Family Vacation, Back to School

Yes, I know I’m a bit behind on blogging. But I have faith that the prayers have continued during the blogging down time. To make up for the lack of blogging I will provide you with a day by day recap of our recent family vacation, enhanced with photos of the actual events.

We were very blessed to leave on a family vacation to Red River, NM the morning after Tisha’s birthday. It seems like Satan tried his best to still our joy (dead car alternator, housing plumbing issues, general pre-vacation crazies) but by 1:30 am we had all finally gathered in Fairview and by 5:30 am we were on the road heading west to the mountains! We had quit a caravan for 6 people and two dogs: a RV pulling a trailer with three ATV’s and a pickup pulling a jeep and carrying five mountain bikes. Yes, we travel with only the essentials! We made it to our breakfast destination of McDonalds in Guymon and to our picnic lunch at the Palisades surrounded by the beautiful mountains and cool, clean mountain air. We got to town early afternoon and were greeted by the perfect mountain shower. That evening we and had dinner at our favorite restaurant, Sun dance. I’m not sure if it was the altitude or something special in the Mexican food but Mom got the uncontrollable giggles at dinner and the trademark Barb snort was heard by all (more than once).

The next morning we split up and took on several adventures. The “boys” (Mark and my husband Jeremy) loaded up the mountain bikes for a little downhill in Angle Fire. Dad and I checked out the Angle Fire area in the jeep. And Metisha and Mom took off for a hike. Metisha is a VERY good daughter with a very POOR memory. Mom loves to hike up to a very gorgeous lake in Red River and says when she dies we must hike there to leave her ashes. The problem is it’s about a 14 mile hike and the first half of the hike is on jeep trails/switch bikes. Metisha knew Mom really wanted to go so she volunteered to go with her. Unfortunately she had forgotten that she swore she would never go again after the last expedition! So after more than 6 hours of hiking they returned without making it the lake. Metisha once again swore she will never go again. Mom was all smiles and carried about 15 pounds of rocks down with her. Unfortunately for Mom I predict her ashes are scattered at a lower altitude! The boys made it back with no biking injuries and had a great day. As for Dad and I, let’s just say we met an unpleasant man and Dad got to make a contribution to the New Mexico Highway Patrol.

The next day was family day. We gathered the ATVs and Jeep and headed out for Goose Lake. The day started out in a typical fashion for us, with a little trail side maintenance.

After we removed some unnecessary parts from the rhino, we continued on our way. We made good time up to the lake and were greeted with great views and very chilly temperatures.

While the rest of us ate a picnic lunch Mark decided he wanted to hike to the top of the mountain. He made it up and back in a little over an hour. Don't worry, we did save him a sandwhich.

For our final day of vacation the boys returned to Angle Fire for more downhill mountain biking but this time with an injury. Mark was riding so fast down the mountain that he ran down a bee. The bee ended up in his shirt and Mark received a third nipple. Mom, Dad, Tisha and I decided to do some more ATV riding. We started out trying to tackle 4th of July Canyon but the trail was very washed out and we were told the final ascent typically resulted in a rollover. So we made it to about the last 200 yards before we chickened out, turned around and headed back down the mountain. We ended up going up Old Red River Pass and adopted another couple from Texas who followed us most of the morning. From Old Red River Pass we misidentified our stopping point and continued on a trail that led to, well a dead end. But the dead end trail was the most beautiful trail we have ridden at Red River! The scenery was beautiful and we were the only ones on the trail. After we hit the dead end we turned around and headed back to a beautiful meadow for a picnic lunch with just the four of us.

So that was the 2009 Ewbank/Welsh/Unruh Family Vacation. Now it’s back to school for Mark and Metisha. Mark started this week with a camp he conducts for new students and Metisha reports back next week.

On the cancer front, Metisha goes back to oncology on August 19th. They will do blood work and then decide what scans should be done. Pray that this doctor appointment produces nothing but positive news. Pray for no new cancer. Pray for reduction of the existing cancer. Also pray for Tisha as she continues to battle her sugar addiction and adopt better nutrition habits. She loves sugar and our family loves to eat, so she can use lots of prayer support in this area. Most of all, pray for complete physically healing from cancer! We know above all things, prayers work!