Zoo with Kate and Kaley

We are a bit behind on our blogging. Mommy, Nate, and Ellie went to the zoo with Kate and Kaley on the Saturday that Daddy went to Pickin' in the Pines.


Attempting to all hold hands and walk.


Checking out the new water play area.


Eating lunch.


Playing in the other splash playground. Since the other water play area had just opened the old splash playground wasn't busy.

Canyon de Chelly and Chinle

Spider Rock


The beginning of Canyon de Chelly. There is a farm on the right side of the second picture.


We were sitting in the school district's office and we saw a line of about 8 cows wandering down the main road. One even stopped to rub his horns on the hill on the side of the road.

Pickin in the Pines

This weekend daddy got to go to a bluegrass festival in Flagstaff, it was a blast!


The stage at the Pine Mountain Amphitheater

Bluegrass chicks are cool!!

Carolina Chocolate Drops
This band was one of my favorites! I bought their one of their CDs and I wasn't disappointed. The band member on the left actually graduated from NAU. We ended up sitting right next to his proud parents.

Wildlife Adventures

While we were at Pine Grove, we had some special visitors. They were black and white and have bushy tails, can you guess what they were? If you guessed skunks, you win a prize! We were cooking our hot dogs over the fire when we saw two skunks come out of the culvert by our camp site. They did a little dance and one back in the culvert and the other wandered off. It was dark and so it was hard to see where the other skunk had gone. A little while later, the skunk appeared behind Nate and then came up and smelled his leg and wanted to see what he was eating. Nate thought it was his friend but we told him not to move. He sat so still and stiff that when Mike picked him up we had to tell him to bend. We told Ellie to stay still but she wasn't near as calm as Nate. She started to whimper. We eventually got both of them away from the skunk. The skunk then visited Opa's and Mike's shoes. Eventually the skunk wandered off. However, it made a return visit about a half hour later but we were able to shoo it away.

On Saturday, we were swimming in Grandma and Grandpa's pool and Mandy was bit by a large black beetle that could swim. It also climbed on Nate. At first, we thought it was a leaf but it seemed to swim towards the nice warm bodies in the pool. Nate jumped out of the pool as fast as he could and then Grandma came to the rescue!

Camping at Pine Grove over Labor Day

Ellie is always trying to run away from the camera.


Ellie helping Nate swing in the hammock. However, Nate didn't really want the help.


Getting cozy in the hammock. At one point we thought they would both fall asleep.


Playing dominoes in Oma and Opa's camper. Their version of dominoes is played by pretending the dominoes are people. The dominoes even took showers.


Nate is our expert marshmallow roaster.


Playing baseball.


Oma and Ellie eating corn that the neighbors gave to us.


Nate got a lot of use out of his bike this weekend. He rode around a lot with Brayden, the boy from the camp site next to us.


Waiting out the rain. The entertainment was watching the water drip off the awning into bowls and waiting for the bowls to overflow.


There were six kids in the campsites next to us that were about Nate's age. Nate is fishing with Taylor. Ellie is checking out worms with Lauren, Ellie, and Andy. Grace is not in the picture.


Ellie checking out the worms. She did actually touch one.


Ellie helping Oma making cottage cheese salad.


Nate hanging out in Oma and Opa's camper.


Smile!


Self portraits.


Ellie loves to wash her hands in the dish water.


Nate really enjoyed flying his kite.


Reading a Holland guidebook with Opa and Oma.

More Lynx Lake

Playing baseball and frisbee. Ellie purposely pulled down her hat so I couldn't take a good picture of her.


Playing in Erin's tent while it rained.


The wall and steps were a source of lots of entertainment.


Eating lunch while it wasn't raining.


We go around and around.


Planting a flower they picked in a piece of styrofoam from Eric's lantern.


Ellie's tired.


Who needs toys? We had an empty soda can to fill with dirt, and umbrellas as pretend babies.


Throwing rocks into the lake.

Lynx Lake

Here are a few highlights from our day trip to Lynx Lake to visit Eric for his birthday.