This is why we can't get rid of our van. Five people camping for four days and it looks like we're moving out. To be fair, we were going somewhere without water or electricity so we were extra prepared.
We went with the four families from our Life Group at church and had the best time.
This was our view every morning -- pretty hard to beat that.
The teenagers were pretty proud of themselves for assembling their own tents.
Isn't camping really about the smores?
Everyone makes their family take a going to bed group shot, right? You have to document that you willingly choose to sleep here.
The next morning, Cooper, Asher and Annika pumped up the paddle boards and they were off.
They explored all the nooks and crannies of that lake.
Add some tubes and some dogs and you've got a party.
5 families, 4 dogs. (I didn't know how Luna would do with it so we didn't invite her.)
A subset went on a hot, mosquitoey hike.
It was all worth it for this view.
Saturday evening we had what I think would best be described as a microburst. We went from gentle breezes to 50-60mph winds (our best guess) in a matter of seconds. It was enough to shred our friends' unshreddable tent and shear the metal fittings on our tent poles. Paddleboards were in the air. The structure of the sun shade got bent. Sand was pelting us in the face. It was chaos. And then it was over. I was one legged and useless so I took a picture. In retrospect I should've taken a video. Sadly our newly tentless friends packed up and went home.
And the rest of us set up behind a camper as a wind break and celebrated Pete's 40th birthday.
A fire, good friends, mountains.
Full hearts.
The wind picked up again at bedtime and kept up like that for three hours. I honestly thought our tent might not survive and that maybe we should've moved to the van for safety but didn't know how to do that easily in the dark, so instead God and I had a long conversation, full of negotiations on my part, while I tried to brace myself against tent poles to keep them in one piece. We made it.
Annika got a solid start on her dreads.
And then, the next morning? Gorgeous like nothing happened, so Annika and Asher were off again.
The best part of these trips for me is time with our friends and their kids.
Storms came in again later that afternoon, just in time for dinner.
Asher so patiently taught Sarah how to split logs.
And then she snuggled up with Amelia.
A little wind wasn't going to keep these kids from smores.
And one last campfire and amazing sunset.
A quick family pic...
...and the whole gang (minus our friends who left after the wind manhandled their tent)
The next weekend we drove to the Farmers' cabin in La Veta near the Spanish Peaks.
We love the Farmers most but the chipmunks are a close second.
There may be peanut bribes happening here.
The girls went off on a hike and climbed a very steep mountain by themselves and I wanted to be cool but I thought of a million things that could've gone wrong in the process.
Turns out, they were just fine.
The view.
Family hike to the meadow which we do every year.
I had been told that week that I could start bearing some weight and I couldn't wait to go for a hike.
Sarah crossing the creek.
Heading home again with one of the Spanish Peaks in the distance.
When we got home, we moved into our friends' farm for almost two weeks. It's like our own little vacation just two miles from home.
The girls pretty much lived in the pool and on this trampoline. And got their free slurpees on 7-11.
The Colorado Harteminks visited one evening.
Summer Sarah.
Summer Luna...
Our friends got us our Harry Potter house pajamas and we had a Harry Potter movie marathon.
And read books. Lots of books.
One weekend in July Clifton flew to Nevada to help pace his cousin on his 100 mile race. Here Clifton and Keira are resting up while Christian ran the first half alone.
This is what Christian looks like after 50ish miles. I mean, it's really not fair. Clifton joined at that point and and did 34 miles with him through the night. Chelsea was at every aid station doing all the things. And Keira finished up in the scorching 95 degree fully exposed desert.
And he made it!!
That same weekend Naomi's youth group drove to Arkansas for a week-long summer conference where she had a blast with these great friends.
Smores and glowsticks at Uncle Dave and Aunt Val's cabin.
A dip in the lake which is a pretty big deal since Luna doesn't really like water.
We even eventually got her on the paddleboard like the Colorado pooch she is.
Lazy summer days are the best.
No comments:
Post a Comment