Saturday, August 10, 2013

Visiting "THE HAFT"!!!

We made a fun visit to "The Haft" last weekend!!!  (Check mark that on our fun Summer list.)  This was the excitement for the Summer for our kids!  They have been counting day the weeks and days and nights till we were finally all packed up and ready to go! 
 
We decided to go with JR & Ann in "Harvey the RV" ... or what Ashlyn called 'the bus'.  :)  We slept in the RV at JR's on Friday night so that we would be ready to roll out their drive way around 6 AM the next morning!
 
Early in the morning, JR's family joined us in the RV and we headed North to see Dutchies at The Haft!  What a blast!  We drove in comfort in Harvey and even stopped for a salty breakfast sandwich at Sheetz (so not my type of breakfast here!!!), grabbed a hot coffee, and even made a pit stop at a yard sale on the way up!  :)
 
We arrived in good time and we all greeted each other with excitement!  I'm telling you ... Hadassah and Matthew were so looking forwards to seeing ShaLyn and Madison!  Such great friends!!!
 

 We spent a lot of time out by the pond!  I love to see and watch nature at a place like this!

The highlight of the trip was of course rowing in the canoes and riding in the kayaks!  The girls rowed together!

The kids can swim and the pond is not deep, but we still used precautions! 

MaKayla was loving the attention from her cousins and friends all weekend!  She's so darling!

These two had such a good time!  It seems just like yesterday when Rosa and I were building a good friendship and time together was always fun!!!  BFF's are great!!!  :)  Hadassah and ShaLyn painted nails.  The were up till late talking and giggling.  They played games together.  Just being together for two days straight was a dream come true for Hadassah!!!  Thanks ShaLyn for the great fun!

Matthew and Bryan went out together in the canoe.  Matthew loves to be with the Fisher boys and always has a blast. 

I have no idea why in the world I do not have a picture of Madison and Matthew together all weekend ... other than the fact that Madison did not feel good Saturday and spent most of his day on the couch.  On Sunday, he felt better and then my camera wasn't hanging on my shoulder.  Matthew had a great time to spite not being with Madison AS MUCH as wanted too.  The short hours of fun they did have was in the woods, rowing in the pond and having fun with the Stoltzfus boys too!  Thanks Madison for the fun you gave to Matthew!  You are special!

 Ashlyn got a ride too!




We each made a meal for the crew that was there!  We did homemade burgers.  Mike grilled them on Charcoal and they are the best made that way!!!  Yes they are!!!  :)  Great cooking HUN!
 I added homemade rolls, fresh corn, zucchini bread, fruit & dessert!

She loves watermelon and berries!  Again, I have no excuses of why I didn't catch a photo of Gabby and Ashlyn together!  I guess I was enjoying the weekend and 'time off' too and just snapped photo's when I have my camera around.  But, the girls played great together!  Ashlyn loved Gabby's house and really had a great time too!  Girl fun is sweet and sassy all in one!!!  Thanks Gabby and MaKayla for sharing your toys and caring for "Baby Kate".  (We left her doll at The Haft by mistake and she was returned safe and sound on Wednesday!!!)  Love you guys!

The three men out trying to catch a bite!  I am sure they scared all the fish away with the laughter and fun!

The Gaga Court was new and the kids all love to play this game!  With the other children at The Haft helping play, it made for some great competition!

The weekend away from home was relaxing!  We would have had a fun weekend at home if we would have stayed around.  But, it felt good to just leave and spend some quite time with friends we don't see very often.  (A cousin wedding, baptism at church and a friend gathering was all done without us.  Boohoo.)

Saturday night, we sat around the bonfire and sang songs while roasting the huge marshmallows I offered!  :)  It made some really messy smores!  How eats a smore that's not messy anyway?

Sunday morning we had a devotional time with JR sharing about their family life journey with God and how that brings challenges and blessings!  After some more laziness and good food, we packed things up and headed back home.

Thanks SO MUCH Dutch and Rosa for your friendship!!!  We love you guys and pray that God will continue to lead and direct your lives in His direction!  Your food was great!  The hospitality was welcoming!  We really had a great time!

Thanks to JR and Ann for the fun time spent traveling together!  What a fun way to make a three hour journey go by quickly!!!  :)

Many blessings to you all!