Hunting Weekend 2009

Every year Tim heads north for November 15th - opening day of gun season in his home state. So we all loaded up the truck and took Nathan on his first (of many) long car-ride(s) to Michigan! Tim so looks forward to this time with his dad & brothers as well as time out in nature. But before Tim left for his buck quest, Mom and Dad Lehr watched our 2 little guys (and gave Nathan his very first bottle!) so that we could go out for lunch at "The Italian Oven" (yum!). It was our first "date" since Nathan was born and it was SO wonderful to have that time together!

And while the guys have their fun out at "Buck Camp" the girls and kids usually get to spend quality time together as well. However, due to illness, all of us girls and kids never got together! Michelle and the twins had the H1N1 virus so they stayed home the entire weekend. Ruth & Beth turned out to have just colds but Karen wanted to play it safe with Nathan being so young so they stopped by for some quick visits. To avoid possible flu exposure, we introduced Nathan to Michelle, Anna, & Alexa through the windows of their house! It was definitely another memorable first introduction to cousins! And one of my favorite memories of the weekend was when Matthew saw Bethany - he got down out of his chair with arms out wide exclaiming, "Bethany!!" (like they were long lost best of friends). He ran to her and they gave each other the sweetest hug. Those two can be a couple of little hams, so they gladly reproduced this for a photo! :)

All in all Matthew, Nathan, & I enjoyed a wonderful visit with Mom ("nana"), and although the number of families with H1N1 at their church kept us home on Sunday, we still were able to introduce Nathan to a few close family friends. Mrs. Herman made Nathan an adorable quilt and brought over some great gifts for Matthew, the big brother too! We are so thankful and so blessed by our family and friends in Michigan!

And in case you didn't notice, there are no photos of deer in this "hunting weekend 2009" post ... sadly Tim didn't get a deer this year. He plans to still do some hunting in our area, so he's not giving up yet!