Oh the FUN we had with the Durtschi Family as we camped during Pioneer weekend!! 5 of the 7 kids (and their families) in the Durtschi family were there along with Madee & Papa!! (We were missing Denex & Sarah's families! sad. ) What a BLAST!
Some Highlights:
The little ones had fun playing in the dirt. Michael especially experimented with how dirty he could get. OF COURSE this was minutes before the annual Durtschi Christmas photo- lol. We had to wash 'em off in the river...
Aaron wanted a Tomahawk of his own after seeing how cool Uncle Thomas's was. So Eric constructed this awesome one for Aaron. They searched hard together to find the perfect rock.
Aesha and I were giggling together & playing with babyG. Eric secretly took this picture of us being silly.
While the kids were exploring the cave with Papa, we found an awesome rock climbing route. Only thing is there was a hornet's nest on the run. Thomas, Grant, & Eric all started throwing rocks & stones at it to try & get it off the route so we could climb it. It was pretty high up & the rocks were not quite getting up there. So Grant hoisted Eric up onto his shoulders, & with stick in hand, they accomplished this scary feat!
All the kids loved the pellet gun Eric brought. He hung up targets & they had fun!
Playing volleyball, hiking, climbing trees, exploring the river...they found this lil' bat on the rocks in the river. He was still alive but on his last legs. The kids found it amazing to get to touch and be that close to a bat. Thanks lil' vampire-ous friend.
Aaron found this mountain and asked, "Daddy, I love this rock. Can it be mine?" Eric paused mid hike, turned to Aaron, stuck his hand out to the rock and said in his deepest strongest voice, "Aaron, I give you this mountain! From now on, we will call this 'Mt. Aaron'!!" Aaron was SO proud & happy! I told Aaron to say, "Give me this mountain!!" (like Caleb said to the Lord in the book of Joshua when having to overcome the giants-- Joshua 14:12) for his pose for this picture. We got to talk about that phrase for a moment on our walk.
Aesha & Karina thought it'd be fun to "marry" Violet and Asher because those two were inseparable the whole camping trip. They found white clothes, made a bouquet for Violet, a head dress for Asher, an aisle made of grass, the works! Yes, they're cousins- but it was all so cute. Asher drove Violet off on his bike. (we love "best man" Xane in the background in this pic. he looks so proud!! haha...)
The cousins (minus Violet & Warrik). 10 boys all under the age of 10, 2 teenage girls, a lil' girl (Violet), & a baby Genevieve. :)
I HEART this picture of Madee & Aaron. They're both so happy. Madee got tons of lovins from her Aaron boy. He was always climbing up in her lap. <3
This little hummingbird got trapped in Madee & Papa's tent. Xane found it & came calling for help! :) Madee ran to the hummingbird's rescue, gently caught it, and let us all take a look. How cool to get to examine a still hummingbird.
This camping adventure was filled with so many fun surprises, so much snuggling, creativity, yummy food (thanks toMadee --& our guest Quac who brought Asian fried rice with Thai peppers), discovering, but mainly joy to be together & open our minds & hearts to being in a gorgeous setting in nature!
cool pictures! i wish we could have been there! how did you guys catch a hummingbird? was the bat alive or did you find a dead one? it looks like you guys had so much fun. see you soon.
ReplyDeleteThe hummingbird flew into your mom's tent. She carefully scooped up the frightened bird with her gentle hands.
ReplyDeleteAesha found the bat in the river. It was alive but on it's last legs of life. poor lil' thing.
We missed y'all!!! This trip would have been even MORE fun if y'all had been there! SOOOOoooo glad you live here now! Let's play!!