A Memorable Memorial…
We have just returned from one of the best weekends ever! The girls and I joined Kerry and the Traasdahl family in the cool northern Arizona town of Greer over the Memorial Day weekend.
We left early on Friday to try and beat the weekend stampede and arrived at our cabin in the early evening. We were pleasantly surprised to see that it was perfect for all of us… Plenty of room for all nine of us to sleep, eat, and play games. It even had a jacuzzi on the deck!
On the drive up, Lauren began her journal of “things spotted” and by the time our trip was over, she had recorded several hundred things that most people would miss… Saturday morning, we decided to spend some time taking pictures in the meadow out back and watching the fish in the pond. Katie has proven herself to be quite the budding photographer and captured several very nice pictures over the course of our trip. At noon, we all went horseback riding and Lauren was able to ride the same horse (Turkey) that she had last year. The ride was beautiful and aside from Mike’s mule trying to kick the teeth out of my horse, all went well. Saturday night, we all went to Molly Butler’s for a great dinner followed by a game of “Apples to Apples”.
Later that night, we all decided to hit the jacuzzi and what started out as innocent “man talk” about jumping in the freezing cold stream quickly escalated to the point of finding Mike and myself running through the mud to jump in the stream! Near the brink of cardiac arrest, I reasoned that this act of bravery should merit the adoration of my girls. They would surely conclude that Dad is a warrior, capable of conquering things that make most tremble. Well, just as Mike and I were back in the jacuzzi and able to breath again, Katie, Hansen, Lauren, and Curt decided they would also jump in the stream. Hansen even spent a few minutes rolling around in the freezing cold snow melt! I will find other ways to garner heroic status.
Sunday morning, we worshipped together and talked about the peace of God. Katie provided the topic and it proved to be a great discussion. The rest of the day was spent playing soccer, taking pictures, and building forts out in the meadow. On a particular walk with the girls along a small stream, I decided that it would be fun to use the soccer ball to plug a pipe that the stream was running through to “temporarily” create a dam. It was great in theory but when the ball got sucked in to the pipe, the problems began. The upstream began to fill VERY quickly and would have surely tipped the balance of our global ecosystem were it not for some quick thinking!
Thanks to Katie and Hanson finding a nice looooonnnngg stick, and Mike’s help on the other end, we were able to force the ball through the pipe and restore order to the land. It sure sounded like a good idea! Sunday night we all played Pit and Katie taught me how to play Chinese Checkers – I lost miserably!
The drive home today was equally as memorable. We sang all sorts of songs from EFY to Brooks and Dunn and experienced pouring rain, hail, and brilliant sunshine. For me, it wasn’t necessarily the fun things we did or the spectacular creation that we observed that made this trip so special. It was the Spirit filled time we spent together that I will always remember.
