Family Vacation at Trail West

This past week, was packed full of adventures, and fun times.  We left from church on Sunday and drove two hours into the mountains to Trail West for a week of family fun.  When we arrived at the camp, we followed riders on horses down to the camp, where all the summer staff were waiting and clapping for us.  They had us get out of our cars, and they put on a little skit, and took our picture in this old carriage.  While they were doing this they took everything out of our car, and put it in our room, and parked our car for us.

We went to a family briefing where they gave us schedules and explained the activities.  We had a yummy dinner, and then had club, where we sang songs, and put on hilarious skits and shows,  they also called us up to play Giant Jenga as a family, competing against another family.  We had a lot of fun doing that, and won.  Since we won the jenga game, they gave us $10 to spend at the snack shop the next day.  Then they took the younger kids out for kids club, while they talked with the adults, about something spiritual.  Then the kids came back in and brought us each an ice cream sundae.  Each child brought us at least one ice cream sundae, so we ended up with way too many ice creams, and had to send the kids off to give them to other people, but they loved bringing us ice cream and sharing it with us.  Our room was right by the pool and hot tub

 Monday morning we went to a rodeo, it was a lot of fun.  Travis and all the kids except Caleb participated in a race.  Austin got to ride a horse for the first time.  And had to put a spoon in her mouth and hold an egg on it without dropping it as part of a relay race.  She did great and never dropped the egg.  She loved riding a real horse.

 Caleb loved playing in the dirt.  I also grabbed Travis' hat for him instead of his, so it was really big.  But he is super afraid of getting a sunburn, so he always wears his hat.  But he had a great time watching the rodeo and playing by the fence in the dirt.

 Travis' relay race, involved running to a wooden horse and placing his head on the stick end, and spinning around seven times and then running back.  He was super speedy and didn't even look that dizzy, several other guys fell over while running back they were so dizzy.

 Joseph loved climbing on the fence and watching the rodeo

 Betsy loved watching from her perch on the fence as well

 For Samuel's relay race, he had to ride this wooden horse, and carry a bucket of water to a barrel and help to fill it up.  He did a great job, and didn't spill any water.

 Joseph and Betsy did an egg toss, they did pretty good for a while, but then the egg dropped and broke.  But they still had fun doing it.

 Our other big event on Monday was going horseback riding.  After lunch Samuel and Caleb went to kid's club and the rest of us went horseback riding on a trail for about an hour and a half.  We all got on our horses, and started walking.  Travis, Joseph and I were all at the front of the line of horses, so I didn't see much of what happened with Betsy and Austin.  But apparently Austin was so careful with steering her horse away from every rock and stick, that she didn't notice a tree, and ran right into it.  Her race and arms got scratched up, and she had a little melt down, but the guide near her, was able to help her calm down and keep her going.  She didn't let that ruin her experience, she now loves to ride horses, and wants to keep doing it.  Betsy on the other hand, had a very spirited horse, and it kept scaring  her, so she ended up crying and getting off and walking the rest of the way, and never wants to ride a horse again.  Travis, Joseph, and I all enjoyed the experience, but unfortunately for me, I started getting pretty sore afterwards, and it only got worse.  I guess the baby didn't like all that movement after all, and my muscles got so sore, I could barely walk.  We ended up skipping the evening festivities, and I just laid in bed.  Tuesday morning we had our wrangler breakfast, so we got up about 5:30 in the morning and Travis, Joseph, and Austin, went down to ride horses to our breakfast destination, and Betsy (who didn't want to ride a horse anymore), Samuel, Caleb, and I rode in the back of a red truck, with blankets down to get breakfast.  We all made it down, it was basically a camping site, and breakfast was made on coals, and fire.  They wranglers made french toast, and had the kids all catching their french toast with a plate, while they threw it to them.  They thought that was pretty fun.  All the kids caught their french toast on the first try, except Betsy, she went through 4 french toasts before she caught hers.  It was a fun breakfast.  Travis and the older kids rode their horses back, and we drove back to the lodge.  Travis had taken some benadryl, because yesterday after riding horses his eyes and skin was all itchy.  So he was super tired, and took a nap, when we got back from breakfast.  I took the kids down to the "fort", it was an awesome play area for kids.  I got some pictures of them playing on the horses, swings, and the tee pee.

