Friends

Monkeys

We enjoyed playing at Oxbow Park with the Mitchells. They are getting ready to move, so our Oxbow dates are going to be much farther apart then they are now.

After playing with a baby snapping turtle that Mark found and playing in the volleyball court, the older kids worked hard getting everyone up in the tree. “Miss Ginger” and I tried to persuade Megan to sit with Adrian, but she refused.

Shadows

runningFor the last few weeks, we have been trying to walk two miles every day. Megan enjoys getting out of her stroller to run along with everyone for part of the trip.  Sometimes I take my camera because we have seen some neat things on our walks. We have discovered a family of swans in a nearby pond, found a neat green frog while looking at milkweed and was extremely close to an inquisitive hummingbird.

I had stopped to talk to a neighbor down the road when I noticed the girl’s shadows.  I was able to take one picture before Megan tripped over her feet and skinned her knee up.

McGuire Family Reunion

FamilyThe main reason we went to Colorado this year was for a McGuire family reunion.  The last time we had a family reunion was when Audrey was one month old!

We met at a small camp that Allan’s parent’s families helped to build in the late 50’s.  We had fun learning a little of the history of the camp and also some neat family stories.

I was asked to be the camp photographer for the reunion. I was very nervous about it, but enjoyed the challenge. I think that the candid pictures turned out well, but I wish I could redo most of the individual family pictures.  I mentioned to everyone that I could do family pictures and a few families got them done early.  Unfortunately, I woke up Sunday with a horrible headache, probably from the late nights and altitude. It calmed down a lot after a nap, but it never really went away.  When it was time for group pictures, I could not think of all the neat ideas that I had planned.  Since everyone was leaving after lunch, I did not have time for “redo’s”.  I guess my big lesson is…insist on family pictures early!

If you want to see more reunion pictures, click one of the above links.

Cousins

CousinsWhile in Colorado, we stopped at the Garden of the God’s for a picnic. It was a beautiful day out, and the park was crowded! We had hoped to return and explore more on the way home, but we were unable to.  It was fun admiring God’s design as we drove through it!

It is rare that all the cousins are together at one time, so we made sure to get a current picture.
Cousins back

Smile

SmileWhen we were in Colorado two years ago, Oma bought this cowboy shirt for Megan. Because the shirt still just fits her, we brought it along in hopes of getting a good cowgirl picture of her.

I think this is her “I am a rough and tough cowgirl and you can’t make me smile” look.

 

Prairie Girls

After reading the Little House books and a few others from that time area, Andrea wanted to make some prairie girl dresses. She planned to wear them for the traditional tea party.  We also thought it would be fun to try to take some pictures in “the Wild West”, as Adrian insisted on calling Colorado the whole time we were there.

Prairie Girls
Aunt Bonnie let us borrow her dog Holly for this picture. The girls are pretending to be Carrie, Mary, Laura and Holly the dog is Jack.

PrairieGirls

They also had fun wearing them while playing or doing chores around the house too.

Caught!

CaughtWhile at Grandma’s house, we all enjoyed walking up down the driveway. Sometimes the kids would run, other times they would just saunter  along talking.

Andrea and Mark were walking ahead of the rest of us enjoying a private conversation. I was glad that I had just taken a picture of their backs, when they turned around, saw me with the camera (caught!) and took off running.