Monday, June 6, 2011

Camping at Arrow Rock

We had made Plan A for this last weekend, but that fell through.  Then we made Plan B and that also fell through.  So, at the last minute we made Plan C and we ended up having such a good time.  I don't really think that camping in 95 degree humid weather with cicadas humming at 120 decibels is considered ideal, but when you add in good friends with six children, that's what I call a great weekend!

The quiet little historic town of Arrow Rock is not too far from us and they have a very nice campground.  We enjoyed sharing meals, roasting marshmallows, playing games, relaxing, chatting, walking the trails, ice cream, a walking tour of the little town, worshiping together, more ice cream and more visiting.  We are very thankful for this family that God brought into our lives a couple of years ago.  We share a like-mindedness in how we raise our children, a heart for adoption (all six of theirs are adopted), and now a love of camping.  We're looking forward to our next camping adventure together, although we're going to hold out for cooler temperatures in the fall!  Thanks H family for a memorable weekend!

Is this little guy a cutie or what!





Sweet Grace loved watching out for Ami.

Now that's a bunch of kids!  They are sitting in age order.

Not sitting in age order.  :)

These two are pretty adorable together.






Midday and the dads are walking out of the tavern?!  Actually they were hunting down an appropriate lunch spot for us.  In their wisdom they concluded that the white tablecloths wouldn't exactly blend well with fifteen dirty, sweaty campers!

So, again in their wisdom, they concluded that it would be best to have dessert first, then head back to the campground for sandwiches.  Amazingly everyone concurred.



Again, that little sweetheart!


 

After making some difficult lunch decisions, the dads required some rest and meditation.


The campground watering hole provided some great refreshment!





It's getting more and more difficult to get pictures of my older kids.  Grrrr.


Yep, large families drive large vehicles.

This huge field had some great climbing trees, and was super fun for aerobie frisbee.  You can hardly see all the kids dotted all over the field and in the trees.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Bonus pictures!

I had these re-sized and ready to go in the last post, but somehow they got dropped.  So, here are a few more. 


Ami was upset about something and Elle was so concerned about her.  Very sweet!

As I said, it was VERY loud at times.

Half the time we had to work at it to get the girls to pose for us, but they had no problem at all posing with this total stranger!  Maybe it was the authority of the uniform, who knows.  I love our Jiangxi beauties.  They are becoming such good friends with each passing day.

Memorial Day Weekend

Last weekend we enjoyed having Aunt Kate, Elle, and Zane here.  Uncle Eric was in Africa, so we'll excuse his absence this time!  We had a great time and kept busy the whole weekend.  I've got way too many pictures to post, but there are too many good ones to leave out, so just sit back and scroll through them.  A few of them are from Kate's awesome camera.  Thanks, Kate!





 Zane made a mixture of cicada shells, bubbles and chalk......

Then he proceeded to dump it on Johanna's head.  Fortunately she was a very good sport!

Heading off to see a production of Peter Pan

Michaela, in the pit orchestra, with her adoring fans



Yummy Shakespeare's pizza for supper (the kids get dough to play with)


 

We attended the air show on Sunday afternoon.  It was hot and VERY loud at times!







So nice to eat outside and enjoy the great outdoors!

I love how seriously Zane is working on his corn-on-the-cob.


We also took in the Memorial Day parade and cheered for and thanked our servicemen.