Thanksgiving!

In honor of Thanksgiving, this post focuses on giving thanks for our vacation that happened to be during Thanksgiving as well.

 Oh yeah, Emily is getting much better at sitting up by herself.

The kids loved the cacti.  Our last night there, they found out that some cacti are more forgiving than others.

 The zoo
 Elaine petting a stingray...

 

The monkey cage was very impressive since you actually get to be in it with these monkeys running around.  

 The kids, Nana and PopPop.

 The kids love climbing rocks.  The problem is that they are good at it.

While we were hanging out at the lake, some kayakers were finishing up and offered to Mara try it.  They let Ben and I go too and even took Ashlee out.  I need to get a kayak.

 I also stole some time to go running and saw some amazing places.

 Cliff dwellings were pretty cool, especially since Mara is learning about the Aztec’s and the Mayan’s now.  This one is called Montezuma’s Castle since it was originally believed to be Aztec.  (It wasn’t though.)  It was all original except for a section that was blown up by looters.  The kids earned their junior ranger badges as well.  (Awesome program by the National Parks that help kids actually learn at the parks instead of just running wild.)

 Of course we went swimming too.

 We even got to check out Christmas lights!

 Oh yeah, we went to this place too...

 ... and did a little hiking

Pumpkin Patch

Saturday was amazing.  After going to the temple, we went to the pumpkin patch.  We ran into several friends there too.

 Mara was amazed by the corn box.  She felt like she was at the beach.

 The kids had a blast on the obstacle course.

 I believe this was actually a maze for the smaller tykes, but since it was toward the end of the day, we ended up using thhe top to play tag.  It was fun.  (This is my favorite picture.)

 It started to get cool yesterday too, so it feels like fall.  Someone in this picture is wishing it was still summer.

 More tag...

 They had a bunch of slides too.

 One more obstacle course picture.

September Camping

 Before:

 After:  (They actually kept going and got quite a flame for a couple of minutes.

  Cool morning air

 Exercise Station

 Nice shoes

 Ashlee's rocks (with Ben's baby alligator in the background)

What a great weekend.  As we come to the end of the fiscal year, I have a couple of days left of leave to use and took off Friday.  I helped install a toilet and a sink in a home that is flooded where the husband is deployed.  After the kids got home from school, we took off to go camping.  The weather has been wonderful here in North Dakota lately.  Elaine decided that she didn’t want to take Emily camping, so Elaine and Emily went to the ward picnic they had, while Mara, Benjamin, Ashlee and I went camping.  We missed Elaine and Emily, but we still had a lot of fun.  The kids had a great time “saving” the fire after dinner by throwing a bunch of leaves and small branches into the hot coals.  After it got dark, we went on a night hike.  I gave them the option of taking the trail in the open by the lake or to go through the dark and spooky woods.  Of course, they chose the woods.  They were really funny though.  Benjamin kept flashing his flashlight behind us to make sure no one was following us.  As we looped back, we walked back through the clearing.  Mara was amazed at all the stars.  It was fun to point out the few constellations that I knew.  It was even more fun to hear each of the kids echo Mara’s sentiment, “This is the best night ever!”

The kids slept pretty well except for Benjamin who wanted to make a fire at 2:30 in the morning.  When they woke up, we made a fire, ate breakfast and went hiking again.  Despite the soggy feet due to the morning dew, the kids had a great time.  This time we ended up on an exercise circuit with different stations to do little activities.  They got so excited about seeing what was next that they would race to the next one.  When we finished, I lent Mara and Ben an extra pair of shoes I had in my car and we went down to the lake to skip rocks.  They picked it up pretty quickly.  There was a rock sticking out of the water that Benjamin was sure was actually a baby alligator.  Ashlee sifted through the rocks trying to find the prettiest ones to keep.  She ended up with more than she could carry (we ended up compromising that she could bring 2 home.)

Overall, it was a great success and I’m glad we the chance to go before winter comes.

Oh yeah, Emily has started laughing.  She is so cute.

Vacation!

Driving with a 2 month old baby takes a little longer than before.  But it does make you stop along the way and find cool stuff like a picnic shelter made from petrified wood.

 In case you didn't know where we went...

 Ashlee getting sworn in as a Jr. Ranger.  She promised to help protect the national parks.

 Hiking by Jewel Cave (so they could earn another Jr. Ranger pin and patch).

 The best part about our cabin...

 My run was a lot tougher.  Our cabin was at the bottom of the hill.

 Sylvan Lake

 Mara saw this bench, "I Hope You Dance" and wanted a picture.  She was given the book many years ago by her grandfather.

 Ashlee had so much fun posing by all the characters at Story Book Island.  She almost sat on the spide when she noticed it and just ran away.  Then she realized it was fake, but still kept her distance.

 The original entrance to Wind Cave.

 More Story Book Island

 All 3 Jr. Ranger pins....