Day 8 – Cy Leaves & We Move to a New Camp Site

The time seemed to fly and this morning Josiah left to go back to TX. It was a joy to have the whole “family unit” together, if only for a week.

We broke camp at Grape Creek RV Park and headed for the USAF Academy Fam Camp in Colorado Springs.

It’s amazing that our campsite is in a “secluded, wooded area” and yet a few curves give us a rather amazing view of the congested city. LOL I think I’ll hunker down at the campsite and pretend that we’re still up on the mountain.

We set up camp, played games, bought groceries and cooked meals. Talked with Lynn tonight; so excited to see them again. Yes, Darshia….LR from AK/EAFB…I’m going to make sure she gets your message. That’s about it for the day.

We do have wifi here in the campground so I may be able to get a fast enough connection to load some photos {I did}.

Everyone has a job when it’s time to set up and break down camp. Our site has nothing but trees and a ravine behind us.

Nolan and Zander are going to try the tent again. Zander drenched all with a spilled water bottle last time. On the way out he said, “Jared, don’t bring a water bottle.”

©2008 D.R.G.

Day 4 photos -

This was the day that Mike and 7 of the children hiked to the top of Marble Mountain and explored Marble Cave and Marble Hall. It was 12ooo ft UP. I will post their photos later when I can corral someone to explain to me what I'm seeing.

Here are the photos of our day back at camp. And I'm totally over my pity party after yesterday's hike. ::snort::

I LOVE mountains and nature...and have been soaking up the views. This is simply the view I saw as I played "Sorry" with Zander and Stacia.


More views

Look closely and you'll see a horse and buggy. Evidently there is an Amish Colony nearby....AWESOME furniture for sale in town.


Oh, no, it's starting to get stormy. I hope the family is o.k. on that mountain.


These little bare feet went ALL over the RV Park.

Hmmm...what else can we do? I can try to capture "emotions" like Cindy did.... ::snort::

Worried about the big kids

Angry

THIS is Zander's tick. He does this in social settings that make him nervous. It's common with children of his alphabet make up.....and I was thrilled to get it recorded.....so when you hear me say he squinches his face or talks out of the side of his mouth - THIS is it. BTW Zander just saw this photo and said, "You gotta email that one - I look like a pirate." Great minds seem to think alike around here. ::snort::

One thing we loved at Westcliffe was sitting out at night and watching the sunset. This night I took a zillion photos - the others were still on the mountain.

©2008 D.R.G.

Day 3 photos

I thought it would be easier to simply post photos seperately than to try go back and imbed them in blog entries. {Ed note - Dorothy when I mention run - if it's Mike and the boys they may really have been running....if the whole family is along it's a figure of speech. LOL}

I was SHOCKED to find that we DO have wi fi at fam camp. I'm not going to spend a lot of time answering emails etc...but if you need to reach us - I can check in at least daily. I'll post photos as I have time.

Jamin begins each a.m. at camp as he does at home - editing his second novel.

At the head of Rainbow Trail Stacia INSISTS she carry the caching bag AND she can “do it myself” when asked if she wants to be carried.





Jamin watches from afar with a self-satisfied smile as we continue to search for the cache he’s found.


Bre and Stacia crack us up by singing as they walk along, Stacia loves having someone else around who sings all the time. ::snort::


When we all found the first find, we were given the coordinates for the second step of this cache.

The rain can’t dampen the beauty.


Arielle finds the second cache first! It was now POURING!


Krista and Nolan find a cache in a park that we returned to on Monday.


Games



Seating is at a premium....we laughed when Cy took his chair with him to get seconds on dinner.


Still choosing joy while learning how to cook in a kitchen that defines "tiny". ::snort::


"my boys"


Ah....bed time...


©2008 D.R.G.

Day 7 – Softball, Window Shopping, Caching

I did another load of laundry and read the Word while it dried.

Josiah made French toast etc for the crew this a.m. Krista packed a lunch while the littles and I cleaned the trailer and campsite and got a roast into the crock pot.

This is our last day with the entire family together.

We drove into Westcliffe. The plan was for the littles and boys to play softball at the park while the “girls” went shopping. We got a call saying that Stacia was heartbroken at the park. We went and got her and spent 1 ½ hours having a girl shopping trip while the boys entertained themselves at the park.

