Camping on a beach!

     At the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta we were pleasantly surprised when another family told us they would be coming to Page for their Balloon Regatta the first weekend in November. (As it turned out, only the family that came to crew had anything to do with balloons. I guess the rest of us are just over balloons for now) It ended up being a total of 8 different families coming, though not all at the same time! Lone Rock Beach is one of the best places for groups to stay so we planned for that. It's boondocking at $14 a night but they do have a dump station and water so that helps ease the pain. And the views are simply stunning! 

These buttes change colors all day long, depending on the shadows and clouds!

So much talking! I do believe we talked about everything under the sun! 

The "slaves" were obeying their master.

One of the few trees growing here!

The slaves and masters had quite a system. They managed to work together in spite of runaways and shovel thieves and dug some impressive holes and tunnels!

The Lone Rock.

Emily celebrated her 6th birthday! She wanted a hot air balloon cake, with her Peppa Pigs involved :).

We included her party in the potluck. Food included pork, cake, and lots and lots of delicious vegetables. It's not all bad traveling with health nuts!

This Southern Belle dress was on clearance November 1st and I knew it's exactly what she would want. 

She picked McDonalds for her birthday date with daddy.

Nail polish party. Even Ethan got involved 🙄.

One of the families had a slack line that we set up. It kept the kids entertained all day long. 

The soft evening colors were so relaxing!

Our wagon circle. The 6 of us were here together the longest. Pic credits to Zac Shroeder.

We burned so much wood! I believe this was the night we had a roaring discussion on politics and I learned a ton of things about Israel, since one family grew up there. We concluded that anyone smart enough to be president is to smart to run for it 😊. Pic credits to Zac Shroeder.

The lake is super low right now. Pic credits to Eldon.

A high up of our circle. Pic credits to Eldon.

And 1 more just because. Pic credits to Eldon.

     We did 4 hikes as well and I'll be doing a separate post on them. This was an incredible way to spend 10 days and I hope we get the chance to do it again! Of course, the children played tirelessly all day long then collapsed into bed at night completely exhausted. After a few days of digging holes and playing slaves, they did a lot of legos. At night some of the older ones liked to play board games. Amongst the younger ones there was often squabbles to settle but they were quick to forgive and move on. We adults always had our share of work to do but every night we gathered around the fire and had a grand time. It's lovely when a group of people can get along even though they don't agree 100% on everything!