Quick Trip to the Pines

With the summer almost gone, we had to take a desperation trip to the Pines (my parent's mountain property in WY).  I have been needing to go up there all summer, but hadn't had the chance.  Nathan has started playing football, and practices EVERY night for 2 hours Monday-Friday, and will have games on Saturdays.  This was the last weekend before games start, when our lives will be officially over.  We picked up Nathan from football Friday night, and headed straight for the Pines.  My sister Terri met us up there.  Terri is Sarah's favorite person.  If you ask her what she did over the weekend, she tells you that she went to the Pines with aunt Terri. It was quick trip, so we had to pack in as many things as we could.  Warning: I took a lot of pictures!

The kids had heard about their uncle Jim waking his kids up at 3 a.m. and laying on the trampoline to watch the meteor shower. My kids wanted to see it too, so they talked Terri into getting them up to see it.  I rolled my hinney out of bed and joined them.  It was fun.  There isn't much that compares with looking up at the night sky in the mountains.  There were so many stars, you could hardly tell the constellations.  We saw a couple of dozen "shooting stars." and my kids absolutely loved it.

Rob surprised Nathan by bringing up three bb guns and setting up a shooting range.  Nathan was in heaven. 

 Sarah had her first shooting experience, and thought it was pretty cool.

 We loved shooting up the targets we made.

 Matthew was a riot- as usual!

 It took two fingers for Matthew to pull the trigger.  He didn't even look at the target, he just concentrated on pulling that darn trigger.

 Sarah had a bad case of the grumpies because she thought that people weren't shooting at her target enough. SIGH

 Still grumpy...

 I ended up not being too bad of a shot.

 Terri even joined in the fun.

 The kids loved to call "cease fire" and run to see where we hit on the targets.

 We brought up bikes for the kids, and that was a new adventure for them.  However, I don't think we'll take them mountain biking any time soon.

 Abby most of all just loved digging in t he dirt.  Like her sister, she would love to pour a bucket of dirt over her head.

 Sarah was proud of the "garden" she planted.

 Next it was off to the lake- Meek's Cabin Reservoir.  They thought it would be like playing in Pineview Res., but soon discovered that it was way cold!

 We love taking our inflatable kayaks out on the lake.  It was a perfect day for being at the lake.  Here's Rob Matthew and Sarah.

 Me and Nathan.  It's so incredibly beautiful up there!  Off in the distance is King's Peak.

 Sarah, of course, was thrilled to go out with Terri.

 Abby was less than thrilled to wear the life jacket. 

 Being up there was just what my soul needed. 

 Sarah was determined to show me the turtle float she's been learning in swimming lessons.  She braved the cold and did it not once, but twice!!!  She thought I would do it too- silly girl.

I think that Terri is now Abby's favorite person too.  I don't blame them, I can't compete with her coolness!  We love Terri, and we love that she will join us on our adventures.

We finished off the trip with several games of UNO, a yummy dinner and smores, and made it home around 11 p.m.  WHEW!  What a whirlwind trip.  Though it was a lot of work getting packed up, for such a short trip (and will take several days to unpack and recover from the mountains of laundry) it was well worth it.  My soul was rejuvenated by the beauty and just hanging out with my family.