and the buffalo display.

Jinx was afraid of these.

Carter occasionally asks me to take his picture.

This is where Alycia chose to ride on the way back up the canyon.

After our hike Alycia and I took the kids to the lake while Sam and Nick packed up camp.  We had planned to stay until Memorial Day but we were too hot and Alycia had a hole in her air mattress.

We arrived home Sunday evening with big plans for a day on the lake with the boat.

Library Bingo

Gavin and Blake both got gold medals for completing the library bingo program.  Alycia and I should have gotten medals for having to hunt all the books down at the library.  We are so proud of our boys for being such great readers.

Hail

A tornado came through our area and we got golf ball sized hail. The kids thought it was awesome and saved some of the hail in the freezer. We did spend a little bit of time in our pantry waiting for the storm to pass.

Broken Fence

We had 70 mph wind gusts and it took down our fence and put our trampoline in the neighbors yard.

Starry Night

This was my first class that I taught.  I love my job!  I get to teach and paint again without having to worry about student discipline and administration.  Plus, I can work just a few hours a week and be something other than a mom for a night. 

Back to NRH2o

We got season passes to NRH2o again.  We have so much fun there that we couldn't resist.