Transplants: 2011-07-31

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Stones Family Camp-out

Mat and his family live up in beautiful Leadville, CO and so during the reunion (beginning of July) we all went up and camped at Turquoise Lake near Leadville. It was beautiful and it was so much fun to go camping with everyone again (We had six tents full). The food was amazing- Jasen is a pancake expert. The activities were awesome- baseball, biking, fishing, canoeing, hiking, games and wood chopping. We had fun stories and games around the camp fire. And we even enjoyed it in the rain!!

Ben was the Fishing Master!!

Andrews contemplative fishing face.

I guess it worked. Andrew caught the first fish and Emma caught one later.

Waaa- totally self explanatory

I just LOVE this picture. This is Wyatt excited!!

We saw dad walking from far away and thought he looked naked. We had a good laugh about that one!

Yes- he is in the dogs kennel

Erica said there weren't any pictures of me on my camera so she took a 'Good Morning' shot. Lovely!

This is Taylor and Tonks in a thoughtful model pose.

The second day we went to the Leadville National Fish Hatchery. It was cool to see all the fish in these tanks. There were signs that said not to touch the water but honestly with 6 kids (and Michael David) that was more of a…guideline. We went on a gorgeous hike by the hatchery that ended at a park where we played horse shoes. It was so much fun to be out in nature with family and just get dirty!

Michael exemplifies the rule of...

'Don't touch the water!'

Look at the poor crooked fish

Dad and my new favorite Balderdash word!

Newson Family Hoe-Down

The day began (July 4th) as normal and then aroung 3:00 we were all sucked into an alternate reality and became cowboys and fugitives. There were wooden signs pointing the way towards hoe-down activities; including a scavenger hunt, rope tying, panning for gold, fire starting, fishing and horse lassoing. There were horse riding and gun shooting relays and some old time country dancing. Then we all got to have a true hoe-down meal with biscuits, meat, potatoes and beans (we even had homemade root beer).

That night we all went to a local park for FIREWORKS. It was so fun oooing, awwwing and singing patriotic songs with the kids (when we sang the national anthem the people around us joined in). We got to drive all the teenagers and older kids home with us- we had a sing-a-long in the car (I think Ben LOVED it!!) It was so much fun and very cool to have a hoe-down with the family!