Family Reunion, Wednesday

After our entire-family morning devotional thought, we got ourselves ready for our hike. We had planned out a 5-mile hike so our boys could earn their last requirement for their hiking merit badge. Joe (Ben's brother) and Brittany (Joe's wife) and their 4 kids accompanied us, along with Grandpa Max. So fun.

Here is Grandpa Max helping the kids cross the stream.

Lucy did great. :)

Miles, such a cute hiker.

I don't know why, but I sure do love this picture of Emmy. I think all of her MnM's were already gone at this point. . . interesting.

Such a silly picture of Lucy in the backpack!

Most of the cousins (minus Lucy and Nicholas) eating trail mix on the trail. Perfect.

And this is what we hiked to. Any idea of what they call this lake? That's right: Lily Pad Lake. Amazing!!

Beautiful - lake and kids.

Right next to Lily Pad lake was this lake. I love this picture! (We named this lake Leech Lake, you'll find out why. . .)

A mass huddled around Lucy. :)

Me and my 2 girls.

This picture epitomizes what Grandpa Max identified in Miles: that he focus on the micro. It's the little things that capture his attention. He pays so much attention to the very minute (as in tiny).

A cool picture taken by Ben - he thought it was so interesting to see a flower blooming inside another flower. Interesting indeed!

Emmy loved wearing the backpack around. . . with no one in it of course. :)

And here is Miles with his great catch of the day. . .
You got it - a leech! Yeeeuck.

Oh thank goodness for Uncle Joe. Emmy cried the minute we started the hike. She was pretty much held the entire way up. On her way down she fell asleep while atop Ben's shoulders. So Ben swapped her down and Joe helped carry for quite a ways.

Ahhhh, the beautiful state flower of Colorado: Columbines.

That nite we had dinner at one of the condos. It was Miles' turn for a spotlight.
He showed some crafts he had made. He went in to specific detail and often took a while to get to his point (paper mache anyone??). But I enjoyed listening to it all nonetheless. :)

Jonas sitting with his cousin-buddy Zach (who just returned from his mission about a month ago). Jonas was Lovin' it.

Beautiful cousin Melanie helping Miles make a friendship bracelet that had a solar-color-changing bead. The boys loved theirs!

The boys' favorite activity was wrestling! Oh the joy.

I mean, how fun does that look!?