Thursday, January 5, 2017

We tried to lose them in the woods. No luck.

My daughter Ashley is here for three months, six weeks prior and six weeks after the birth of their next child.  She and the five others have been a lot of fun to have around.  No, really.
Living in Tajikistan, the kids need to learn about sausage, grits and other food groups.
Over Christmas break, our other daughter Brynn came up from Jacksonville, NC with her husband and her four kids.  We were outnumbered.  The moms said "Do something!"
This clearly called for a camping trip.  Duh!  So, off to Hanging Rock State Park, north of Winston-Salem, and yes, that's where the names for those cigarettes came from.  Luckily, I got the nine-year-old grandson to put his out before fueling the pickup.
The name of the park refers to a couple of small mountains arising out of nowhere, as opposed to where they used to string up folks in the old days.
Everyone made the hike up to the top, on a beautiful, warm afternoon.
It was lucky the moms weren't there.  The dads worried enough about the cliffs and little kids - note the grip on the two young men.
The cousins had a great time climbing around on stuff.
Back at the campsite, they had a great time playing with stuff that was laying around.
The fire and the meals were great, even if I forgot the mustard and ketchup for the hotdogs.  Oops.
The young ladies were in one tent,
while the rapscallions and dads were in Uncle Chad's cool great big tent.
When we got home, Ashley had invited three friends, and adding our smelly co-campers to the pile, there were something like 21 young'uns who could only be corralled for the nanosecond needed for a picture.
Paula and I are off today to Australia for wedding of one of our Sister missionaries in Sydney and there are NO KIDS on the trip.
We hope that all your grandkid visits and campouts are as much fun.
Dave & Paula

1 comment:

Patti said...

You are all VERY brave! That is a lot of kiddies! Hope you are enjoying Australia!