Then we had a picnic. Tried for a “full circle” family photo in a meadow.
PHOTO

We used to love to play kickball as a family. We spent another hour or two playing kickball. Fun memories of past days and a new memory made.

PHOTOS

We decided to hunt for one more cache. You must KNOW that I was dressed for shopping – including my sandals. I KNEW this would not be easy – with a name like Rainbow Trail #8 and cautions that the owner used ATV’s and horses when placing the cache…and would recommend we do the same but it was accessible on foot. ::snort:: The camera died and I have no photos. The view was GORGEOUS!!!! The hike was “fun”. The cache was an easy find. The hike was not so easy in my "shopping sandals". I've finally learned a key that will help me greatly: when going ANYWHERE with Mike I will put in my hiking shoes....always prepared. ::snort:: Josiah blessed my heart greatly by carrying Stacia the whole way...and staying back to make sure we made it o.k.

We came back and enjoyed roast, veggies, salad, fruit and biscuits.

We tried for the “full circle” photo in the tent.

Mike set up the telescope and we enjoyed awesome views of the moon, Venus, and various stars.

Mike and I sat out late at night and watched a meteor shower.

©2008 D.R.G.

Josiah Left us Today....

Pray for safe travels as he returns to Texas.

Cy in Boston

Bre and Cy in Boston on Illumatrek (Krista was in Trinidad)

Philadelphia

Washington DC


©2008 D.R.G.

Note -

There will be no photos until I find more time and opportunity to upload them. Your computer is not messing up. I simply can't spend so much time on the computer this week.

We are taking zillions of photos.

©2008 D.R.G.

Day 6 – Music Pass ~ Geocaching

The day began with breakfast inspired by Darshia – Cinnamon Rolls. Yum. They were a big hit.

Various nameless children voiced their concern that we NOT do another 12 – 20 mile hike today. Mike had pity on them. He had been talking about an easy 5 mile hike to the top of Music Pass in CO. This is a trail that breaks off from Grape Creek Campground. We had camped here 22 years ago with Mike’s folks when Bre was 1 year old. There is an aspen tree in the grove here with Mike’s initials from 1977.

We headed out with the promise of an “easy” hike. We got to the campground and the roads looked nicer than remembered. We met two couples who are RV park neighbors. Seasoned Citizens…with ATVs. They told us that there were just a couple of rocky spots and they thought our 15 passenger van could make it to the top of the mountain.

Visions of RIDING instead of HIKING motivated the children to encourage Mike to try it. We went ATVin in our Ford 350. ::snort:: Wow! What a ride.

I have some great “me and my Ford” photos. ::snort:: We had to back down as cars came down the hill several times. We totally confused the GPS that was loaned to us and had great fun taking photos to share with its owner when we return to TX. We were finally able to have a picnic in a mountain meadow…and what a view we had!
PHOTOS

We spent time enjoying Grape Creek back at the campground. Mike called his parents from the campground. He’d tried from the top of Marble Mtn but the reception wasn’t good.

PHOTOS
We ran by the RV park for a bathroom break. The outhouse was padlocked and try as we did Krista and I could not get it unlocked. Yeah, I know.

We hunted down two more geocaches. One was in the old, historic mining town of Rosita. We saw a snake. This did not endear the town to me at ALL. ::snort:: The drive was gorgeous and we never would have been motivated to visit Rosita without a cache to find. We retrieved our second travel bug and will replant it in TX soil in the weeks to come.

The next find was on a rancher’s property. Another gorgeous drive, big mountain meadows, lots of trees. Stacia found this one! She was a bit leery to grab the cache. As we logged the find someone drove by. We quickly formed up for a photo in front of the tree. I thought we were fairly ingenious…the driver thought we were strange tourists. ::snort::

The day was rounded out with dinner at camp, an evening rain shower complete with a DOULBE rainbow (and I’d just read about Noah in my Tryst this a.m.), ice cream treats and doing LAUNDRY….piles of laundry.

It’s been such a JOY to have the family together. I miss the old days of “family”. I’ve cooked more in the 6 days (or at least quantity) wise than I have in the last months. ::snort::

©2008 D.R.G.