Campfire Stories: The first night at our camp we were all sitting around the campfire. Dinner was cleaned up and it was a beautiful, mild night. We were so happy to finally be in our favorite place.
Will and Cole had been running in the woods with their flashlights and had the idea to tell scary stories. They asked Daddo to do the honors. He shined the flashlight under his face for the dramatic effect. CL was in my lap and Rhett in the chair next to me. The story involved three weenie sisters and their tough little brother who were lost in the woods being chased by a Big Foot. Complete with heavy breathing and blowing wind sound effects, for the first time all day our crew was completely silent. Just from the eerie feeling of the story, CL had her face pressed into my chest, not moving.
Rhett listened intently and the big boys smiled excitedly. Just as the climactic part of the story was about to happen, and it was quiet enough to hear a twig break, Sunni, sitting just behind Daddo's chair, started growling. She hadn't as much as barked all day. She growled again lifting her head toward the dark woods by our campfire. It was perfect timing. CL gripped me tighter. Rhett was staring a hole through Daddo and the boys stopped giggling and looked in the woods. Daddo whispered to Sunni that he'd give her a treat later. Love that dog.
Hiking Drama: Our family loves hiking trails and discovering places off the beaten path. Our last hiking trip was November 2012. Two year old Rhett turned out to be the toughest little hiker I'd ever seen, making an hour and a half trek without as much as a whimper of complaining. Cora Love was still just months old and took her morning nap in my baby sling. It was a great experience. Fast forward to a year and a half later. Cora is now 21 months old and 34 pounds. The baby sling has moved on to another baby and CL has to walk the trail herself. Robbers Cave trail isn't very long in length but has several steep slopes, rocky terrain and high cliffs. Rhett once again proved to be a veteran keeping up with his two brothers in speed and climbing inclines.
I did a little bit of yelling in God's natural beauty whenever my boys got out of my sight. CL started out the first 10 minutes excited and energized to go where her brothers went. Then she slipped on one rock, realizing the potential hazardous situation to herself. Fear set in and our daughter whined most of the rest of the trail. We're still trying to get used to this girl thing. She is beautiful, delicate and a lady. But she will also be taught mental and physical toughness.... maybe another day. One thing we've always said to our sons when they were crying or throwing a fit for no reason was ask them if they were done. If we made them think about when they planned to finish their wall-eyed fit, they'd usually nod 'yes.' Then they'd quickly suck it up and go on. So we've done this here lately with our little lady. She threw a fit at the soccer field the other day. The same fit-throwing and crying happened on the trail. We did our routine stern talk and asked her if she was done. She shook her head 'no.' Apparently she needs more time to get over her emotional fit. And that's all it was on the trail; her mental fear of walking on the rocky terrain. We made her walk most of the trail where it was safe. She cried a lot while she walked. It didn't bother us until we saw other hikers and worried about their possible anxiety of a baby crying on an other wise peaceful hiking trail. CL still tried to walk every where her brothers did. Between rocks, through tunnels and down slopes; all the while crying.
Daddo and I laughed after a while. It is comical how a girl can so easily let fear control her physically.
If only her brothers will not secretly enable her behind our backs.
Below is toward the end of our hiking morning. Bubba was walking behind her.
It ended like this.
My relatively selfish, stubborn firstborn couldn't stand to see her so upset. He thought she was tired. I told her to walk. It was by far the easiest trail we had hiked that morning. He picked her up and carried her uphill about 75 yards until she was slipping from his arms. Having 3 older brothers is a good thing for CL but I think my boys having a baby sister is an even bigger blessing.
During the littles (and Daddo's) nap time, the big boys and I went on a trail ride at the state parks horse stable. Besides a short ride on a miniature horse at a birthday party, the boys have never done anything like this. They were very excited and the experience lived up to their expectations.
Cole got to ride Max.
Will got Buddy (like the Elf he said).
And I got Apache, the stubborn mare who liked to nibble the horse's tail in front but kicked and bucked when the horse behind her did the same. Daddo said it was the perfect horse for me. Not sure of those implications.
Such a fun time with my big boys.
Smaller but still cute memories:
Getting the fishing poles ready Rhett says, 'Cole, we're going to get fish!'
'You mean we're going fishing.'
'No we're going to get fish!'
Obviously, we rarely go fishing and just like most fishing trips, we didn't get any fish that day either.
Playing Put-Put golf with four kids all trying to eat snow cones while playing, will increase the length of the game and the stress of the parents!
Ladder ball is more fun at the campsite.
Spray paint on the side of a cave lead Cole to believe an Indian put it there 'like 300 years ago!'
'Amber' the Indian must have liked the color pink.
Rhett told me about fishing after you got back. He said his fish wasn't home that day. :)
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