 After lunch, Travis took all the kids on our whitewater rafting trip.  I was still too sore from horseback riding, and they wouldn't let me go on the trip unless I had a doctor's note, so I stayed behind with Caleb and we hung out and played the rest the day.  Travis and the kids seemed to have a good time whitewater rafting.  Samuel was concerned about getting splashed so he just ducked down in the front of the boat most of the time.  Travis also said Austin was grumpy about having to wear the wet suit clothes, but other than that they all had fun.  At club that night, there were lots more hilarious skits, and Joseph was called up to participate in a game.  He had to race other kids, and bring back belts, socks, and chewed gum from the audience to the guys running the game.  He had fun, and tried hard, but lost after the second round and had to sit down.  On Wednesday after breakfast, we hiked a mile up to an old silver mine.  It even snowed on our hike.

 Caleb fell asleep on Travis back shortly after our hike began, and slept on him almost the whole way up.

 We passed a rock formation on the way up, called "whale rock".  Joseph liked climbing to the top of it.

 We got a nice family picture of us in the mouth of the whale.

 Here is our family picture at the top of the mountain.  It was sure hard for me, I was huffing and puffing.  We got to 10,500 ft. elevation, and I was holding Samuel and Betsy's hands on the way up, helping them.  Toward the top, they had to help me.

 After we got back we had lunch, then dropped off Caleb at kid's club, and went down for our turn at the ropes course.  As soon as we got down there, Samuel told me his tooth was super loose, and about to fall out.  He opened his mouth, and I pushed on the tooth to see how loose it was, and it just popped out.  Samuel was so happy, he just lost his first tooth.  I stuck it in my pocket, and gave him a drink of water, then we got him all harnessed up for the ropes course.  Samuel and Austin went to together across the ropes course.  It is 30 ft. off the ground.

 Here Samuel and Austin are starting across the second half, where you are walking across a wire, with a rope danging down every four feet or so

 Samuel fell off the wire, and immediately started laughing

 He grabbed the rope with his hands and started pulling himself across the wire

 He is still laughing and pulling himself across with his hands.   The staff helping at the ropes course, were shocked at Samuel's reaction.  They said they had never seen anyone react to falling off like that ever before, not even close.

 Samuel finally makes it to the end (still laughing) and the worker helps pull him in.

 Travis tried to climb the hard wall.  Apparently hardly anyone makes it to the top.

 Travis kept climbing and falling, and trying again, and got up almost 3/4 of the way, before giving up. He did really good.

 Joseph got his turn to go across the ropes course

 Austin and Samuel went down the zip line.  I wasn't allowed to do any of these things, because the harness would squish my baby belly.  But Travis told me, that this zip line, was a huge adrenaline rush.

 Betsy climbing the wall

 Samuel climbing up the easy wall

 Austin climbing up the medium wall

 Betsy on the zip line

 Austin did so well on the medium wall, she tried the hard wall too.  She made it about as high as Travis and then gave up.

 Travis and Joseph going down the zip line.

 After we were done the kids played in the pool.  We played in the pool at least once a day the whole week.  They love the water.

 The kids had their own special dinner, and the parents had a special dinner as well.  It was nice to have a fancy dinner, without the kids.  Then afterwards the kids got to go panning for gold in the creek, and lots of other fun activities.  Joseph's group did live angry birds, where they stacked things in the fort, and shot stuffed angry birds from a sling shot.  While the kids were having fun, Travis and I got alone time, which was really nice.  Thursday after breakfast there was a family challenge.  We had to race around as a family and complete different activities, ranging from making a human pyramid, to singing the national anthem in opera voices.  We had a great time, and completed 32 activities.  Thursday afternoon we had our jeep tour.  Everyone could go on the tour, so that was fun.  Travis, Austin, Betsy, Caleb, and I were in one jeep, and Joseph and Samuel rode in the lead jeep with the wrangler.  There were no windows in their jeep, so they huddled under the blanket mostly for warmth.  We drove up to a st. elmo ghost town (about 45 min-1 hour drive) with a little off roading along the way.  Caleb managed to sleep through most of the bumps.  At the ghost town, it was an old mining town.  We had fun looking at all the old stuff, and feeding chipmunks.  Caleb loved it, and kept saying chipmunk over and over again, and trying to catch them.( see pictures below)

