Forts, Fires, and Fowl

This past Labor Day, the Rogers finally got together for a family camping trip. So far it's only been our family and my parents that have made it up there, but everyone wanted to get in this last hurrah for at least some stretch of time. 

Finn had been pretty hard our last go round, but his newfound ability to walk changed things up a bit this time. Especially given how wobbly he was with both shoes and the rocky terrain. I think he had the most fun just getting filthy.

Check out this kids mug!

He also enjoyed palling around with his cousins.

The triplets got their own table...

And Grandpa...

And generally being cute and getting into mischief :).

The older kids spent nearly the entire weekend (when it wasn't raining) building their own fort. It was made out of an already existing thatch of pine boughs that they significantly elaborated upon.

Dany even built a rock patio like the one that Grandma and Grandpa Rogers have in front of their trailer.

When the ever-project-seeking men saw this, they decided to put together their own, more permanent version of a fort for the kids. It's not completed yet, but they made quite the start on it!

Construction

Cutting the door

Finished for now

The kids were all impressed by it, but ended up spending all their time in their own fort. I think having ownership of something they built themselves had a lot to do with it. I'll be interested to see what the coming years bring. We also did some shooting of a different kind.

We rarely camp through a Sunday, but being Labor Day most of us planned to be their at least until Sunday night. As such, we attended a church service at a neighboring property. Their were nearly a hundred people in attendance!

We don't know the owners of the property, but they offer a weekly come-as-you-are church service for interested parties. We partook of the sacrament, had a testimony meeting, and sang hymns accompanied by a generator-powered radio. There was even a woman who played Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing on a Native American Flute. It was a unique experience. Unfortunately, it was at this service that we discovered that Rory was not feeling well. She started running a fever, and fell asleep all curled up on Teag, a very unusual occurrence. She spent most of Sunday sleeping, and seemed rather miserable.

Teag and I were in charge of dinner that night, and it being a Sunday, we decided to have a "Sunday Dinner". That means, we figured out how to cook a turkey in a dutch oven :).

Which by the way, was awesome, and cooked faster than in a regular oven at home. All we had to do was cut it in half to get it to fit. We also mashed potatoes and had turkey gravy and corn. Seriously tasty.

Everyone but our family and my parents left Sunday night, so we hung out and had a fire and roasted marshmallows. Rory had perked up by then with the help of some rest and ibuprofen, and probably ate her weight in mallows.

Maisie doesn't like the "charcoal" mallow

Finn had fun with a glowstick, and even got dad to play with him.

It was a nice weekend, though we did get rained on a fair bit. The temperature would always drop when that happened, so here's a nice picture of all the kids snuggled under a blanket while they watched a movie during a rainstorm.

I think they were just frustrated they couldn't be in their fort, or out searching for horny toads. They found an impressive number of them during the weekend. I love being up there, even when it rains. It's so gorgeous, and having the cousins around for the kids to spend time with is a double bonus. It's amazing to see what they come up with when they get their creative juices flowing.

Farewell Property! Until next year!