Sounds simple enough–a day trip to Niles, MI to visit friends. Add five kids and a dog, though, and things get complicated pretty fast.

Pack-and-play. Check. Dog food. Check. Stroller. Check. Telescope. Check…

Kids and Dog. Check.

What we neglected to bring was a 100-ft. rope with which to rescue Molly from the powerful current of the St. Joseph River.

If you look closely in the picture, you’ll see a white object in the middle of the river. That would be our dog. Jim went walking with her toward the water, and with barely a hesitation, she dove in and began paddling to her heart’s content. Molly has zero river swimming experience (after writing that, I realize that even though she now has river swimming experience, things would not be different in the future), so unbeknownst to her, the current was taking her for quite a ride. With every yell from Jim to get her to swim to shore, she drifted farther away. He ran downstream to try to catch her when she went by, but he lost sight of her. He came back to where I was standing and asked if she came back my way. She hadn’t.

At that moment, we both resolved that it was a real possibility we would be driving home without the family pet. After straining to see the white furry object in the river, we finally spotted her about 1/2 mile downstream. Long story short, Jim walked downstream again, called to her as she approached and brought her back. She remained staked to the ground the rest of the day.

This was to be just the beginning of our adventure.

As I walked up to the house, here is what my eyes beheld:

See the driver? He’s eleven. Is it just me, or is Peter looking a little nervous? As they pulled out of the driveway, I heard Van Halen blasting from their radio. I prayed that God would keep them safe, thanked Him for helmets, and trusted that if they made it back it would be a great adventure memory branded in their minds.

Sure enough, they made it back and then picked up the dads for more 4-wheeling.

Jeremy was thrilled to be included in the caravan. I think he was even more thrilled to wear a real racing helmet.

For the remainder of the afternoon, boys took turns driving this motorized vehicle and that one.

The young-uns posed some shots.

Being the only girl among nine boys, Ruthie was beginning to feel left out. So after posing on the ATV, she hitched a ride with Jim.

The faster they went, the louder she squealed. Typical.

But our adventure did not end there. The boys got their hands on some air pellet guns and retreated into the woods to fight a war.

Again, I prayed for God’s protection over them. He did.

The Janowskis picked up a German Shepherd puppy just the day before we arrived and named him Hornet. Ruthie and Hornet became fast friends.

What may have been the most exciting and frightening part of the day was when a hive of yellow jackets decided to attack. Two of the Janowski boys were stung multiple times (a bee was inside the shirt of one of the boys), a couple adults were stung, and Derek was stung on the behind-arguably the best part of the body to be stung.

To cap off the day, Jake set up his telescope so the posse of boys could look at the sun.

Later they gazed at the stars while we adults had a pleasant conversation inside. Worth the packing and driving? You betcha.