 Caleb found a jeep he wanted to ride.  My pictures got a little mixed up.  Friday afternoon we did the ropes course again.  It's hard to tell in the picture, but Travis was trying again to get up the hard climbing wall.  He ended up grabbing onto the big lot next to the climbing wall, and started to climb up the log.

 After he got almost all the way to the top by using the log, he moved back over to the wall, and finished the climb.

 There he is, ringing the bell at the top, and coming down.  The belayer said he'd never seen anyone try that before.  Joseph loved calling Travis a cheater after that.

 Samuel loved climbing the wall

 This is at the mining ghost town

 Here is a hummingbird we saw at the general store

 Here is Austin feeding the chipmunks

 Travis feeding the chipmunks

 Friday we had an awesome brunch that was so delicious.  Then more swimming.  and playing at the fort area.

 Here is Samuel at his pony ride on Friday.

 Here is Caleb at his pony ride, he was a little nervous, but then said "giddy-up horsie"

 Everyone wanted to make sure Caleb was safe on his pony ride.

 Caleb jumped into my arms after his pony ride

 Samuel had a sliver in his wrist from rock climbing, and it was infected.  While I was using a needle to get out the sliver, Samuel who was watching me, all the sudden said "mom, it's blurry" and fell to the floor under the sink.  I was so shocked at first I thought he was joking, but when I saw how pale he was, I realized my rough and tough 6 year old boy just fainted.  He opened his eyes, and said his stomach hurt, so we laid him down on his bed and let him rest for a while.  I was able to get out the rest of his slivers, he just didn't watch me this time.

 Caleb was trying to lay on the floor just like Samuel, so I would fix his shoes too.

 Travis threw Joseph's shoes at him while he was reading, and Joseph was quite shocked, but of course quickly threw the shoes back at Travis.  

 Caleb got really dirty from playing outside, and had rubbed dirt all over his face, then ran away laughing every time we tried to catch him to clean him off.

 Caleb's still dirty face.

 Friday night, they had a special show for the last night of camp, it was awesome, they also had square dancing, and lots of other dancing on the basketball court, everybody had a lot of fun.   It was cold, and Caleb was really tired, so he wouldn't let me put him down.  After holding and dancing with him for an hour and a half, I carried him up the stairs to our room, to put him to bed.  But, of course, once we got to our room, he perked up and ran around and played for another hour before I could get him to bed.  All the kids were pulling out there best dance moves, and had a great time, and came back exhausted and fell right to sleep.  Here is a picture of Samuel, Betsy, Austin, and Caleb with our server Bradie.  She was awesome, serving our meals all week long, and getting Samuel all of his special diet things, and hot chocolate and juices and all sorts of things.

 Here is Travis, Joseph, Austin, Betsy, and Samuel with Willly, Billy, and Philly the three guys who put on all the skits and shows.

 Here is Caleb and I cuddling

 This is at Club, where we watch all the shows and listen to the messages.  Joseph would always listen very intently, I couldn't believe he listened so well, I was very impressed.

 Here is Betsy sitting on the floor at club

 Here is Caleb and another little girl, scooting back and forth on the stage.

We, packed up and left Saturday morning, and drove over to the christian camp we were at last week, to get in some kayaking before we went home.  We had a great time, and Travis fell in the pond, and made all the kids laugh at him, and he kept trying to chase me and hug me.  I finally got him to go change.  When we got back to the car, Travis told me my kindle was broken.  Sure enough, the screen was completely cracked all over, but it still worked.  I guess it got a packed in too tightly in the back, I should have kept it with me in the front.  I am getting a new one this week, since it is difficult to see with all the cracks.  We stopped at Costco on the way home, and stocked up on groceries, then went home and did laundry, and helped Joseph, Austin, and Betsy pack for their next camp.  Sunday, we left from church, and drove Joseph, Austin, and Betsy to camp eagle lake, an hour away, and dropped them off.  The house is much quieter with only Samuel and Caleb at home with us.  We had a wonderful family vacation, and I really enjoyed not having to cook or clean for a whole week!  I'm very grateful we could make so many memories together before Travis leaves next month.  

