Easter In Thatcher

We took- what it turning out to be- our annual Easter trip to Thatcher to party with the Merrills on the Saturday before the holiday.  It was actually supposed to be a weekend trip, but Mr. Porter Pot decided to get sick on Thursday, so it ended up only being a day visit.

But what a day visit it was.

We started out the day by going shooting in the desert.  While we waited for everyone to get there and set up, the kiddos went climbing and exploring.

We put the kids somewhere safe and behind the firing line.

Did I mention that poor lil' Rylee was sick?  We didn't realize just how sick she felt until all of the rest of us came down with the same thing the next day.  But I digress.

 All the Merrill guys brought their toys (guns- I believe there was enough artillery there to outfit a small army) and we got to shooting.  Well, not me.  I fired OP's rifle once and it scared me enough to keep me behind the camera.

Yeah, there was a lot of shooting going on.

Luckily Hannah and Kade brought their new puppy to entertain the kiddies.

Porter and Madden decided that hanging out inside of Orrin's truck was better than sitting in the bed.

Plus there were a few babies to hold.

And even a bull to rope.

Sharon brought us all out lunch (luckily, since we all forgot about that meal).

There were even a couple of bikes to ride.

We reconvened later for a BBQ at our favorite park in Pima.

The kiddos had an egg hunt.

And I walked around and took a ton of pictures like a true creeper.

Jessie divided us into teams, gave us all a bag of supplies and an egg, and told us to protect the egg.  Awesomest egg drop ever.

I honestly have no idea who won.  No one's broke on the initial drop, so we kept trying until they all finally did.

The kiddos played Hannah's balloon popping game (unfortunately the grass did most of the work on this one).

They also took full advantage of the playground equipment.

We all played Sharon's Skitttle Minute-To-Win-It game.

Lindy and Brandon dominated this one.

The adults then had an awesome water balloon toss.  No pics of that since I was too busy trying to catch and throw those little things.

We headed home after and spent the next two days throwing up.  It was terrific.