Christopher Creek- The year of new traditions

Every year growing up I looked forward to our annual family vacation - Christopher Creek. Same creek, exact same camp site - never, ever changing. The lot on the corner where we once saw a rattler in camp, we had a wicked fun mudslide after a huge monsoon storm, a never before seen flashflood (I've only seen one since - last year at CC), countless games of gin, hiking, chopping down a tree and almost getting sent to jail for it (atleast that's how I felt as I was getting lectured by the ranger with my little bros), getting to drive up early to the campground with Grandma and Grandpa Taylor - the ultimate campers...

After about a 15 year break, we decided to reignite the old tradition, so in 2005 we returned to CC. This time we had to go the the group site, but it quickly became the new tradition. I look forward to it every year. Always new memories made and fun times to be had. This year was no different. We broke from the last 5 years tradition and went camping in July not Sept. which I very much liked. We got to escape the heat, more people came and the kids got to enjoy the water.

Here are a few of the favorites from this year:

Jake spent most of his time catching crawdads, he even got pinched this year - it's amazing it doesn't happen more.

Annie carried her camping chair around all weekend calling it her baby. I think it was so no one else could sit on it. At one point she had it wrapped in a blanket.

The kids got to play with their cousins they hardly see anymore (Ella and Kimball who are in Snowflake). The girls got to shadow their favorite big cousins Taylor and Kyley who are absolutely perfect in their eyes.

Eating delicious food. Anything cooked with bacon grease has to be flavorful.

Heading to Box Canyon - another break from our normal tradition, and going cliff jumping. The boys were fearless. Definitely a place to return to. (I'm not putting in the picture of me jumping, I'm not a very graceful jumper or ladylike for that matter)

Finding a closer water hole ("the water hole - what's so great about the water hole?" quoted about 50 times every year) with a rope swing. Not very intimidating and therefore so much fun for all the kids.

Laughing as the loudest thunder EVER cracked and sent all the kids scurrying and crying to their parents. I think the lightning hit only a few hundred feet away. And then huddling under our creatively rigged awning trying to keep dry as the rain and hail pounded us and ultimately soaked us (not because of the tarps - they were soundly made, but because the wind was blowing the rain sideways)

It was a great camping trip. And I'm already looking forward to next year when our tent has been waterproofed.

Arkansas in Pictures

This post is going to be a two parter. I just published my Arkansas trip, but blogger wouldn't let me upload or downloand the pictures - whichever way they load, so I had to do the pictures in a separate post. Oh, and these are in no particular order.

The girls - man are we hot

Drew and Cyndi and gang on the hayride - minus the hay, with our matching t-shirts

Victoria, Annie and Parker. The girls all adored Victoria, who wouldn't - she is so dang cool.

Jeremy on the airlplane

Karrie, Annie and Eli in the backseat of the plane

Abby and Hannah took the first ride in the plane

The whole crew at the caboose after eating yummy bbq

It was a bit of a struggle to get the boys to be a little animated.

Abby and Hannah at the Peabody in Memphis watching the ducks

The group in downtown Memphis, minus me and Whitney who were behind the cameras

Waiting to tour Elvis' airplane

Jeremy could win a rock skipping championship if they even exist.

The kids before we started canoeing.

Our fam at Carlsbad Caverns

Arkansas

I know we've been back almost a week now and I'm just getting around to blogging about our wonderful family vacation, so sorry. We had an absolutely great time. If it wasn't for the humongous state of Texas, the trip would have been a breeze. It seems like you get going and are making progress in your driving until you hit Texas and then it's like you are running in place, going nowhere. Nevertheless, we had a good time hanging out, eating, canoeing, quad riding, Graceland, BBQ, airplane rides, peabody ducks, fireworks...

So here are the high and low lights from the trip. Don't worry, the hightlights way out do the lowlights.

• Getting to tour Carlsbad Caverns on our way out.
• Not getting to see the bat flight at Carlsbad because of an apparent "lightning storm" though there was no lightning to be seen ANYWHERE!
• Driving across Texas - see above
• Hanging out with the cousins
• Lots of 4 wheeler rides around the ranch, including Jeremy's first solo venture of the trip when he got the quad stuck in a rut and had to try to dig it out of the mud and then ultimately walk the long 3 miles back to the house to get help. For him that was definitely a bummer, good thing he had been running regularly and was in pretty good shape.
• Seeing fire flies lighting up at night - so cool.
• The other bugs, bugs, bugs! Cole threw a centipede on me when he was trying to get it out of his kayak - I freaked! Not to mention the bug that crawled down my shirt, I freaked again and poor Justin had to see too much when I pulled my shirt down to get it out.
• Canoeing with my best canoeing pal Eli. (my kids jumped ship on me when I kept bouncing off every bank and running into every tree and rock, but Eli jumped in my canoe and stayed with me, even when I drove him continually into every tree along the river bank (he learned how to duck really well).
• Dinner every night as a group ending in fun games and get-to-know-you activities.
• Going to Graceland in Memphis to see Elvis' home. It was a good experience, but didn't make me more of an Elvis lover, maybe less so.
• Eating BBQ with Whitney, Josh and Millie. They were so fun and so kind to let us all crash their home. Thanks.
• Going to the Peabody Hotel in Memphis to see the ducks walk the red carpet. Short show, but the girls laughed. Jake thought it was a waste of time.
• Swimming at Cori and HJ's - such a fun pool with fun water guns
• Fun airplane rides around Texarkana (thanks HJ for the adventure)
• Shooting guns at the ranch. Jeremy brought his new shotgun and had fun getting to test it out shooting skeet. I, on the otherhand, am a gun sissy and choose not to shoot if I can, much to Jeremy's dismay.
• Trying to talk Lawson to go home with me. The kid is so stinkin cute with the biggest bluest eyes I have ever seen. He kept telling me I was just teasing and he couldn't go with me. Oh well, I tried.
• An awesome fireworks show compliments of Brad, way better than fighting traffic and even more exciting.
• Going on a hayride with the whole crew. Lots of songs and laughter and we all had matching Rolling Hills Ranch - Big Green Tractor Tour t-shirts. Thanks Brad.
• Staying with Brad, Suzanne, Victoria and Cole. Thank you guys so much for your generosity and great hospitality. You guys sacrificed so much for us and we really appreciate it.
  

We had a super great time on our trip. We had talked about going for years, I'm so glad we finally did it! I can't wait to see all the AR cousins next summer in St Johns. It makes me sad that we only get to see these great people so seldom. But in the meantime, we'll just enjoy them when we can and remember the fun times in Arkansas.