Our Redlands Visit

We went to Redlands to celebrate Eva and Sofia's birthdays and just spend time together. Here are pictures of our weekend:

Noelle, Sofia and Eva

On Saturday we went to Forest Falls to hike up the Falls and play in the water.

Grandpa and Eva ready to hike.

The In'tHouts leading the way.

Sofia and Eva keeping dry so far...

Eva and Sofia posing with Grandpa and Grandma on the way up the falls.

Nick and Noelle

Eva

 Eva "the mountain goat"

Julie and Eva taking a "selfie" in front of the falls at the top.

Grandma and Noelle finishing off the hike.

Playing in the water and rerouting the water of Falls Creek

Noelle enjoying the water.

So much fun!

That night, after we came home, the girls put on an after dinner show:

That night we decorated and ate Sofia and Eva's birthday cake.

After the kids were in bed, the adults played a couple of rounds of "Perudo" and then invented out own game using the Perudo cups.

On Sunday we had to make the 9 hour trek back to Rehoboth. But before we left we had one last picture together with the three girls in the front yard.

Hiking Rehoboth Peak

When auditors Jim and Josh were here from Grand Rapids we invited them to join us on the Rehoboth Peak hike. We had a beautiful weather and were able to get the hike in after work and before sunset. Here are some pictures that Josh took and shared with us.

view of the peak as we're going up

the natural window with a view of Pyramid

view behind the hogbacks

Jack and Cindy climbing up the last stretch of the peak

Jack and Cindy on the peak

view of Rehoboth and the red rocks from the peak

U.S. Corps of Engineers inscription at the top (1881)

Mesa Verde

After a wonderful summer mostly spent in Michigan, we're back for another year working/volunteering at Rehoboth Christian School in New Mexico.

We decided to take advantage of the beautiful end of summer weather and spend a day at Mesa Verde. In all our Southwest travel, we have never visited Mesa Verde National Park before. We left at 6:15 a.m. and  drove north into Colorado and arrived at the park entrance at 9:30. It was 78 degrees with a cool breeze....beautiful weather. We took in two hour-long tours of Balcony House and then The Cliff Palace. We then made the hour drive to take in The Long House. This site is normally closed after Labor Day but was open for a special event on Saturday. There was no tour here, but a ranger was present who answered questions and shared more information than anyone wanted to know. We really felt like we got a good taste of this wonderful park in just one day. When the park closed at five o'clock, we headed to Cortez, about 15 minutes away for supper before we drove the two and a half hours back to Rehoboth.

View as you enter the park

The hike down to The Balcony House

Climbing up one of the ladders into the ruins 

Jack coming though a crevice on the hike

Our ranger explaining the history of the Balcony House ruins

The balcony that Balcony House is named for.

A "kiva" at Balcony House.

Views of The Cliff Palace

The climb out of The Cliff Palace.

View on the walk down to The Long House ruins.

Views of The Long House ruins

The hike out of the canyon

Scenery on the drive out of the park.