Jacob's 10th Birthday

Once a year, it comes to us all.  That day of days comes where we celebrate a personal event which we had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with aside from simply showing up... the day we were born.  Jacob, when he celebrates, usually celebrates things with his crazy dance moves...

This year, we were INCREDIBLY lucky and found a deal that was too good to pass up for a gift for him.  Since we're homeschooling now (and will be including some programming and online resource sites), and because he wanted a way to play MineCraft on his own, we, after hunting for months, found a steal of a deal on a computer for him (THANK YOU CRAIGSLIST!!!).  We surprised him with it, but it still took him a few seconds to fully process what was going on.

So naturally, we had to get a shot of him playing MineCraft.  As an additional surprise, an online friend of mine and I put together a "family-friendly" MineCraft server for the kids to play on as well as a few of our friends and their kids.  Because the bulk of us are likely to be members of the Church, we named it MormonCraft.  I spent several hours today playing with him.  While I'm not anywhere near as big of an aficionado as he is, we had quite a bit of fun.

In the evening, we had our friends the Robinsons and the Dowers over for cake and ice cream and for Jacob to show off his stuff.  The Dowers family brought him a "creeper" hat from MineCraft.  He naturally had to start wearing it immediately.

One of the joys of a combination camera and video camera is that you can capture stuff like this without having to try to time the shutter JUST RIGHT to get him blowing out the candles:

Some photographs of our friends who came to help us celebrate...

And we managed to get a shot of all the kids that were in attendance by our fireplace (we HAVE a fireplace...and a mantle too.  How crazy is THAT?).  Of course, not all of them are actually looking at the camera, because, as any parent knows, getting THAT many kids to all do the same thing is more difficult than herding cats.

So our little man turned 10.  We sure love him and who he is growing up to be.

Like most 10 year old boys, he has a fairly single-track mind (which is sometimes irritating), but that mind can come up with some of the most amazing things if you watch carefully enough.  It is so fun to watch him learn and explore new things.  We can't wait to see what another year brings.

- Josh                             

More Camping Fun

Just a few more pictures from our AWESOME camping adventure!

Josh really loves his "Camping Hat". I keep wanting to say "G'day mate"

 This was Meagans first time swimming in something other than a swimming pool. She commented that it was a lot harder because of the wind and movement of the water. I thought she did very well.

 Jacob didn't want to risk it and played it safe and kept his life jacket on.

 I love watching little kids and seeing the excitement they have when the can explore and learn on their own.

 I am not sure why but I always thought that buffalo came out looking how they look at adults.....I was wrong :D

 If you haven't figured out by now I have some silly, crazy, fun loving kids.

 Jacob is so funny. He really have some character in him. Always a joy to listen to and watch.

 Sibling......Love?

 

Another great view of where we were.

   - Sarah     

Camping in Caprock Canyon

So for our first "big" vacation (actual getting away) in a couple of years, we decided on camping and went to Caprock Canyons State Park.  Once again, we opted to take some "family" along for company, and what a great time we had.  The entire area is covered in red rock and we saw trees.  Yes, ACTUAL TREES...IN TEXAS.  No, we are not hallucinating.  See?

We arrived around 9 AM and spent the next couple of hours setting up camp.  One of the first things we discovered was that apparently, Caprock Canyons State Park, apart from being the home of the last free-roaming bison herd, it is also a wildlife refuge for the common housefly.  Who knew?  They seem to be doing well, as about 1,000,000 of them joined us for the whole duration of the camping trip.  The weather, in typical Texas form, was mildly warm (about 100 degrees both days).  Fortunately there was a lake nearby where the kids could cool down.  Below, you will find a picture of the lake's fishing dock.  As you can see, there is a "slight" difference between the water level and the dock level.  We might be in a drought that has lasted for several years or so...

So as they ventured into the lake they discovered several things.  Jacob discovered that there are all kinds of rocks everywhere and most of the ones under the water are smooth.  Meagan discovered that there is a BIG difference between swimming in a pool and swimming in a lake - one is fairly calm, the other has current.  She really had to work at it to maintain her location.

Of course, the day wouldn't be complete without the opportunity to swim with her buddy, Cheyenne.  She wouldn't go out into the water with anyone but Meagan.

Jacob, on the other hand, was perfectly content to stay in the shallows looking for cool rocks...and occasionally trying to skip them.

And because it can't be called camping otherwise, we had Hobo Dinners for our first evening's meal.  They were great.

If you zoom in REALLY close, you can probably count at least 1000 flies in this picture...  It didn't seem to matter whether they could get to any actual food or not.  They KNEW we had it, and the second we slipped up, they were going to take it.  Somehow, though, we managed to keep our good humor even with all the annoying buzzing going on.

The second day, we decided to drive the "scenic" route through the canyon.  You know, for being in the "desert" of Texas, there were some incredibly scenic vistas.  We stopped at one and took family pictures.

Looking out at actual greenery and skyline that was not "flat" (changes in the horizon like there are actual mountains)

Well lookie here!  An actual mountain.

A closer shot of that same mountain...

And did we mention actual Tatonka (buffalo)?  Kevin Costner would feel right at home.

A shot of (most of) the campsite.  Our friends' tent is off to the left of the camera.  Lots of people in one "small" space, but somehow we managed to get along and even like each other still after the experience.

2 and a half days of camping leaves one tired, dirty, and with a LOT of laundry.  But as fun and peaceful as being out in nature for extended periods is, the shower that you take after you return home in a REAL bathroom is a gift from the Almighty.

- Josh & Sarah