Fun Valley with the Plains Circle Crew

Day 5 - 13:  Before I start on our super fun 10 days in Fun Valley, I’d like to pre-empt that this summer is unlike any other Summer Schettler Extravaganza.  In the past 5 years we’ve visited every National Park west of Dallas.....(with exception of Capital Reef and Death Valley.....Capital Reef will probably happen someday...Death Valley, we’ll see).  It’s been amazing seeing, driving, and exploring these beautifully natural wonders, but when we ask the boys what are their favorite memories without hesitation their answers are always Fun Valley and Idaho.  We decided it was time to slow things down a bit, so that’s what we did....10 magical days in Fun Valley!

500 miles after leaving El Paso, we arrived to a VERY over flowing flooded roaring Rio Grande....

And the beautiful smiling faces of our beloved Plains Circle Crew!

Each year, our Plains Circle Crew morphs a little bit.  I just love these families!  This year, the PCC included:  Gary, Teri, Sid, Donna, Jeremy, Tammy, Todd, Karen, Brady, Jamie, Curtis, me, and all the kids....Gaby, Cole, Carson, Abbey, Brody, AnaGrace, Grayson, and Crosby.  20 in total....What a Crew!

Since we were not going to be working on Junior Ranger Badges this summer, Cole decided he was going to spend the summer working on Merit Badges for Boy Scouts, so he chose Personal Fitness, Fishing, Forestry, and Bugling....yes, somehow we managed to fit a French Horn, Cornet, and Bugle into our little Casita 2.0.  The Personal Fitness MB is a beast because it’s 12 solid weeks of training, running, strength, flexibility, and documenting your daily fitness planning along with bi-weekly Fitness Tests.  What a better place to do that, then FV where you’re outside riding bikes all day long?!  Cole went after it, and has been amazing!  Exercising every day, 

practicing every day....

and spending the other 23 hours doing what you do best in Fun Valley....biking, hiking, fishing, and LOTS of pool at the arcade.

Part of the Fishing Merit Badge is catching and cooking your own meal.  Oh yes!  It’s trout for dinner!

Yum!!!!!

The rest of the week Cole spent with our sweet neighbor, Gaby.  These two were inseparable!

Sun up to sun down, they were together...fishing, hiking, exploring, soccer, frisbee, Pickleball, pool, air hockey, just sitting, relaxing...you name it, they were like glue, two peas in a pod.

Now don’t get the wrong idea, they have been across the steeet neighbors and friends since birth, but this summer, both being in middle school they just clicked.   All of the Edwards and Heckman’s older kiddos we busy back in Texas working, so Gaby and Cole we’re officially the oldest kids of the PCC and took the leadership like champs.  They played with the little kids and really led the group.  I am so proud of these two! 💗

Now Carson, on the other hand, this kid is a fisherman!

He fished sun up to sun down....

He would walk around and talk to all the Grandpas to see what the the fish were biting on and fished....8-10 hours a day, everyday!

We even went to a fishing clinic one day up at Big Meadow that was put on by the local Game Warden.  Where they learned to tie knots, identification of local game fish, and even were given free rod and reels.

Yes, this kid LOVES to fish!

One day, his persistence paid off, and he reeled in the BIG DADDY trout!!!!!  17” and 1.85 lbs!  

He brought it to the office and made it on the Catch of the Week Wall!

Along with the Big Daddy, he and Curtis caught 9 other fish, and our neighbors caught 6!  It was a trout feast!!!!  

Curtis cleaned and grilled our fish with a little help from the littles for seasoning...

 Sid fried up his yummy trout filets.  There was enough to feed all 20 of us in the Plains Circle Crew!

Yum!!!!

We managed to pull Carson and Cole away from fishing for one day to try our hand at golfing in Monte Vista while the rest of the Plains Circle Crew headed to Creede for a day of shopping and fun.

We LOVED it!!!!  Especially Mommy!  I have a feeling, we’ll be doing a lot more golfing in our future.

Carson surprised me one day with a treat.  He saved up hid money and bought me an oyster Pearl necklace from the gift shop. 

What a sweet and precious surprise.  These boys are pretty darn special.

Too soon, our magical time at Fun Valley was coming to an end.  Cole and Gaby spent the last day on a horseback ride through the National Forest.

Karen and I have been trying to set up a ride for then at FV for 4 summers and finally succeeded.  Gaby was riding Pickles and Cole got to ride Echo.

While they were riding, Carson challenges everyone he met to a game of AirHockey and won almost every round....and, yes, more fishing!

Too soon our time had come to an end.  We will forever treasure our time and memories at Fun Valley, and especially our beloved neighbors and friends, the Plains Circle Crew.

Tomorrow, we set off on the LONG 1,300 mile haul to Idaho.  Thank you, Fun Valley, for the magical memories. 💗