Savoring the last of summer

The family is both the fundamental unit of society as well as the root of culture. It ... is a perpetual source of encouragement, advocacy, assurance, and emotional refueling that empowers a child to venture with confidence into the greater world and to become all that he can be.~ Marianne E.Neifert

So we decided to grab the last of summer by its tail and head to the mountains. Normally we go camping several times during the summer, but this whirlwind summer found it hard to catch a free week-end to go, so we decided, no matter the weather, we were going!  Ethan & Megan arrived Thursday night late and we stayed up talking until the new day had arrived.  Megan & I shopped for groceries while Ethan got the canoes ready to go.  We packed up the trailer and as soon as Ray got home from work, we headed south up to Payson Lakes, hoping to find a camp site in time . . . we were pleasantly surprised to find many campsites available and had our pick of some nice pull throughs. The weather was pleasant, a couple of storms came through, but it was soon shining again and we enjoyed the cooler weather, the peace and beauty of the mountains.

 Ethan reading The Numerati, by Stephen BakerRay & Megan took Jacob & Charlie out in the canoe fishing and the little boys pulled in quite a few . . . Jacob caught three and Charlie caught two!  They were pretty excited about their adventure . . .

Megan, who is a great cook is putting together some really great chipotle chili.

Arianne, Charlie and James arrived late Friday . . . they were the front runners in a three car pile-up on the free-way.  The car that collided into the car that then collided into the back of Arianne's van, left the scene of the accident. Fortunately, no was seriously injured and after ascertaining that the people and vehicles were okay, which took a couple of hours, they were on their way again.  We are so grateful that it was not more serious than it was and they were able to come up.

We took the older grandchildren fishing one day and Sydni pulled in a nice one, with a little assistance from

big brother Jacob.

Damien and Danielle, Jacob, Sydni, Kourtni and Allyson came up on Saturday. Ally didn't feel well, so

she was not a happy camper that night . . .

Ethan and Damien kept us well supplied with plenty of hot coals for the Dutch Ovens and we had some nice meals . . . Spicy Chicken Tortilla Soup, Apple Dumplings, Chipotle Chili, Frank's Dutch Oven Potatoes, Breakfast Burritos . . . yummmmmmm.