Zuri is finally at the age where camping with her is fun. She and J slept in the camper with J's dad, and she slept all through the night both nights--even through the rain, lightning, and thunder storms. J said there was one time when she woke up, mumbled "daddy," and when J said, "I'm here," she said, "I love you," and went back to sleep. So sweet.
With the storms, I am doubly glad that I didn't sleep at camp because as it was, I was up both nights (although I slept better the second night) having to go the the bathroom (par for course for this pregnancy) and trying to breathe (ie blowing my nose) while soothing a sore throat.
The family reunion itself was fun. There was the usual horseback riding, 4-wheeling, a skit in the evening, fishing, and just hanging out. We were able to see family that we haven't seen in a long time (J's Uncle Steve and his grown up boys and their wives all came out--we don't get to see them all that often), and it was fun catching up with them. (A shout-out to my "blog stalker" peeps!)
Zuri and her cousin. She had so much fun playing with her cousins. She just loves to be around other kids.
J and Zuri went on several rhino rides. Zuri, our little gardener, had to stop and get some flowers along the way. She would show the flowers to everyone and I think she had a good bouquet by the time we left.
I joined in on a couple easy rides on the rhino.
Zuri and J playing horseshoes together. Unfortunately, none of the pictures I took with J turned out while they played.
Going for a canoe ride, and going fishing. We didn't catch anything but had fun rowing around the pond. Zuri didn't understand the concept of "keep still" and sent our little canoe rocking more than once in the beginning as she shifted around.
On Friday morning, there was a family hike. Suzanne and I had planned on not going on the hike and getting lunch ready for everyone when they got back. We arrived at the campsite just as everyone was leaving, and Robert said the plan was for us to do lunch at the base of the hike. So we loaded the food into the truck and went along. We realized when we got there that we had forgotten the propane tank to heat the meat. That, along with the heat, lack of shade, and lack of places for everyone to sit, we then decided to go back to the original plan and have lunch at the campsite. Unfortunately, everyone had started on the hike, and the road to get back is for more advanced off-roading, so we chose to wait until everyone got back. Little did we know it would be several hours later.
The hike. They went to the patch of yellow on the other side of the lake. The picture was taken from the starting position of the hike--no motorized vehicles were allowed past that point.
When I originally bowed out of the hike, it was due more to the fact that I hadn't been feeling well, and since J and I didn't know how strenuous or long the hike would be, we didn't want a repeat of Seattle, when I pushed myself to the point where I was hurting (and pregnant with Kai; we have been more careful with this pregnancy than the others). J more than once discouraged me from going, especially when we got to the starting point and I looked down at the "trail" and knew that I most likely would be fine.
What neither J nor I knew was the reason for the hike--that was where James had his accident, and they were going to the place his body had been found. They had a little memorial service. Had I known that, I would have insisted on coming, especially since I had been unable to attend his funeral. I only found out the purpose of the hike after everyone had been gone at least forty minutes or so, and I happened to ask Suzanne why they were hiking so far from camp.
I sent my camera along with J, and he was able to get these great pictures! Beautiful field of dandelions.
They put a plaque in the trees where James had been found.
Robert, Peggy, Jannie, and Julie put on a little skit. The sisters were pretending to be the Kardashian sisters and Robert was their brother. It was pretty funny. They handed out bags to everyone with a quote and something inside. We had to guess who belonged to the quote. J and I got: "When life gave them lemons, they made lemonade!" and inside the bag was pink lemonade. Zuri got "daddy's little princess" with some chapstick. So cute!
On Saturday, everyone was packing up camp. Time to return the port-o-potty! Haha. At least we had that and didn't have to rely on a hole!
The highlight of the trip for Zuri came on Saturday with this little guy.
I caught this little frog Saturday morning and showed it to Zuri. She was so enamored with it that we found an empty grape container to put him in for a couple hours. Unfortunately, he escaped through the holes a couple of times and I had to re-catch him. We poked a few holes in a water bottle and Zuri showed everyone her frog. I found another smaller frog to join him but the smaller frog eventually found his way out through one of the holes.
Zuri's frog created a craze with the other kids, and they went down to the pond and caught some salamanders and other small frogs.
Finally, it was time to go home. Zuri wanted to keep the frog but we told her that he needed to be with his family in the wild. It took some convincing, but she finally let him go. Ever since, she has wanted a pet frog and keeps talking about getting one. She just loves animals.
Can you see the blur of the frog jumping away to freedom?
