Fourth of July Camping Trip

It's been a whole MONTH since I've blogged!  Wow!  Well, my excuse for the last little while is that we've been CAMPING!  Here are some pictures to prove it.

Gettin' dug in.

Playin' with the dog.  This is Sage's new friend Daisy, and Daisy's dog, Rosco.

Sage loved Rosco and would pull him out of the fire by the tail if he got too close, and order him around and count to three if he wasn't obeying her quickly enough. 

This is Paul, on a motorcycle that belonged to someone much smaller.  I bet this picture is painful to look at for him now.  The morning after it was taken, Paul slipped while casting his fishing line out, and landed, with his tail bone, on a very pointy boulder.  That was the end of his fishing.  And his 4-wheeling.  And his mini-motorcycle riding.  

He will be ok again.

Someday.

Aspen.

This picture is for Annette.  

She and David and their kids came up for four days.  

We sure enjoyed their company and are so glad they came.

Nap time!

What would camping be without a little girl time?

Eden got bitten by a mosquito at the corner of her eye, and the next day,

could barely see out of it.  

This was taken another day later.  

She was finally back to normal by the end of the trip.

Fire.  

Chad, making cobler.  I whip up what goes in the pot, and he uses a shovel, a hammer, aluminum foil and live coals to turn it into something delish. 

Just call him MacGyver. 

The trail.  

By the trail.

Annette and I.

Desert one night was rice crispy treats.  Hm... There are marshmallows in rice crispy treats, and we have some chocolate here.  I wonder...  

They were actually very nasty.  

They tasted like burnt plastic.

If I knew what burnt plastic tasted like.  

After the first round, we skipped the fire and enjoyed our 

rice crispy treats the more traditional, unsmoked way.  

Camp crafts.

Samuel is getting a fishing lesson from his father at Gate's Lake.  

This is Rosco, up close.  

I thought he was worth a picture.  

He, however, did not like my camera.  

He was under the mistaken impression that it was a 

deadly weapon, and whenever I tried to take his picture,

 he would bark ferociously and hide.   

Grandpa and baby Chad.

Gary on his bicycle.  

He was fearless on that thing.  He rode it down big hills and over roots and rocks, and when he fell, he'd just get back up and go some more.  

Sidenote:  He has also ridden it down the stairs outside the church.  

Fearless, I say.  

Maybe after you've survived being run over by a 600 pound 4-wheeler, falling off a bicycle is nothing.

On July 3rd, we went down to town for the rodeo and fireworks.  We grabbed pizza first, and headed to the park to eat.  There is this way-cool swing there, and

Samuel wanted one last spin on it before we left. I jumped out of the truck and spun him around.

Now, this swing was designed to have two people ride it, as you can see, and I learned that as soon as I let go of Samuel and the other swing swung around and womped me in the back of the head.  Ow.  So Chad hopped out of the truck, told me to climb in the other seat, and he spun Samuel and me .  Talk about fun.  Even though it can be painful, I see why they leave it up. 

Baby Chad at the Rodeo on July 3rd.  

He wanted to be like a real cowboy and chew on a piece of grass

Samuel, waiting for the rodeo to start.  

After the rodeo, they have the most amazing fireworks show.  We sit high up on a hill to watch the rodeo, and after, the fireworks are so close.  It's awesome.  

Then Sunday, we rode up to this spot for a devotional.  It was the most amazing view of the whole weekend.

Don't I love America!

Aren't we blessed to be able to enjoy this.  

We had such a wonderful week, we are trying to figure out how we can fit another camping trip into our summer!