On a complete spur of the moment we decided to drive out of town and go camping. We literally threw this trip together in a days time. We had recently found out about this really cool place to camp from our friend Gina at church. So we were literally entering unknown territory. It ended up being a beautiful place to be. I think all of us needed to get away. We camped right along the White river. There was this little island that the kids hung out on. The kids were in the water except to eat and sleep. 
It is hard to see in this picture but the river forks around that spot right in front of our trailer. It was awesome hearing the rush of the water during the night. It was so peaceful early in the morning. I sat beside the waters edge early in the morning contemplating life. It was awesome. Daphne would park herself somewhere with blank paper and a pencil to draw whatever came to mind.
Victoria was cracking us up. She found this "walking stick" and was singing and dancing with it. She was putting on one of her many shows. She is cute. And yeah, she knows her Mama loves to watch. All of the other kids were always so quiet. This one loves the attention. So yea, I give it to her. Why not. It builds self esteem.
This is Victoria's..."I need a nap" look. She claimed to be thinking about what she wanted to do next.
Here are the boys fishing.
This was an Osprey nest literally right across from where we camped. Everytime the parents left the nest the baby would be chirping away. One of the parents is stitting out on the end of that very top branch. On Sunday morning I heard a loud "plunk" like someone had thrown a boulder into the river. One of the Osprey had caught a fish. It was so amazeing. And then a couple minutes later a humongous Great Blue Heron flew by. It looked like a mile long from it's beak to the end of its tail. It was really neat.
The boys were good scouts and cleaned up any trash they found in the river. They know all about the Leave No Trace policy. On the Indian Reservation, I guess they have a little different policy...not sure. It goes to show you that you need to pack out what you pack in. But they did an awesome job of cleaning up whatever has traveled down the river. A little surprising. The two most interesting pieces was a shredded piece of tire and a flip flop that a tree branch had grown through.
Sheera...Warrior Queen of the Wilderness. By the way, we now have this very stick in our backyard. It had to come home with us.
Kaleb and Victoria played in this sand bar for hours. 
I caught Jared fishing with Victoria's Pretty Princess fishing pole. He claims to have seen a fish near it and thought he could catch it. Of course he is trying to deny fishing with a pink Princess pole while Kirk is saying..."Yeah, and the fish was this big!
Daddy and daughter.
This is proof that Daphne was really there. It is hard getting pictures of everybody sometimes. Of course you always get the little one because they are always in your space. I sometimes wear myself out trying to get to everyone. I love each of my kids and want to spend time with them. Sometimes I just have to let them know I am there watching and that is enough for them. They are a funny crowd. Never a dull moment. I am just so thankful to have a husband that says "Okay" when I say, "Hey, lets go camping". "When? " "I don't know, tomorrow?"
Kaleb and I went to his day camp which really ends up being evening camp. His was from 2:30 to 9:30 p.m. This was our second year doing it. The whole object is to keep the kids hydrated inside and out. They had sprinklers going all the time and hoses to spray down the kids. Water balloons were greatly encouraged. A boys paradise. They also had full permission to bomb any adult who looked dry. Of course it was a challenge for most of the kids to tye the balloons, so I struck up a deal with the boys. I will tye their balloons but they have to bring me a handful of blown balloon remnants. I think the other parents thought I was nuts. They always hung back and sat around and talked. I figure you get what you put into it. Our den had a good group of kids. The boys tyed these poles together. I think they were shocked that it actually held together when they picked it up. 
I think Benjamin Bunny likes it too. He likes it when the dog is nowhere to be seen. At this hour Henry is still pretty out cold sleeping in the boy's room. 
My mom's dog Sugar...which we call "Psycho Doggy", loves to swim! And she likes Victoria. I think because she is small. They like to swim together. It's cute.
Jared and my Dad were having water wars. Now that the kids are older there is no mercy. The big kid too. I stay out of the way.
We managed to visit the tide pools at just the right time. They were loaded with activity from crabs.
