Days in Paradise

I am so glad that we were able to extend this vacation another week to hang out at Elizabeth's house! It is such a peaceful, beautiful place. It was extra fun with Jonny's family, Grandma Blood, and Joanna & Rayne there. Elizabeth is a champ for hosting the invasion. 

This picture captures Annie's deep love of Elise and Hazel. These three cousins were inseparable. They spent hours playing in a little fort under a tree in the corner of the yard. 

One day, Kade offered to take the three girls with him as he drove the baler around the hay field. The girls brought purses full of lip gloss and other important accessories. Kade said they didn't stop talking for the entire hour. 

Annie's review: "It's just so RELAXING."

Here Annie further demonstrates her relaxation Skills. 

Catherine had 0% relaxation in the pool. There were some wasps around and she took her pool protection duties very seriously. 

One night Kade convinced us to go for a night swim after we put all the kids to bed. It was cold and invigorating, and the post-swim hot tub soak felt great. This is why the Bloods need a Kade around. Kade also convinced Aaron and Megan to go on a mountain biking adventure with him. I am quite content to remain at my "can bike on paved surfaces" level, but they had fun. We went running a few times too. The Bloods are good motivators for me, I was really struggling to keep up with them. I was also disappointed to find that I still could not pull back Elizabeth's bow. One day... 

A big favorite: the zipline! Elizabeth's house is nestled in the tall cottonwood trees behind me in the picture.

The launch pad is so cool looking! Kade built it out of a chunk of a cottonwood tree and some logs that he found. 

So majestic. 

There is even a toddler seat! Isaac loved the ride, and liked being pulled back up even more. 

Elliot and Aaron spent hours playing games with games with squishy animals. I could never quite figure out the objective of the game. All I know is that there were many rules and numbers for them to happily keep track of. 

It was Grandma's birthday while we were there. This was excellent news for us because it meant that we got to eat an extra chocolatey cake made by Elizabeth!

Action shot of Seth being attacked by his Grandma for teasing her. Her reach is impressive. 

This kids Jeep got quite a bit of use between the little boys and the Annie crew. Seth and Catherine got to have their first driving lessons on Kade's side by side out on the dirt trails. 

When the mini and normal sized vehicles get to be old news, just ask Uncle Kade and he will give you the tour of the gigantic farming equipment! He drove some loop-de-loops with this bulldozer and then let the kids climb on it.

Next, Kade played his trump card- letting the kids sit on his lap to drive the excavator! They got to take turns scooping rocks and water out of a gravel pit while the others watched in amazement and looked for obsidian and dirt bombs. It was incredibly cool. 

The next favorite uncle (to be!) was Rayne. The kids wasted no time initiating him into the family by piling on him whenever he sat down. Little Hannah hardly talks to anyone, but she referred to Rayne as her boyfriend. Rayne is going to fit right in with the Blood clan. 

Elizabeth took us to a creek with enough water to kayak in and crawdads to catch! Catherine and I had many unsuccessful attempts to catch them using shopping bags. Eventually some random dude gave us a demo on how to grab them in the right place. We mustered up our courage and soon had quite a collection!

We call this "The Crawfords' Crawdad Kayak"

Another day, another creek. I loved getting to spend so much time outdoors. 

This bonus week of our trip was made possible by Aaron working at Elizabeth's house. This remote work thing definitely has it's benefits! Aaron had a sweet view. He got to watch the girls zip by on their mini jeep with all their accessories and was able to sneak off to play with us for most of our outings. 

We only stayed at Elizabeth's house for less than a week, but we sure packed in a lot of adventure! I love having a place like this in our lives.