The trailer was so comfortable and warm!
It was way fun this time with Mya's age. She explored a ton! We'd go for walks to a nearby stream, she thought she was big enough to walk from one trailer to the next to find whoever she was looking for, and just walk around with the big kids (and little!). The reason I say little is because Mya and Zoe are pals, but when they're together, they do things I don't think they would normally do. There was a couple of times where they'd just start wandering off. At one point, if Justin and Heidi hadn't been paying attention, we could have lost them. They walked off through the trees, over to the next road, and only stopped for a puddle to splash in. They never looked back once to see if anyone was following. They're funny when they get together.
Fishing was not hot for us this trip. I actually got a license this time since we'd be up there longer and going back for Labor Day. Justin got one bite the entire trip, and I got none. I thought it'd be really cool to catch one and show Mya and see her reaction, but I guess maybe next time. But we had plenty of time to take pictures, since the fish weren't biting.
This is when we first all went fishing. My niece Ella (who is almost 3) caught a huge fish right off the bat and had another bite right after...but she was the only one.
We decided to try one more time before dinner on Saturday, but a storm was rolling in, so it was a little cold.
We always go for a drive at night to look for animals. Mya knows what deer are and I really wanted to show her some. Most nights we left her in her car seat so she never really saw the animals we did. But one night Justin and I drove to just the end of the road to go into Browne and saw 10 elk. We told Mya they were deer (which it was probably better we saw those since they're bigger and darker) and she of course shot them with her finger.
Saturday night she fell asleep on the drive looking for animals. This night we had 4 trucks of people looking for animals. We were talking about going on some side roads on the way up to Spirit Lake, but ended up just driving straight up there and take the side roads on the way back. It ended up being a good thing we did. As we got to Spirit Lake, a guy flagged us down asking if we were Search and Rescue, thinking that maybe we were because of all of the trucks. He then told us that a 9 year old boy was lost and it was his son. This was the night the storm was rolling in. It was cold, drizzily, and windy. The emotions I felt for this boy I didn't even know hit hard. The guys got out of the trucks and headed up the trail to look for this boy. The girls and kids piled up in our Explorer and we headed back to camp, hoping they could find him. The problem with this trail is that there's a stream running along it and it's a really marshy area. Half of the time, you can't tell where this trail is and with it being spring time, the water was all over. They headed up the trail banging pans, but with the wind, Justin said if he had been so far or ahead of them, there was no way he would hear them. Once it was dark, they all got off the mountain and headed back. As we were heading back, we passed so many Search and Rescue. We stopped in a few camps to spread the word and prayed so much for this little boy. There wasn't much more we could do at that point. When then guys came home that night and told us the boy still wasn't found, it became a sleepless night. Early that morning, they all went back and to help look for the boy. There were 170 volunteers! Once Search and Rescue gave the guys their grid on the map to look for the boy, they started heading up there, only to hear on the walkie talkies that the boy could have been found. After about 10 minutes, it was confirmed that he was found!
The guys talked to the boy's aunt and she had asked Grayson what he did that night. He said he laid down by a tree that had fallen over, then prayed and cried all night. It was so emotional for all of us. We didn't even know this boy and we all hoped so much that he would be okay. It was a great trip spending time with the family, but that experience made me hold on a little tighter to Mya that night and be so glad for the people who surround my life.
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