Kivi's Camping Birthday!

Kivi really wanted to go camping this year for her birthday so she had to wait until August. She chose 3 friends and 3 brothers to go with her. The other siblings stayed with Nonnie, Poppie and Mimi at home.

First we stopped at the falls to eat lunch, sing "Happy Birthday", have pear cheesecake and give Kivi her birthday kiss.

We set up our tents at Cougar Campground right next to the lake. The girls set up their own tent and the boys help set up the rest.

As soon as the tents we set up the girls made their tent comfy, and got to playing games and coloring inside of it.

 Kivi opened her presents and we had extremely spicy thai noodles in a cup,

and a popcorn mustache party!

The next morning after making a human totem pole, we got ready to go to the Ape Caves.

We've been there before and have done the lower cave and part of the upper cave. This time we did the full 1.5 miles of the higher lava tube, scrambling over large boulders in the pitch black darkness and coming out of the top.

Berg only fell into a three foot hole once! He did a great job climbing with all those big kids.

 They all loved exploring any little off shoot or ledges and tried to race along those big rocks. I thought for sure someone was going to get majorly scrapped, but it turns out they were born spelunkers. 

On the way back we went over a fun suspension bridge. 

For the rest of the camping trip, the big kids created a horse ranch - with logs. They each gathered a large log from the shore and carried them into the lake. They named each one, made them all corrals and would take them out and try to ride them! They spent forever doing this!

Happy 11th Kivi Pea! You are a wonderful daughter! You are so smart, helpful, creative, loving and kind. You are a great leader. You are competent. You can memorize anything. You still love pigs and all things pioneer and camping. You love to try new things and water sports. You can wake board, slalom ski, kayak and paddle board. You love historical fiction, playing with the doll house, heelying and drawing dresses. You read your sisters a devotional at night. You take such good care of your babies that Tuffy calls you "Mama". You are an amazing servant! God is using you to encourage others and be an inspiration for His glory! We love you so much!