The Blog Book

I opened my front door today to find a fun package waiting for me! I got my blog book in! After many hours of getting it ready for print... I got it in! It is 306 pages long with 1220 pictures! I chose the 7x7 hardcover with image wrap. I am posting pics for everyone who has been as anxious as I have to see it!

The title page (sorry about the glare)

Samples of the pages.

This one is blurry from me trying to hold the book open and take the picture.

I love it and will treasure our year of memories in print forever!

Beavers Bend Day 4 - Last Day

Day 4... the day we have to leave. We were all sad it was over. Blake was especially sad for vacation to be over. We got up and went to have our last breakfast at Gram and Papa's cabin. We didn't have much time for playing because we had to get packed up and checked out.

Blake enjoyed getting to drive us from cabin to cabin.

We saw this pretty creek and decided to take some quick pictures in it before leaving. Had we thought about it we could have packed some real clothes and made our Christmas card pictures! But we didn't so here we are in our camping clothes and beautiful scenery.

Although it was a lot of work with our two young, energetic boys we had a wonderful time and made great memories at Beavers Bend 2009!

Beavers Bend Day 3

Day 3 started with fresh faces after a good night's sleep. We had a lot of things planned for the day and were ready to get started.

We made our first stop at the Beavers Bend Depot. We bought our tickets to ride the little train.

With tickets bought we were ready to go!

Our train ride chugged through the woods and went down WooHoo Hill.

Barrett decided he wanted to ride with Gram and Papa.

After the train ride Daddy hit the snack bar.

We all enjoyed a little bit of the goodness.

Barrett and I went back to the cabin for his nap. He took a nice long 3 hour nap in the nice cool cabin. I got to catch up on my reading while he napped.

While Barrett and I were enjoying the comforts of the cabin, the rest of the group hit the trail... well sort of. They started on the trail and then their leader (Dad) thought it would be fun to use his new gps to navigate through the woods. So off they went. They went up, down, over, under, and through.

As they came back to the cabin, I unwrapped from my blanket (the air was very cold) and stretched my legs (you can get stiff legs when you curl up and read) just in time to take a great group photo of them out of breath and drenched in sweat. I got them water and told them way to go for conquering the land.

They all showered and rested up and then we went to Mom and Dad's for dinner. Samantha decided to take the " stretch your arm and take a picture of yourselves" picture.

Robert and I sat long enough to stage this picture together. We were usually up tending to one or both of the boys who were stretching their limits in the great outdoors.

Dad set up his tripod and we set the timer to get some family pictures together. Then it was time to sit around the campfire. We roasted marshmallows and made s'mores.

Blake wasn't much for sitting around the campfire, so he found things to keep himself busy. He had Cade help him collect rocks in his bucket. You can click on the pictures to enlarge and try to get an idea of how dirty Blake was... the pictures don't do him justice though.

A very GOOD shower was in order when we got back to our cabin. With the day washed off we went to bed to re energize and be ready for day 4.

Beavers Bend Day 2

The boys woke up bright and early on day 2. We got ourselves up and dressed ready for a new day. We were all meeting at Gram and Papa's for breakfast, but my boys couldn't wait that long. So we fed them in the cabin before we went out to start playing. They were on their bikes by 8 a.m.

Poor Blake is such a sweater that it runs all down into his eyes and bothers him. We had to make him a sweatband to keep the sweat from getting in his eyes. We ate the yummy breakfast mom made us (homemade biscuits and gravy) and then headed to the swimming hole.

Popsicles are a must when the weather is over 100 degrees!

The four boys: Barrett 16 months, Blake 4, Cade 6, and Caleb 9... almost 10!

Dad and Mom wanted to take the three boys on a canoe trip. They got all geared up and ready to go!

Getting everyone in the canoe without tipping it over was tricky! I don't know who was more nervous... the little boys or their Gram!

We finally got them all loaded up and ready to sail. Stephanie and I waved goodbye with lots of laughter. Mom was telling everyone to sit still (and they weren't even moving!) and wondering why SHE was having to take them and not an uncle or a daddy...

You can see the grip of fear Gram has on the canoe. I don't know why she was so nervous with three wiggly boys in the canoe :)

All is well and they are on their way.

While they were canoeing, we all went for a swim, or that is what we thought we were going to do. It only took our big toe touching the water to realize that the swimming hole was spring fed and FREEZING! We inched our way out. I only made it knee deep. Barrett didn't seem to mind and had fun splashing.

This is what it looks like when it is blazing hot outside... too hot to lay in the sun, but too cold to go in the water. You kind of do a half-in/half-out approach.

After the canoe trip and lunch, everyone decided they wanted to relax in the cool cabin. Robert and the boys went back to our cabin to nap in the air. Stephanie, Mom and I went back to soak up the sun.

When everyone woke up it was bicycle time!

We parked our bikes when we found this trail and explored it before setting back out on our bikes.

We all went back to Mom and Dad's for dinner and playing outside. The boys played catch with their baseballs and gloves. Blake got hit in the head and chest while he was playing, but that didn't slow him down. He also enjoyed all of the DIRT! He was covered in dirt from head to toe!

We stayed up a little bit late so that we could all go on a flashlight walk. We got our walking shoes and flashlights out and hit the trail. Blake loved getting to hold his own flashlight. Barrett was so sleepy so he just kicked back in his stroller and enjoyed the ride. We all turned off our flashlights at one point on the walk and lightening bugs surrounded us! It was amazing!

After a very late night we all enjoyed a nice shower and our cool cabins!