CHALK CREEK WEEK!

Chalk Creek was so much fun this year - I can't believe we packed so much in to 3 days! We got to do it all . . . hiking, horseback riding, four-wheeling, fishing, flowing picking, campfire singing, smore making, and not to mention all the bug swattin'!
The little creek by the horses are the favorite place for the kids to play when we're at the cabin! Chloe loved throwing rocks in the river and watching the dogs lose their minds trying to retrieve the right ones! Dogs are such great entertainment!




Look! I'm actually in a few pictures!!! Hooray! I made the photo album!
Notice my nice little brace? What a mother wouldn't do to open up a new toy for her children! Sometimes I don't make good choices . . . I don't think using a pocket knife to saw into a packaged toy was the best choice. I must have gotten a little "over-zealous" in my cutting that I sliced right into my thumb - all the way through so that I looked down and saw my tendon looking up at me! I then had another choice to make: 1) go into the nearby store and ask if they had any superglue I could use, or 2) make the drive back home, keeping my thumb up high above my heart, find a babysitter for my kids, and sit for a few hours at the doctor's office to get it all stitched up. As much as I wanted to just grab the superglue, I figured that it was time I try to think things through a little. So, I headed off to the doctor's office. In our small town, our doctor hasn't seen much more than strep throat and football physicals in the past 10 years, so he seemed very excited to perform minor surgery! He was humming and chewing his gum loudly while he worked. Can you believe that he had to stitch a vein and put 3 stitches in my tendon before he could stitch the cut? I can usually handle watching anything being performed on my kids, but when it was my thumb being stitched, I had to stare at the ceiling! Yuck!
The boy's favorite thing to do up there was riding the tiny four-wheelers that my husband's Aunt and Uncle let them ride. They got completely OBSESSED with them! So, I guess I'll add those to the list of "wants."
Sam fell in love with a tiny frog that his Aunt Katie found at "Ladies Lake."


Big thanks to Aunt Patty - who our kids have wrapped around their little fingers! They love her so much! She's going to make the BEST mom!



Even Chloe got to go on a few rides with the boys!



Gus wins "Happiest Doggy"!

We love Chalk Creek so much! It helps up make such great memories with our kids - it's a treasure!

Here's Grandpa and Grandma Hansen - they are so much fun!

Here's Grandpa Steve leading a pack of baseball-hat wearing cowboys!
Aunt Katie is so pretty!


Chloe insisted on wearing the paddle-boat life-jacket/cowboy hat combo! She actually fell asleep in her car seat, but I worried about her outfit cutting off her air - so I moved her to the back of the car and there she slept for about an hour and a half.
This was Sam and Colten driving the little four wheelers past me.



Baby Jake got to try out the four wheelers! He felt like such a big boy! He took his first "crawls" in the cabin this week! I can't believe he's growing up so fast!!! His little walker had built up his self-confidence so much that when I hold his fingers to help him walk around, he tries to wiggle his fingers free to walk on his own. It would be fine if he knew how to walk on his own, but he's only 7 months old and I think he needs to master a few other things before walking . . . like maybe sleep though at least most of the night! Does he think he has to check in with me every couple of hours at night to make sure I'm still there? What's the deal?!?!