Our Trip to Blue Haven

On top of Johnson's Mesa
We had a great time at Blue Haven. Chase was very excited when he discovered that there are a lot of lizards and snakes there! The joy!! The boys have had fun playing by the creek and riding the 4-wheeler. They found it amazing that mommy could actually drive the 4-wheeler. Mark and the boys went fishing and they caught 7 fish! Mark cooked the fish and Chase and Mark ate every bit of it. Dylan tried a teeny, tiny bite then he declared it was good but he did not want anymore. Dylan was very hesitant to try the fish so Mark was pretending to cry while he was holding Nate. Nate thought that Mark was really crying and it broke Nate’s heart. He started to cry so very hard. He already has such a sweet heart.

We took a short hike on Tuesday. We tried to find some of the old places that we used to hike to but it had been so long that we had forgotten the way. Cade and Dylan weren’t so sure about hiking but Chase and Nate loved it! I showed both Chase and Dylan around camp. I can’t believe that Chase will be old enough to go to camp in just 2 years!!! Chase is excited about it and I know that he will love it. Dylan has already asked me if he has to go. I am not sure if he will like it. He will be old enough to go in 3 years so I am hopeful that he will get excited about it by then. Camp is such a special place to Mark and to me.

Some parts of camp that I thought would never change have changed! I took Chase to the meadows to show him the spot where Mark proposed to me. It is GONE!!! A ropes course now takes up the area. Although the ropes course looks truly spectacular, it made me sad that the meadows were gone because it was such a special place to me. The first few days that we were there we were amazed at how dry Camp was. It was drier than I have ever seen it. It was really sad. The creek was dry in a lot of places and the baptistry looked just awful. When you walked on the ground everything crunched. The campers will not be able to have fires and hikes will be limited if at all. It finally rained some on Wednesday and a little on Thursday. It sounded and smelled so very good. Even the little bit of rain helped things. Hopefully it will rain a lot more!

On Thursday we took another hike to Echo Point. This time we let Cade “lead” the hike. He loved being the leader and did not complain. We were a little paranoid at Echo Point. We kept Cade far away from the edge. It has always been a fear of mine that one of the boys will have a disastrous fall. We made it back safely to the cabin! Thursday evening we went to the top of Johnson's Mesa (we drove that one!). On Friday we headed towards home. We stopped briefly in Lubbock to say hello to Alison (Andy was in the hospital since his appendix was just removed!). We spent the night in Abilene. On Saturday, Mark took the boys and our niece Ashley to the car show that Mark’s dad was participating in at a local dealership. Ashley is super cute! Some photographers were taking a picture so Ashley made sure that none of the boys were in the picture! She laid her poodle skirt out carefully and smiled very sweetly! She is cute and she truly has a sweet, sweet heart! We also visited Mark’s grandmother while we were in Abilene. She is not doing well. She has been eating and drinking very little for the last few days. Prayers for her and for Ann would be appreciated! We had a great time, but it is wonderful to be almost home (we are still in Abilene as I post this). Cade is staying with Charles and Ann for the week if he can make it, and if I can stand him being gone for long, and if Charles can survive his “spirit”. He will probably be back home in 2 days!! Just kidding!