Our Weekend at the Tree House - Day #2

Day#2 we woke up early and jumped in the car. We drove about an hour to Herkimer, NY and Aunt Donna & Uncle Jim took us to the Herkimer Diamond Mines. Christopher said it was his favorite thing we did this weekend! We went out and mined for diamonds, banging away at rocks and finding some cool. We did come home with a few small "diamonds". I will have to take a picture of our "diamonds" later. We don't have too many pictures because it was raining for most of the morning and I didn't want to ruin my camera, but we got a few pictures in between the rain drops. Here are a few pictures of us out in the Diamond Mines.

Christopher & Uncle Jim prospecting for diamonds.

Shaun banging away looking for the precious gems.Christopher & Uncle Jim still working hard!
Anneli collecting rocks in her bag with Aunt Donna!
Check out her collection below...

She didn't care about the sledge hammer and finding the crystal's, she just wanted to take the rocks home, and we did!
After finding some "diamonds", we decided to let the kids sluice for gems.
The kids sluicing for precious stones.
Anneli and Uncle Jim collecting her gems.
Christopher playing in the water.

Sluicing is very hard work.
Aunt Donna watching the kids sluice. Opps! Anneli got wet!
She hated getting wet, so she took off her shirt on her way to the car. Silly girl!
Here are Anneli's rocks from the sluicing activity.

These are Christopher's sluicing gems.

After a few hours at the Herkimer Diamond Mines, we headed back to the "tree house" for lunch with Soup Mem & Ray. Aunt Donna stayed in the cabin and cooked--Yes everyone, Aunt Donna cooked--us a yummy lunch of Ham, Chicken, mashed potatoes and the best corn on the cobb, while Uncle Jim took us for a hike on their land. Then Anneli and Christopher helped pick some tomatoes for lunch in their garden.

Anneli picking cute little tomatoes.
Anneli & Dad picking together.
Christopher posing with the HUGE zucchini he picked. We brought two home for stuffed zucchini. YUMMM!

The kids in the garden.


One of the things Shaun looks forward to when we visit "the tree house" is making a fire in the fire pit he, Uncle Jim and Christopher made last year. He and Christopher got the fire going and we hung around it for hours, as the thunder rumbled in the distance, rain fell and the sun came out and the thunder rumbled in the distance, rain fell and the sun came out many times! Even though the weather was a bit dreary, we had a blast hanging out together, chatting and roasting marshmallows for s'mores.

Uncle Jim even shared with all of us a new way to eat a marshmallow. You first toast the marshmallow golden brown, take it off the stick and then insert a piece of chocolate into the marshmallow where the stick was. You let the chocolate melt inside for a minute and then you pop the entire thing right in your mouth! YUMMMMMY!

Chris & Shaun preparing the fire pit for our fire.

Kids looking on as Shaun starts the fire.

Soup Mem watching from the deck of the "tree house".

Christopher stuffed into the kindling box.

Anneli rowing her boat!
Roasting our marshmallows.

YUMMMY!

Uncle Jim eating a yummy marshmallow with chocolate.

The kids loved to play with the wood as they brought it out of the cellar to burn. Aunt Donna even gave them nails and a hammer and they constructed things! We even traveled home with two of their masterpieces, a "clapper" and a paper towel holder. (I'll have to take pictures later)

Below is a chair that Aunt Donna took apart to burn in the fire. Christopher decided that he didn't want to burn it all and was having fun being creative in putting it back together.

What a super fun weekend! The kids hated to come home, but they needed to go home to rest! What a fun weekend! Thanks Aunt Donna & Uncle Jim--we'll have to come visit again soon!