Duck Creek

In June, Jake and Nicki and their kids came out for a visit and we all met in Duck Creek for a few days with Grandma and Grandpa Tischner and Kati and Randy and their kids. It was quite the group, and Duck Creek is a BEAUTIFUL place. We had never been down there before, but we'll definitely be back.

We rented two cabins and Jason managed to swing a couple of free four-wheelers for the week (he's very good at stuff like that). So we spent three days taking the kids for rides and exploring the trails around the cabin. When you have 14 kids waiting for "their turn," it takes a while to get everyone a turn. The kids loved the four-wheelers and had a lot of fun playing with their cousins. London was especially grateful to have another girl to play with. Her life consists mostly of boys, boys, boys all the time. She had a sleepover with Brooklyn every night in their own little room, and they loved it!

The picture above was after Dave and Dad somehow managed to convince me to drive through this huge mud puddle. It was then that I realized that the whole point of this 45-minute ride was to get me to drive through said puddle and get all muddy, which I did. Ha ha ha.

The picture above is what my brothers (and apparently my husband) do if left unsupervised for very long or actually really any amount of time at all, and the real instigator (Jared) wasn't even here! This is Brady helping London and Cameron shoot Dave with an air soft gun. There were only two air soft guns, so Dave, Brady, and Jake made up this little game where they run around in the forest (with walkie-talkies mind you) hunting each other, chasing each other, and then of course, shooting the one without the gun. The words "idiot" and "stupid" were thrown around freely by the spectators as this whole scenario played out. I was shot in the neck and the leg somehow. Go figure. I wasn't running and I definitly didn't have a walkie-talkie. They spent almost as much time chasing around the four older boys in a game they called "nephew hunting." I'm sure you can imagine how that went.

In the picture above, T.J. will sit on any lap that will hold him for as long as they'll hold him. He had a nice time sitting with Grandma Tischner for a while. He came running up after and told me, "Grandma let me sit on her lap for a long long time." That was nice of Grandma to hold him for so long. He's getting big! I'm glad he's still a good snuggler.

In the picture above, you can't see it, but I am covered in little tiny flecks of mud ... in my hair, on my face/glasses, all over my clothes, on my legs, arms, and feet. I survived.

In the pictures above and below, the kids found a big hole in the ground and because they are mostly all boys, they took a bunch of sticks and turned it into a fort. They spent a lot of time running and hiding in their fort, protecting their fort, building/fixing their fort, and hanging a flag (Austin's sweatshirt) on a stick near the fort to signify they were "home." They had a good time and even agreed to share their fort with the girls.



Whenever the Tischners/Mortons get together, one thing is a guarantee ... there will be fishing. My family is definitely a fishing family. My brothers keep fishing gear in their vehicles. My Grandpa Tischner never passes up an opportunity to fish. My dad enjoys fishing, and we went fishing a lot growing up. Our boys appreciate the opportunity to go fishing when we get together. Dave and I are not big fishers. Actually I don't fish at all, and the reason for that is simple - WHAT ON EARTH AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH IT ONCE I CATCH IT?!! That's the problem. I don't touch fish, clean them out, or "gut" them, and I definitely don't EAT them. I also do not hit anything over the head with anything to make sure it is dead. Gag. So thanks to being with my family, Dave takes my boys fishing every once in a while, and they love it. They don't eat it either, which is funny. There's no point in fishing if you don't eat fish.






It was great to get together and relax for a few days. My cell phone didn't work the whole time I was up there, so that was probably good. It was a well-needed break for sure. We had a great time, so thanks Jack and Nicki for arranging it all! Where should we go next time?