Fishing Fun

The boys had a lot of fun fishing at the cabin. There was a day break after Dylan "caught" himself in the back of the head. The fish did not get prepared in time, so the boys instead had a great time putting the fish in a campfire. Boys are just gross!!

Nate's Fishing Pole

Aunt Charlotte bought Nate a Diego fishing pole. He LOVED it. He loved it so much that he had to sleep with it the first night. He would stroke it fondly as he was going to sleep. We took a picture, but it has disappeared somewhere :(

Camp Blue Haven

We left the farm on Saturday and headed up to Camp Blue Haven. We were going to stay in a cabin up there while Chase and 2 of my nephews attended camp. Mark's sister and family were going to stay at the cabin, too. On Sunday, we dropped Chase and my nephews off at camp. I cannot put into words what Camp Blue Haven means to both Mark and me. We were both campers (I had more years than Mark), I worked there some one summer, and both Mark and I were counselors. This is also the location that Mark proposed to me one December. Anytime we go up there, we both experience such a flood of memories. This year was the first year that Chase was old enough to be a camper. There was a serious lump in my throat when we dropped him off. I wanted him to love it just as much as we do. Fortunately, he had a great time.
My nephew, Drew, and Chase were in the same cabin.
Aren't they cute!

My nephew, Lang, took a strong liking to Charlotte's dog.
Dylan and Trent
Look at that form!

Quick Stop at the Farm

So early on Friday morning, we load up in the car to head to the farm. It is Mark, Chase, my sister-in-law, her 3 kids, and me. I have an appointment on the way. These appointments normally take around 3 hours, so Mark, my sister-in-law, and the kids got to hang out in a small town in-between here and the farm. Doesn't that sound like fun for them? To add to their enjoyment, the appointment took 4 hours!!!! Good times. We did finally make it to the farm where we were going to drop off my sister-in-law and her kids, pick up the rest of our kids, and pick up a nephew who was going to join us for our next adventure. We spent a night at the farm before leaving for the mountains the next day.
They found a h*rny toad
Isn't he cute?
Nate getting brave
Even braver - butterflies scare him, but he will hold a lizard!!

Lizard is still alive
Even Cade held it. Doesn't he look thrilled (ha!)
My nephew and niece
We rode on the 4-wheeler some.

Camp Impact

Time for mass catch-up on the blog. Here I go.



After Chase and I got back from the farm, he left the next day for his first-ever away from home camp. It was harder than I thought it would be to send him off. The good part is that I trust the people who were going on the trip. The volunteers and our church's children's minister are all great. Here is Chase loading up and on the bus.

Our children's minister was so great to post pictures of the kids so that we could see what they were doing. It was so nice to be able to "spy" on my boy. Thanks, Matt!!
Another thing that I really liked was that I was able to send Chase an email every day. He really liked getting them. On one email, I wrote that I was working on redecorating his room (he has decided that he is too big for John Deere - sigh). I told him that I had found a really cool shade of pink that I was using to paint his room. Totally joking, but can you guess the first question that Chase had for me when I picked him up?

Chase had a great time. He came home on Thursday. We had to quickly unpack, wash clothes, and pack again because the next adventure started the next day.