Sunrise Archery Tournament

Every year we take the four hour drive to Sunrise to take part in the archery tournament. This year we took our tent and spent four wonderful days in the beautiful pine trees. We met our good friends, the Boretsky's, up there who also go every year. The weather was perfect during the day and somewhat chilly at night and the kids had so much fun in the dirt!

We took the kids on one of the tournament courses to watch Skylar and Cody shoot and the kids did great! So much better than last year : ) Cale and Slade trying to climb up a dead tree.

Skylar shooting an Elk. You are supposed to shoot the target in the heart area and if you do, you get 12 points. The target is marked so that you know how many points you get and you keep score yourself. The Elk is Skylar's favorite target because that is the animal that he loves to hunt.

My boys and the Elk. Slade loved "petting" the targets and wanted to ride all of them.

Walking back to the truck for some lunch after finishing the course which has 15 targets.

This is Sunrise! Have any of you seen it without snow? Funny thing, I've never been there to ski and have never seen snow on it. For the tournament, you ride the ski lift to the top and then choose 1 of 4 courses to go down on. You shoot the targets as you walk down the mountain.

There are several vendors at the tournament and this one gave away Elk antlers.

I guess Slade really thought he was an Elk and decided he was hungry!

We took a drive down to Big Lake, and on the way was this sign!

Me and the kids on the course. Daisy ended up falling asleep for most of it. That backpack is sure helpful!

Slade riding a deer. When he first saw it, he said, "Daddy, shoot it!!" I think he thought it may have been real from a distance.

Slade posing in a broken tree.

Cale and Daisy blowing bubbles.

Goofball Slade! He was entertaining us with his many faces again.

We had a chance to take the Boretsky's boat out on Sunrise Lake and do a little fishing. When we got out on the water, the wind started up and a huge storm in the distance was making me nervous with all the lightening and thunder. Skylar decided to stay out there even after me voicing my concern and in the end, the wind had us going in circles and Skylar's line got caught in mine and in the motor of the boat. He became frustrated and called Cody to come help him get the boat back on the trailer. When Cody arrived, the storm had passed without touching us and the wind had stopped. The water was nice and smooth but we both had enough! Slade was a little scared in this picture because the boat was really rocking!

Daisy fell asleep on the boat and I had to keep her covered up because of the wind! At least it's a pretty area and I enjoyed watching the huge storm.

Time to brush teeth!! It's like pulling teeth to get my kids and husband to brush their teeth while away from home!

We caught a butterfly and put it in his bug observatory. That little thing was so popular with the kids that I should have bought each of them their own.

We took the kids on a walk around the camping area and this is how they ended up. Slade had fallen several times and Daisy must have been tired, again. She sure did sleep a lot on the trip.

The kids showing off the fish that the Boretsky's caught. Slade was even brave enough to hold one.

Skylar had me gut some fish which, by they way, was my first time. Usually I am grossed out by that stuff but I thought I would be brave like Kristi, who has no problem doing it, and it was sure gross! I opted to start with a small one while Kristi went straight for the big one!

We had so much fun up there! The kids were so dirty and smelly but they had so much fun! We were able to have campfires and ate wonderful food. It did rain our last night there and our tent leaked a bit, we didn't get much sleep, the fireworks were cancelled, but that is what camping is all about! We can't wait for next year!