RA/GA Trip to Bent Tree

April 29, 2006

We decided to do a joint RA/GA activity this month and invite family members. We took a total of 33 persons to Bent Tree - I think that is a record. They all seemed to enjoy the lake and the fellowhip. This is a group photo near the end of the trip at our traditional picture spot on the dam overlooking Lake Tamarack.

Johnny Huffman and Grace Lopez serve pancakes at breakfast at the church. Dina accompanied six of her grandchildren on the trip with us.

We took a caravan of five vehicles up to Bent Tree. When we reached Bent Tree's Lake Tamarack, we found it surprisingly cool and windy, with the wind whipping over the lake.

We drove on to the spillway side of the lake to allow the kids to fish and explore the creek. The wind was strong and cool, so everyone was scrambling for jackets. Derinda Gilbert wraps in a blanket. Javier Lopez and Kelly Brandon check out the lake. Doug and Kelly Brandon came with daughter Drew, shown with Doug on the swing.

The kids were excited about playing along the stream to the spillway, and the boys found a stranded bass.

Stephen and his sister Angel were both scheduled to be baptized the next morning, so we kidded them about practicing getting wet.

Wading across the stream on the rocks seemed to be a great treat. I'm always pleased to give the children time for unstructured play and exploration.

Johnny in his customary role of fixing up fishing tackle. We have a new ally in Dina, who helped dig worms for the boys to use as bait. Together they got Kevin ready to fish.

Stan also got into the act in helping the boys get ready for fishing. One of the fishing locations was at the base of the waterfall, and the boys liked that location.

This was the first and maybe only fish caught on this windy day. But the boys had a lot of fun trying.

Russ Danser and Stan accompany the kids as their exploration goes further downstream from the falls.

The rocky stream proved to be a fascinating place for exploration to Nala, Drake and Madelyn Danser.

Where things get slippery, you sometimes need a little help.

Downstream from the falls, there were several rock bridges across the stream.

Darren and Shelby Anderson brought along the whole family.Nala and Drake enjoyed climbing around on the rocks in the stream, and even little Darby seemed to enjoy the whole outing.

We had lunch at the large picnic area and let the kids play around in the beach area for a while before heading back. With this large number, we went through every morsel of food. Then another group at the pavilion had extra hamburgers and hotdogs and they graciously invited our folks over to help them with their excess. Russ's comment "Our God is awesome!".

Then Johnny remembered that on our last outing to Sweetwater, they were providing free hotdogs on guest appreciation day! I don't think we can count on this being a pattern, so we just thank God for the blessing. And as always, we thank God for getting us all back safely.