Last week of school

Betsy and Sam for Crazy Hair Day at school

Crazy Hair Day at school, Samuel's spiky hair

Austin's crazy hair

Austin's crazy hair from the back

Betsy's crazy hair from the side

Samuel walking in for Kindergarten graduation

Caleb and I watching Samuel's graduation

Samuel the kindergarten graduate

Samuel with his teacher, Mrs. Fields

Austin and Caleb running home

Caleb and I

Caleb putting his foot in the icy water with Daddy.  (he's soaking  his sprained ankle in the icy water)

This one is a better shot of both Travis' and Caleb's feet in the icy water.  It's not a very good shot of Caleb, but he was very happy to try and be like Daddy.  He never left his foot in for very long though.

This week was a busy week.  It was the kids last week of school, and Travis had a family retreat on Friday, that he was really busy with all week planning.  He also was recovering from his sprained ankle, and would pretty much need to ice it and elevate it once he got home from work and not do anything else.  I took Travis to a physical therapy appointment, and dropped him off, while I got Joseph from school and took him to a Physical appointment for scout camp.  The doctor said Joseph needs to go see an optometrist, and will probably need glasses, he didn't do well on the eye exam.  Joseph is actually excited by the prospect of getting glasses and contacts.  Joseph told me that he had been having trouble seeing the writing on the board at school all year, and that he had told me about it several times.  Oooops, I remembered him telling me once, but just thought it was a temporary thing.  Guess I need to listen better.  Anyway, after I dropped Joseph back at school, I went to pick up Travis from his appointment.   When I pulled up in front of the office, I saw Travis sitting on the bench in his PTs and bending down going through his black bag.  I rolled down the window and whistled loudly (you know the kind of whistle when you think someone is sexy).  The man on the bench immediately looked up and my way, and I realized that it was not Travis.  I was very embarrassed and told him I was sorry, I thought he was my husband.  They really did look identical until he looked up and I saw his face.  I called Travis, and waited until he came out, and told him what happened.  He thought it was funny, I will definitely think twice before whistling next time.  The kids were busy with end of the year activities.  Samuel went to the zoo one day with his class, they had pajama parties, pizza parties, and all sorts of celebrations.  I don't know why they bother with the whole last week of  school, it just a bunch of playing.  But the kids loved it, they all ended up with good grades, all of them getting As and Bs.  Samuel had his kindergarten celebration Wednesday evening.  He did a great job singing his songs, and we saw a slide show of pictures from his class.  Friday was Travis Family retreat that we were going to.  The kids had a half day for their last day of school, then we went to the retreat.  It was up at a castle area called Glen Eyrie and was a beautiful area.  Travis taught a class on the seven habits of highly effective families.  Then we did a ropes course, it was fun.  The lower course involved getting our group across a series of rocks using one long board and one short board,without touching the ground around us.  Samuel had a hard time understanding the rules, and kept touching the dirt, until he finally got frustrated and left, pushing betsy off her rock, and her running off all upset.  Other than that everyone in our group made it successfully to the end.  We went up to the high ropes course.  It was a 40 ft wooden wall with rocking climbing handles on.  We had to climb in tandem with our partner (tethered together) and get a cup of water up to the top without spilling.  I decided I wanted to try it, so after putting on the harness and making sure it didn't squish the baby, Travis and I climbed up to the top.  It was a little bit more difficult being 28 weeks pregnant, but I made it and had fun.  Travis carried the cup of water most of the way, I think he was concerned about me falling or something (we had be-layers, I wasn't worried).  All of the kids did it too, except for Betsy, she was the last one, and we were already 15 minutes late for dinner.  She decided it was okay that we didn't have time for her, and that she was too hungry to complain.  We had a delicious dinner, and then walked around the grounds with all the kids.  Joseph came across a golf cart, parked on a hill, and started messing with it. He accidently (or so he says) released the parking brake.   Soon after, It started rolling down the hill backwards.  Joseph jumped out and pushed the cart to stop and held it, yelling for me to come and help him quick.  I climbed in and put the parking brake back in, and told him I was glad he stopped it from rolling down the hill, but next time not to mess with it at all.   We came across and herd of rams, and followed them (at a distance) for a little while.  Everyone was enthralled with the rams, and quietly followed them(I think that was the quietest walk we have ever been on as a whole family).  Eventually the herd of rams, moved further up into the mountains and we didn't follow them anymore.  Over all it was a very nice day.  I really wish I had remembered to bring my camera, there was opportunity for lots of good pictures.  

