Life In The Zesch Household

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Trek 2016

I had the privilege and honor of joining my awesome hubby and 5 of our kiddos on Trek this year. What is trek you say? Trek - to journey on foot, especially to hike through the mountains.
We

load up a backpack with everything we will need for 4 nights and 5 days in the Pecos Wilderness. Most carry 25% of their body weight in their pack. Others, like our fearless leader (Gandalf -as he was named this year) carry more. We had 3 in a tent and the rest slept in hammocks. We pack freeze dried meals for supper and protein snacks for the afternoon. Most do oatmeal for breakfast.
The second day was a tough one. Wow, we all learned to persevere. We hiked about 4 hours in the rain and hail. The oldest boy, 20, sprained his ankle while helping his 11 yr. old sister out of a boggy area. He hiked another mile and then he was done, we dropped his pack. We knew we were getting close to the area we were going to camp however, we weren't there yet. Some of the boys started a fire on a rock to warm up while Roy hiked on ahead to fine camp. He returned about 45 min. later with instructions for us on where to go. He and two other boys went back for the pack and the rest of us headed to camp to set up and get supper started. Roy and the boys made it in about 10:30 that night.

The flowers above are fire weed, beautiful purple flowers who's seeds are hidden in the forest and bloom after a fire.

Matthew marked his spot and many others. He carved our initials in logs around the campfire.

Relaxing after setting up camp. This was actually the camp area our forth night . We enjoyed and welcomed the sunshine .

Joshua and Jimmie getting rigged up to catch some brook trout. They, along with Matthew, caught about 8 .

Matthew cooked most of the fish like this. We didn't bring a pan or oil, so he made do.

Joshua, could you gather some firewood? Joshua.... the whole tree????

Filtering water in the creek

Wild raspberries, Yum, Yum!!!!!!

Exploring these caves was great fun. They had a stream running through them. Beautiful!!!!

Zesch's on 2016 Trek - group one. We had two groups go this year and Michael decided to join one of his buddies who was going for the first time.

Climbing to Pecos Baldy the third day

We didn't make it to the top, as you can see a storm is rolling in.

Roy, Elizabeth and Matthew warming up and waiting for the rain to stop

The cave entrance

Trek is a life learning experience. Hard work, ups and downs, amazing discoveries, and beauty in the storms.

Setting up hammocks

Getting the fire started

This is how Matthew collects firewood
And as we were driving home we saw this beautiful rainbow.

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Baseball

Great season boys!!! 13 Wins and 2 losses. They gave glory to God in all they did. It was a blessing to play on a team who were coached to play out the scripture on the back of their shirts. 2 Timothy 2:3 Thou therefore endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. These boys also exemplified good sportsmanship with every team.

Matthew's getting it done

A little coaching and he's ready to go

And then there's silliness!!!
At the end of the year Matthew was awarded the most threatening player on the team and Michael was awarded the most diligent.

Track

Everyone participated in track this year and had a super time. The Saints (home school team) participated in about 4 track meets in our area and finished strong at the State Homescool track meet.

After being at a track meet all day this beautiful sun set made a perfect end to a great day

Jimme long jumping and throwing shot

Joshua throwing discus

This group of boys set a record at the state meet in the 4x200

Winter snow

I am updating, so this might cool us off in June. We had a fun snow day in December. As usual the kids played most of the day and made a snow family:)