We had some wonderfully peaceful times around the campfire every night. One of the nights we had smores, so toasting marshmallows was a highlight of the night. It was fun to watch Jayni, Jacob, and Lily eat their very first smores and smile in delight with sticky faces and chocolate covered hands. What great times!
" I saw three ships come sailing in....." :-)
I think Simon is on the boat in the middle. This picture was of the first race.
My mom, Mrs. Parish, Sally, and I stayed at the end of the trail while Simon went closer to the falls to get a better look.
At this point, I started wondering if I was getting sick. I was piled high with blankets. :-)
Mom likes to label this one "the serious sailor." :-)
It was so sweet when Lilly started singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and looking up in awe at the sky. She made sure to point out the stars she saw to Simon.
Connor took on the duty of washing the kid's clothes in the lake. They, of course, never failed to get them dirty again in short order. ;-)
Sally and I got to wash the kids themselves at our campsite in a couple buckets that we had. Poor kiddies.....we didn't realize how cold the water actually was until Sally and I washed our feet in the same buckets a few minutes later. They were real troopers to put up with such cold water being squeezed over their little bodies.
We both pulled our feet out the second they touched the water because it was so cold. So, so sorry guys.
We all took our turns riding out with Simon in his boat. Jeremy and my Mom are in this boat load.
Max made it clear that a dunking was in store for anyone that splashed Jenny with lake water. Connor thought a dunking from Max would be a load of fun. So without delay, he gave Jenny a little splash. It wasn't very long before he was under Max's arm being taken out for that dunk he was promised. :-)
Mom wanted to get a picture of all the sunburnt faces. The color of our faces doesn't show much, but they were bright red and crispy, let me tell ya. :-)
To Jayni, the best way to warm up and dry off was to lie like this in the dirt and sand.....
The only problem with this method was that she ended up becoming one with the shore. One could hardly tell them apart until Connor cleared all confusion by dunking her in the water and pouring buckets of water over her head. We were all relieved when we could see Jayni once again. ;-)
Believe it or not, Jeremy caught this fish with his own two hands. Granted, the fish was already sick and dying. But with it jumping and wiggling, as I hear it was doing, it was still very cool that he ended up catching it. Way to go Jeremy!
This should give some idea as to how big this fish was.
Simon had the great opportunity to get to participate in a race while we were camping. He got to be part of the crew on one of the larger sail boats.
He also took us for many rides in his own boats, the Jubilee and Bobber. The wind was great and we got to see a good portion of the lake. Thanks Simon! We all had a great time.
The hike to and from the falls was a beautiful one. The road to get to the beginning of the trail has a story of its very own. In short, it was extremely bumpy and rugged. And I, at least, will never forget how fun and hilarious it was as we all yelped and gave directions to the driver as to how to maneuver the next glitch up ahead. :-)
Jacob was determined to get me better by some means. His method: he came up behind me, put his hand under the head rest, started hitting it and said "git bettuh, git bettuh, git bettuh!" What a funny little guy. It only hurt for a couple seconds, so no harm done, little buddy.
On the way to and from the hiking trail we saw a deer. It was really gorgeous and fun to look at it for the time that it stayed still.
What a happy bunch!
Jayni kept insisting that she comb Max's hair because "It looks funny!", she would say. And so we developed a hair-styling train because she wouldn't let me fix hers unless she could fix up Max's too. :-)
Taking pictures in the dark proved to be difficult. But the light from the campfire sometimes gave a fun glow.
The guys never failed to jump right in to do the dishes while the girls cleared the table of food. Thanks a bunch, guys!
With Jacob,
regular smiles are only available occasionally. :-) I love ya, Jacoby Man.
"The hills are alive with the sound of music..."
The view of the waterfall was beautiful even though it wasn't rushing as hard as it would have been in the later spring. Our Father definitely knew what he was doing when he created waterfalls.
These two cuddled and sang songs with Jenny all morning one of the days. Selections from Hide 'em in your Heart rang throughout the camp, and their small, yet beautiful, voices earnestly gave their praise to our Father in heaven. Matthew 21:16 "Do you hear what these children are saying?" they asked him. "Yes," replied Jesus, "have you never read, " 'From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise' [ Psalm 8:2] ?"
I actually have no idea what Connor was doing in this photo, so don't ask.;-) I will leave it up to your imagination. :-)
Sally was sitting so gracefully, and the view behind her was so dazzling that Mom had to capture the moment.
The classic movie scene -- *dramatic music playing* He runs to her....she runs to him....they meet and he swings her around. :-)
OH!!! They're sooooo sappy! ;-)
Going shopping for wedding dresses!! We went to David's Bridal, but unfortunately we cannot post any pictures of our trip because Max isn't allowed to see them. Sorry Max. :-) If anyone, besides Max, really would like to see them, they are on our computer.
Sally and I had our cameras close at hand all the time.
Jaelyn, filling everyone in on the details of the weekend on her play cell phone.
I only realized what Jaelyn was doing after I took this photo. She was actually running her tongue up and down over the fence board. 
She was quite taken with all the mirrors in David's Bridal.
Not a "special effect" on purpose, or an old moldy photo, just a very, very dark one with some light added - voila! There are people in this picture! Still might not have been worth saving, but I thought it was kind of neat. (And I lied about the "not many captions.")
There's nothing like a campfire for inspiring some good ol' guitar strumming, huh, Jeremy?
Max - not to be outdone by some sixteen-year-old-younger-brother-sailor.