Chaplain Retreat Weekend

The beginning of the week was very warm, and I was hot so I wasn't wearing my socks all the time, and at morning devotional Samuel said to me "Mom, you look better with socks on".  Silly boy, I guess he doesn't see me much without socks.  Caleb and I went to the zoo this week.  Caleb loved the giraffes best, but was a little scared of them at first.  When we got over to the giraffes, I got him out of the stroller, and as soon as one came over to him, he yells "AAHH...." climbs into the stroller, saying "seat belt, seat belt...hurry" Once he was safe in his seat belt, he relaxed and watched the giraffes for a while, then eventually got back out, but wouldn't look up at the giraffes, he would just cling to the railing and look down.  After a while he would finally look at the giraffes.  He also liked the penguins, but didn't seem too impressed with most of the other animals.  This weekend we went on a Chaplain Retreat to Canyon Springs Colorado, about a two hour drive.  Friday morning travis left early (4:30am) and with 17 other officers from his squadron hiked pikes peak (over 14,000 ft. elevation) until about 3pm in the afternoon.  His squadron was going up the back side of the mountain, which is very difficult, and they kept losing the trail, and hiking through waist high snow.  They made it 4 miles from the top, and had to turn back.  As soon as he got down from the mountain, we picked up Travis in the car, and drove to our retreat.  We had our own little cabin that slept eight people.  There were two bedrooms downstairs, and a loft upstairs with four little beds for the kids.  During dinner Samuel held his ear against his head and exclaimed "Mom, my ear is chewing!"  I also asked Samuel about a little girl in his class, who came up to me and told me that Samuel had asked her to marry him.  Samuel's whole face lit up, and he grinned, dimples and all and vigorously nodded his head.  His reaction to this girl's name was so quick and dramatic, that we all started laughing pretty hard.  We had fun teasing him about her for a while.  I had to pick a tick off of Caleb's head, luckily it hadn't burrowed in yet, it was caught in his hair.  Then we had to regularly check each other for ticks.  .  During free time, we went down to the pond.  Travis and Joseph were racing to the pond, and Travis fell and sprained his bad ankle.  He then soaked his ankle in the freezing cold pond (the ice had just barely melted) for 25 minutes, than hobbled back up to our cabin, where I sent Joseph back with him to get him settled.  The rest of the kids were playing in the kayaks on the pond.  Almost all of them said this was there favorite part of the trip.  They loved paddling around the pond in the kayaks.  I even got in one with Caleb and paddled around for awhile.  When Joseph came back from tending to his Dad, he saw me in the Kayak with Caleb, and  exclaimed "mom, you can't kayak, you're pregnant, and Caleb's in there with you".  I laughed at Joseph and told him, I was just fine.  Caleb finally got tired of kayaking, and we paddled to shore.  As soon as we got back onto stable ground, all the sudden the temperature dropped about 20 degrees, and it started hailing, and wind blowing like crazy.  I quickly called to all the kids to come back to the shore (although they had figured out to come back, once the weather started going crazy all on their own)  Betsy was really struggling against the wind, and accidentally dumped a bunch of water all over herself trying to paddle back towards shore.  She was just sobbing, and trying to get back to shore, I felt so bad for her.  All the other kids made it back to shore, and we had put away their kayaks and life jackets.  Betsy finally made it back, and crying and shivering we made our way back to the cabin.  Once inside the cabin, all the kids changed out of their wet clothes, (they were all wet to some degree).  Then I made a fire in the fireplace, and got Betsy in the bath.  I boiled some water and we had some hot chocolate.  Then we played board and card games in our nice cozy cabin, while the storm blew itself out.  I was really impressed with how well Joseph participated in the singing sessions, most of the songs weren't ones we had heard before, but they had the word up on a screen, and Joseph would sing heartily, even snapping his fingers to the beat sometimes.  They had several sessions, where they would take the kids and play with them, and it was just Travis and I, it was really nice.  They even gave us some alone time together, to do whatever we wanted.  I also really liked not having to cook and clean for a weekend.  I'm starting my third trimester this week, and this is the kids last week of school before summer is out.  I cancelled our Netflix last week, so no t.v. except whatever movies we have that aren't scratched.  We're preparing Joseph to receive the Aaronic Priesthood next month and turn 12.  Travis spraining his ankle, leaves me with a lot of extra work.  Travis is deploying in just over a month, and then the next month the baby will be born.  I feel like everything is coming at me at once, but I guess I just need to keep praying and prepare the best I can, and the Lord will take care of the rest. 

