Horny Toad Heaven

My parent's neighbors are AWESOME!!!  They invited us all up to their cabin on Cedar Mountain a couple weeks ago.  It was kind of last minute so the only ones who could go besides my parents were Britt and her kids, Caleb, Courtnie and us.  We drove over on Thursday afternoon just in time for dinner - spaghetti (my favorite).  After dinner (between a few rain showers) Brother Miles taught the kids how to shoot a bow and arrow.  Miles had done it before and picked it back up pretty quick.

Abby even got to try!

And Ethan!

Grandpa even tried to help Paige (their arrow made it about 2 feet).

Then Britt decided to give it a try . . .

and got a bull's eye her first shot - she ended up getting in the circle every time and finished with 45 points (4 arrows).  So my competitive streak decided to give it a try myself - I did get a bulls eye - but only 40 points and was beat by my little sister - we both beat Courtnie though :)

We put the kids down for bed (some took longer than usual), and the adults played games all night.  OK - it wasn't all night, but for someone used to being in bed before 11 - it felt REALLY late.  The next morning we had a yummy breakfast and the kids took off exploring.  Piper has the cheesiest grin right now and is fun to take pictures of so she might monopolize the rest of the pictures this post.  Here she is with her cousin Shawni.

Another Piper/Shawni picture!

All the cousins that came (Devin and Victor - we need you next time, boys were seriously outnumbered).

Now - back to the title of the post - the cabin property was home to a crazy amount of horny toads (or as Abby called them "torny hoads").  When I was a kid - we loved to go up the mountain with Opa and Dad when they went after wood to catch horny toads.  Well - my kids have the same fascination with horny toads (oh and did you know that horny toads are not frogs, nor toads - they are lizards) and spent hours looking for them.  Piper was fearless - honestly the picture looks like she is grossed out by the toad, but it is really her trying to smile.

Paige however was not quite so sure of the little creature.

Piper again - I just love this smile.  She actually named her "pet" - Strawberry Cupcake (yes, we just rented a Strawberry Shortcake movie from the library, but she likes cupcakes better that shortcake evidently).

Brother Miles had also prepared a treasure hunt for the kids and the big kids loved learning how to use a compass.

Here are a bunch of the "treasure hunters".  Some are looking harder than others - or maybe Ethan is just being silly.

Ethan's looking paid off though - here he is digging the treasure chest out.

Most of the kids crowded around the treasure chest to get their prizes.

Not Abby - I had to make her go and get a "treasure" - she was a bit distracted searching for a friend for her horny toad.

Here are some of the group with their horny toads before we made them let them go. 

And yes, there were tears as we left the horny toads behind - lots and lots of tears.  Abby still talks about the fun trip and asks when we can go look for more horny toads (luckily the lizards in the backyard are a bit of a consolation - however they are lots faster then the horny toads).  Thanks so much Miles family for the fun memories!