Birthday Girls

Today is Abby and Emma's sixth birthday. Today was pretty low key. We will be having their party proper on Friday.


Here is a pic to remember how far they have come in six short years:



(Taken when they were about two months old)

Our Camping Adventure

We, as a family, had never been camping before (save the pseudo camping we experienced post-Ike)...until this past weekend. Sheri and a good friend of hers, Jennifer, had planned a camping weekend together for our families at Garner State Park out in the Hill Country of Texas. So on Saturday morning, the Petering's and the Dippel's (Kirk, Jennifer, Zach, Bailey, and their dog Roxy) headed out west. And about the time the kids couldn't take it anymore (about six hours) we arrived and set up camp. Fortunately, we had tried out our new tent at home before our adventure, so set up was quick. We got a fire going and the Dippel's made fajitas for everyone. Then after talking around the campfire, and watching skunks patrol around around our campsite, we settled in for the night.

The next morning, Kirk cooked us all a great breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon.

Then Kirk, Zach, and Bailey, Myself, and Abby headed out to go hiking up in the hills. Sheri, Jennifer, and Emma stayed back and went down to play in the Frio River close by. The climb was steep, and challenging for the little ones, but worth it. We entered a couple of small caves and had a couple rest breaks on the way. The views were gorgeous:

Once down out of the hills, we took all the kids down to play in the river.

Sheri cooked up a marvelous beef stew for dinner that evening. And what would camping be without smores? The cool thing for us adults was that the kids all played well together all weekend with little to no parental intervention. They had a great time. It almost seemed like that this was the kind of play God designed for kids to do when he created the world. They did it naturally with no prompting from us having to tell them what to do or how to do it.

The weather was perfect the whole weekend: sunny, dry, and low 80's during the day; cool, clear, and in the high 40's at night. It was a long trip home on Monday, but the whole weekend was worth it: great place, great friends, great food, great times.