I'm warning you now- this is going to be a very long post!
To answer Kim's question from a previous posts comment- I was going to post some pictures of the kids on the mountains, that is why I wrote that, but then I forgot!
Part 1: Ames Family Campout:
The Saturday of Cowley's day, after a fun day filled with a parade, candy, a beach volleyball tournament and fun with family and friends, we packed into the can for a last minute trip to the mountains. You see, I have only missed ONE Ames family camp-out, and that was because I was getting sealed to my wonderful husband and precious baby boy. So we decided (more I begged Jaran and he gave in to my vampire-inspired, smoldering-eyed, looking from under my lashes PLEADING) to make the trip. We had to stop in Cody at Walmart for some food, socks and tennis shoes (as all of our gear is in Three Forks and this wasn't a planned trip) and then headed out. When we got there, nobody was around the fire- which bummed me out- but we found Dad in the camper. We all got settled in for the night, with Kies sleeping with grandpa, Brensyn on the floor next to the couch bed, where Jaran and I were and Ansleigh in her port-a-crib in the kitchen. The next morning, we woke up, hung around the fire, ate and Brensyn had his first mishap of the day when he decided to do a backwards dive down a big rock by the camp. It gashed his head and gave him a nice knot. After we took care of that, we went down to the lake for some crawdad catching. We were out on a big log getting some of the little critters when Brensyn decided to fall into the water. Luckily, some weeds were right where he fell, keeping his face above the water. It only scared him (and us), no wounds! So he was wet and scared. We went back up for lunch and naps. Then, Kies, Dad and I went out on the raft for some "lour fishing." There are always some to be found, as there are submerged trees everywhere along the shore. If you know my Dad, you will understand why it took a lot longer than I thought i would. He sets his mind to something and we are all in for the long haul. After rowing back around the lake, we got up to camp, packed up and went fishing at Crandle Creek. There's a great little hole there where you can catch a fish on almost every cast. The boys had a blast and took one home with us. It was dark when we got back, but we still had to Cook the crawdads and get packed up. So we ate, got all into the van and headed for home. We got back late, but it was worth it!
Part 2" Accident prone:
Brensyn had a few more accidents that worried me that week. Tuesday I had an eye appointment in Cody and Jaran took some time off to take care of the kids during it. After that, we got some food and went to the park. We met up with Steph (Wilson) Coble and Jaran was watching the boys on the big toy while I had Ansleigh with Steph and Lane in her car watching our performance from the Country Showdown. I looked up from it and saw Jaran hurrying toward me with Brensyn in his arms, bleeding profusely from the face. I handed Ans to Jaran and took Brensyn. I thought his whole face was maimed, but it was just his nose that I saw was bleeding. I got the bleeding under control as Jaran explained what had happened. Brensyn was climbing down from a platform and slipped off the bar onto another platform- hitting the back of his head, which propelled him forward and clear to the ground where he landed straight on his face, causing a bloody nose and scraped up face. It was then that I saw that he had another cut and HUGE knot on the back of his head. Poor little guy! And that wasn't the end of it. The next day, we were having lunch at the armory park in Lovell, and he simply fell back and hit his head in the same spot as before. The knot is still there and it's been a long time, but it is slowly de-flating! That next day, the poor little man got his finger slammed in the door, which cut and smashed it. It's a good thing he is tough or we would have a problem on a daily basis. He's such a great little kid- well most of the time;)!
Part 3: 1st Annual Baker family camp out:
This last weekend was our first annual(at least that's the plan) Baker family camp out. We were doing things last minute again, and had to stop in Cody for some more supplies. We dding' leave Cody until about 6:30 or 7:00 and then had to make our way through Yellowstone. As most of you know, any Friday night during the summer tourist season is not a good time to travel through the park- you know the usual lot of crazies are out. There were the usual stops for the stupid buffalo- ANNOYING- and the other things people love... like the coyote that people think is a wolf... and then getting far too close... and me thinking- good thing that ISN'T a wolf. The one slow part that I didn't mind AS MUCH was a huge crowd of people gathered to see the young grizzly playing with rocks to find food. While in that mess of stopped crazy people who had gotten out of their cars, of course, an Ambulance came through, causing more of a delay. We finally got out of the jam, only to get stuck behind and idiot in an RV that paid no attention to the signs reading: Slower traffic use pullouts! So after that, and a long drive later, we arrived in Lave Hot Springs, in Idaho, at about 1:30 AM. Luckily, we were able to bunk with Jaran's parents, as the tent we borrowed was far too small for a family of five. We didn't go to bed until around 3 and then Jaran's phone alarm went off at 6:15 AM and he couldn't find it, which made us all alert and unable to go back to sleep. I got up around 7:00 and started the fired. We had some breakfast, thanks to Kevin and his great camping stove, and then headed off to the hot springs resort, and some went tubing the river. The kids had fun, although they were tired from the short night of sleep. We had lunch after the boys and Ansleigh had short naps and went back to swim some more. They had some slides, diving boards and there were three platforms to jump from. The guys, of course, decided to be macho first thing and went off of them in the morning. I had no intention of doing so, but when we got back from lunch and Vye was there with a tower pass on her arm, I decided I needed on too! So Vye and I decided to go do them together, which I'm so grateful for- cause I doubt I would have had the guts to do it alone. They allowed us to go at the same time, and we worked our way up to the tallest platform, being about 30 feet or so. The first two were fun, but after jumping into the water, getting a LOAD of water up my nose, and realizing my wrist and feet hurt, we only did the middle on once more. Afterwards, we packed up and headed back to camp for dinner. We then had a talent show, and it was so much fun! Loyal (Jaran's dad) did a little dance, RuthAnn sang a song that she used to sing with her family every Sunday night, and then there were musical numbers from our smallish children, a few physical displays, and Kendra and Joseph's kids did a hilarious skit, "Albi the racist dragon" taken from Flight of the Concords. Amanda did a great rendition of Oh My Father on her violin and then it was time for desert and s'mores. We got to use the tent that Jonny and Erica had been in, cause half of our party had headed home after s'mores. We decided to hit the hay, as we'd been running on three hours of sleep, lots of sun, and crazy swimming! Then- the wind started. It almost made our tent collapse on us, and Jaran had to get up to stake down some of the tie downs. The kids decided that they needed to scream halfway into the night, and all three ended up in bed with us. Not so much fun. The morning dawned wind free and sunny, making me wonder if I had been dreaming of the horrible night, until we found out that Kendra and Joseph's tent had been torn apart in the storm and had to pack up their 7 kids, Nikki, all the other stuff that they had brought and go home at about 1 or 2 in the morning. So we all took down our tents, packed up our cars, and headed our separate ways.
Part 4: I'm going to Jackson
WE went back through Jackson and stopped there for lunch. We went for a little walk and stopped at a few shop ts. We let the boys pick out a rock at one of the little shops, which took them about fifteen minutes as they had to each have the perfect one. We also stopped at Jackson lake and Jaran skipped rocks while the boys just threw them as far as they could. We also stopped at one of the smaller falls and Fishing Bridge. We couldn't see the fish, so we went to the store there for a a bathroom stop and filled a little bag with some more of the colorful little rocks. We didn't stop anymore until Cody for some groceries for home. It was a great trip, even though the kids got whiny that last day. We are so glad we got to visit with everyone, especially Vye and Steve who are moving soon to Canada and we won't have a chance to seem them again for quite some time. Thanks to Kendra for planning this fun outing- it was full of joy and joyness, just like candy mountain!
Well everyone, take care!
