Out in the Wild

Last weekend our little family went out "camping." And by camping I mean staying in a cabin in the middle of the woods. If anyone knows me at all, they know I'm not an outdoorsy, tent-sleeping kind of girl. And definitely not when I'm 29 weeks pregnant! We headed to Happy Jack, AZ where my aunt and uncle have a cabin. We were having our second annual Galley reunion, and this time around it was going to be a very small group. But we were glad we were able to make it there!

First off, I have to say, I was super nervous about making a three hour drive with Abby in the backseat. She has seemed to have lost her love for the car, and gets super antsy and noisy if we are driving any longer than ten minutes. And naps in the car? HA! Forget it. (Unless she's beyond worn out, then I may get lucky!) So I had been on a search for a car dvd player. She has a little TV show that she loves to watch called The Backyardigans. We don't watch much TV in the house, but if I ever need a quick and easy distraction, up comes Netflix! My mom blessed us with a [very] early Christmas gift- and bought us a new dvd player for our car! Praise the Lord!

***side note: if anyone wants to judge us for having a dvd player in our car, well, go away. Our logic goes that we aren't neglecting our parental duties if we decide to use a tv in the car, so if she's stuck in the backseat, strapped into a chair for hours - at least let her be happy!

Not that anyone really cares anyways...

So...

We left when it was time for Abby's nap in the morning, and of course she didn't fall asleep much. But our ride went relatively pain free, and we even managed a pit stop in Payson for lunch before we were attacked by a rain storm. Once we got to the cabin the weather was amazing, and the rain had cooled everything down. It was 60 degrees - perfect! Of course the rain did also "cool down" my hair as well, so my pretty curling job went flat almost as soon as we got out of the car. Oh well. I'll take the cool weather and flat hair. This pregnant woman needs some relief!

Family photo - [29 weeks along]

The rest of the weekend was filled with a lot of chilling, eating, chatting, crocheting (well, me, not Chris - he did a lot of reading), eating, and well, more eating. We had a ton of food thanks to Aunt Robin's Costco supply. It was quite surprising how little gaming was actually done - because if you know the Galleys, you know that we are serious gamers. But it was a great time to relax and enjoy the cooler weather, and of course run after the little ones as they enjoyed the wild.

This swing was the popular spot on the deck!

Abby enjoying bubbles with [first cousin - once removed] Chrystal 

We learned that Abigail LOVES the outdoors. I'm not sure where she gets that from, since neither Chris or I are huge outdoorsy people! But of course anything new is fun for a 15 month old, and she enjoyed every minute of it! She ran around the deck with toys, through the mud with rocks, and in the rain with joy! She took daddy on many nature walks, and of course had him hold her collection of rocks as it grew too big for her little hands.

Look at my new rock!

Lots of rocks!

Running around!

Enjoying a wagon ride with Micah!

Oh no! It's starting to rain!

Hurry daddy! Get us out of here!

Watching the rain

Running in the rain!

We also learned that even though Abby loves the rain, she does NOT like thunder. While we were there, we had a few storms, but nothing like the one that happened Saturday night. Around 6 pm the sky darkened and the skies lit up with huge cracks of lightening. The lightening bolts were followed by extremely loud thunder rumbles, and Abigail was not pleased. Thankfully daddy's arms were the safe-haven and she managed to get through the storm. Sadly we weren't even rewarded with rain in that storm. Just a beautiful lightening show.

The rest of the weekend was filled with long talks around the fire pit, the telling of funny and embarrassing stories, and lots of laughter. It was refreshing to spend some time with the Galley group, and I'm very glad we were able to attend. Even though it went by fast, we were blessed to spend time with family, marvel in God's beauty, and enjoy watching Abigail grow and stretch her mind in so many new ways! Such a great trip and I sure hope we can make it to the next one!