Caleb hiding from the giraffe

Caleb (if I don't look at the giraffe, he can't see me)

Caleb and I feeding the giraffe some lettuce

Samuel fell asleep on the car ride to our retreat

Joseph, Samuel, and Betsy sitting on the couch in our cabin

peek a boo

Caleb fell asleep with his sandwich in his hand, while sitting on the couch

Austin and Caleb riding a motorcylce

Samuel riding a motorcycle

Betsy riding a motorcycle

Caleb thought that it was pretty funny that his eyes were covered by his hoodie

Samuel climbing a ladder at is OT (occupational therapy) appointment

Caleb was really worried about getting a sunburn, so he  kept at least one hand on his hat at all times, so that it wouldn't fall off.

Peek-a-Boo

I walked into my room and found Caleb was hiding under a pillow, holding completely still and quiet. I said "where's Caleb" and he giggled, stuck his head out and said "boo" (above picture) 

Last Monday night Austin, Betsy, and Samuel had their first track meet.  They all tried hard, with Samuel in the middle of his pack, Betsy in the back of hers, and Austin towards the front of her pack.  I was surprised Samuel didn't win his, because he is so fast.  He wasn't running very hard, until the very end, and then sprinted really fast.  You could tell, he could have run his whole race a lot faster, since he wasn't even winded.  That's okay though, he had fun, as well as the rest of the kids.  Wednesday, crazy cold day with lots of snow and wind.  Travis left about 6am in the morning, we piled all the kids in the car, and dropped Travis off for his two weeks in the field.  Friday night, Caleb told Travis on the phone that "I need you, come home".  It was so sweet, then that night and every night since then, Caleb will not sleep in his own bed, he has to sleep in bed with me, on "Daddy's Side". On Sunday Night, Travis was able to come home and spend the night with us, because he had to do some funerals on Monday.  Caleb was so excited that he came home, he was jumping around the a bunny and smiling all the time.  He was so cute, he has never jumped so high!  This week Caleb has been getting sick again.  I'm so tired of my little guy getting sick, hopefully he will start growing out of this soon.  Saturday I picked up a bunk bed frame for the boys room,  that I found from a garage sale site.  They said all pieces and hardware were in good condition and all there.  I had no instructions to follow, so it took me all afternoon to figure out how to put it together.  I kept calling for Joseph to come and help, and he kept taking off again, as soon as he had down the one thing I called him in for.  I kept telling him to stay and help me the whole time, but he wouldn't listen.  I finally figured out he was going and watching T.V. in Caleb's room.  Sometimes I really hate the t.v.  I finally finished putting together the bunk bed only to discover, that the last four screws for the top railing were missing, and the ones I had for the other railing were stripped, so I couldn't tighten them properly.  I was a little annoyed, and called the people I bought it from, but of course they didn't answer their phone, or return any of my phone calls or messages.  This weekend both Caleb and I have been feeling sick, so we haven't been doing much.