BIG LAKE 2010!!!!!

OK, so there are a truckload of pictures here, but I just couldn't choose. Sorry! But seriously, there were so many fun things to document on this trip!! For one thing, this was the wettest trip I have ever had and one of the top 3 that Brandon has ever seen---keep in mind he's been coming nearly his entire life!!! It was unbelievable how much humidity was in the air the entire time! Nothing would dry and Jeremy consistently had his sleeping bag smashed up against the tent every morning, I thought he'd get pneumonia for sure! BUT of course he didn't. We had a blast nonetheless! Each day we woke to a lovely morning full of intense green and all kinds of fun nature adventures. Jeremy got to go with Daddy and Baga for THE WHOLE MORNING and got to drive the boat back to the dock---see the exstatic face on that boy and the wake behind the boat! He even caught a fish, but it was too small and had to be thrown back. We went on walks and the kids LOVED riding their scooters around D loop---it had a super hill that was a blast to glide down! SO FUN!!! When the rains came each day we holed up in Baga and Ce-ce's camp trailer coloring and singing corny camp songs and having a very fun time! We got to go to one of the "Kids in the Woods" presentations about the water cycle and Bethany stole the show and became a kid presenter becasue she had done a science project in 2nd grade about the water cycle. We had a great time down by the lake tossing in stones and finding treasures and different flowers. SO FUN!!! The first night we went for a nature drive and found the most beautiful elk, so graceful and majestic. The land was simply sublime! On normal years it looks very much like Flagstaff, but this year, with all the amazing moisture, the land was transformed into what I imagine the northwest coast must be sort of like. Truthfully, I was thinking of Forks, WA, ha ha ha! Ferns 2 and three feet tall covered the gound; those shaggy, mossy spruce trees, grass such an intense green and the forest teeming with growing, soft, lovely things. It was amazing! The kids even noticed the difference from what we are used to, so it made it that much more special! We were able to have campfires every night and they were so fun, playing games and singing camp songs and telling stories! Baga delivered very artful "G" rated spooky stories for the benefit of Rebekah and Jeremy who were dying to hear them but not wanting bad dreams---honestly they were so tired that I can't imagine they did any dreaming the whole trip, talk about playing hard ALL DAY LONG!!!! We even had a campfire in thepouring rain, which was still fun becasue it meant Brandon and I were snuggled up together under the blue and white unbrella I have had since I was a freshman at NAU. It's a small unbrella, pretty romantic, actually, in a non-showered and kid-giggling-corny-camp-song way. But what a neat memory! I was amazingly proud of the kids because they actually---even 4 year old Rebekah--- hiked the ENTIRE fire-tower hike, that's 4 and a half miles! AND we had to book it down becasue as it was just spitting and threatening on the way up, it actually started seriously raining and we were soaked! But again, what a memory! ALSO, because of the near total lack of fishy interest in our PRIME Flagstaff night crawlers, we had to go into town for dinner. If you are EVER in Springerville, stop at Goobs Pizza, it's where the Round Table pizza used to be in the Safeway shopping center. MMMMM MM MM MM MMMMMMM!!!!! Wow, it was so good!!!! Good enough to rival Roma's and Fratelli's which our our ALL time faves here in Flagstaff. It was just so good! After dinner, where we met up with Tamara and her kids, we all had the best campfire EVER!!! The rain had stopped for a bit and the fire was toasty and the stories were great and Bethany told us the entire first book of the Warriors series by Erin Hunter that she loves so much. Then we playeda movie "Who Said It" game. That was the most laughing and most fun ever. Hearing Tiffany's English accent---priceless! The sweetest one was Baga and Ce-ce acting out the part in Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark part when Indiana says to Marion, "Here." and she kisses that part, and then,"Here." and she kisses that part, etc. It was so sweet to see that! I got the movie right first, by the way! Baga has been confused with Harrison Ford on more than one occaision, so it was pretty fitting. :) Anyway, the next day we packed up in a deluge and drove home with all our memories and some very happy and dirty kids. :) Yay for Big Lake!!!!