Father's Day Weekend

On Friday, we surprised Paul by leaving him a gift on his desk at work. It was a gift card to get some hiking boots for Father's Day. We were planning on going hiking on Saturday, so I wanted to make sure that he got them before we left.

Our hike on Saturday was to Horsetooth Falls. It was a 1.2 mile hike (one way). Once we got to the falls, the kids played in the water and we had a snack. It was pretty warm out and I needed to be wearing shorts. It was a nice hike. The wildflowers were absolutely beautiful. Do you recognize this flower?
The last picture is M standing near the falls. I tried to get her to stand under it but she wouldn't.

Sunday was Father's Day and we had French Dip for lunch and to top it off a very sweet lemon meringue pie. I made it from scratch and it had a great lemon flavor.

D's new room

I spent the weekend painting D's room. I was so glad that I was able to find paint for FREE! It seemed to take forever to finish; but, I finally finished yesterday. I am pleased with how it looks.

And...here's a picture of my delphinium after I watered it. I thought it was a real pretty flower.

Sky Corral - Sunday and Monday

Sunday morning we were up early again. We walked out to the horses and took a few pictures. Then we sat on the deck while we waited for breakfast. This time we ate cinnamon rolls, muffins, fruit, and oatmeal. Another great meal.

After breakfast, we had a family devotional and then we headed out for a short hike. It was yet another gorgeous day. We walked up to the Archery Range and then headed up a little hill. We weren't gone long, but, it was very enjoyable.

Next, was church. The kids came with us for the music portion and then they had their own church. The door was open on the rec hall and a hummingbird came flying in. It almost hit Paul. It was beautiful. After church, we ate lunch....chicken salad sandwiches, sweet potato fries, coleslaw and chocolate chip cookies.

The girls got their wish. A second trailride came after lunch. They enjoyed themselves so much. This time Paul and M had different horses that were much more into walking down the trail. D and E were ponied around again and then they went fishing.

Supper was rice with beans and ham (all mixed together). I can't remember what else we ate except for the trifle that we had for dessert. Yummy!!

We had another bit of free time and the kiddos played with the director's kids for most of the time. Then we had our last campfire and smores. We stayed out a little longer visiting with the workers and the other guests and then headed into bed.

Monday morning we sat on the deck for a while before breakfast. We had a breakfast casserole. It had cheese, eggs, bread, and sausage in it. We also had fruit. After breakfast, we packed up our things. We chatted while the kids played and then it was time to go.

In all, it was a wonderful experience for all of us. We would love to make this an annual event.

Saturday at Sky Corral

Saturday morning we were up early. Everyone was dressed by 7AM. We sat out on the deck until the breakfast bell rang at 8. We had sausage, ham, scrambled eggs, fried potatoes, and juice. It was delicious! After, we hiked up the hill a little to have a family devotion. Then, it was off to the races. M and A had been looking forward to this ever since we told them we would be going. We walked out to the barn and got everyone ready for their ride. Paul went with the girls and I stayed with D and E. M rode Pal, who didn't really want to go on the trailride, and A rode Plum, a really good horse for a first trailride. Paul rode Butterfly, who just wanted to eat and try to push Paul off by running into the trees. The girls did really great on the trail. E and D also rode around the ring. E rode Little Joe and D rode Dandy. After the little ones were done their ride, we went on a short nature hike where we learned about some of the trees and flowers. I was so impressed because there was a little Bible lesson with most of our activities. The nature hike lesson was about Matthew 6:25-30. After, we sat on the deck while we waited for lunch. We had BBQ chicken sandwiches, fries and salad. We also had warm chocolate chip cookies.

That afternoon, we took the kids to the archery range. M did really well. A struggled with being able to pull the string on her bow far enough. She switched bows part way through and did a little better. E and D had helpers. Paul and I even got to try it. After that we headed back to the lodge where the kids painted sticks for a boat race. I was glad for some down time because my camera battery had died.
After the kids had played some games and their boats had dried, we headed to the creek for the boat races. The kids had fun watching their boats float down the creek. D loved playing at the creek and this time he fell in. It didn't bother him too much. I was just glad that we were right there when it happened.

We lounged for a while and then it started to rain. We ate supper (smoked pork loin, potatoes, buns, broccoli and chocolate cupcakes or apple pie) and then we had free time. We went to the rec hall to play. They had ping pong, Foosball and pool. There was also a bin of toys for the younger kids. We didn't plan for rain so we ran out of things to do rather quickly. Fortunately, the rain stopped and we were still able to have our campfire. We sang some songs and some people shared their thoughts for the moment. It was a nice time. Then, off to bed again!

Friday at Sky Corral

We are back from our long weekend at Sky Corral. We had so much fun and we were exhausted by the time we got home. We arrived at at about 4PM and headed to check in. It was so nice to have some young men help us with our luggage. We thought we were going to spend the weekend in a cabin, but it wasn't ready. We were just all so happy to be there that a change in sleeping arrangements didn't bother anyone. We were given the West Pine Room in the lodge. It had a bunkbed, a twin bed, a toddler bed and a double bed. It was a really nice room. We also had our own bathroom. We were given a carriage ride up to the horses and back. I guess we were supposed to park up by the horses and then get a ride with all our luggage. The kids loved the ride in the carriage.

We had supper at 5:15. We had tacos for supper and carrot cake for dessert. After supper, we went fishing with some of the activity workers. The kids loved it! No one caught any fish although there were a few close moments. D had a big one that broke the line and took the hook and bobber.




We had a campfire after that with some yummy smores. It was hard to get everyone to sleep that night.

I am going to make our trip into a couple of posts. Stay tuned for our fun from Saturday!!