camping adventures day one (day 138)

After what seemed like hours of work on Thursday, we pulled away from our driveway at about three o'clock.  Check-in at Wall Doxey State Park was at four.  I love that we only had to drive for forty-five minutes, and we were there!  Makes for a great {blessedly short} trip with kids.  ;)

I thought I would share a little of what we did on our first night and full day there.  

Our first night was so peaceful.  All the nights were, but I always especially love that first night.  After everything had been unloaded and set up and firewood was gathered, this is what we enjoyed.  We roasted hot dogs over the fire, then marshmallows for s'mores. 

On Friday, we had some friends join us for the day, the Hockaday's.  The family we went with, the Corley's, usually camp with the Hockaday's and another family.  Lois and her kids didn't stay the night, but they did stay all day and ate dinner with us that night.  We ate, we talked, the kids explored, gathered and chopped more wood, and we geocached.  We had never done that before, but it was so much fun! 

Here are some pics of the kids searching in the woods.  There were three or four caches in the state park, but they only found two.  One was very close to us, the others were way around the lake.  They searched and searched, but never found it.  They were all exhausted by the time they got back.

At one point, while Graham and Drew were waiting on them to return, Drew called to tell me how "over" geocaching he was.  Ha!  Their feet were aching by the time they got back.  I didn't go that round....seems like it was a good thing I didn't!  Todd and I stayed behind and chopped wood.  Well, I held it still while he chopped. 

Here they are, back from searching.  Check out that cassette tape!  I have sung those songs in choir over the years.  I don't even know if they knew what they were holding in their hands. 

I love nature.  I love this log, in the above picture.  I look around, and it's so obvious to me how beautiful a Creator my God is!  I feel so close to Him outside.  I know camping is not for everyone, but perhaps that's one reason why I love it so.

The kids wanted to play volleyball, so we went with them to watch and keep score.  Afterward, Graham and I walked Crash back to the campsite. 

I like to call this mother/son bonding.

We wore that poor dog out.  This is one of only a handful of times that I've seen him so tired.  He stayed like this, in a few different spots, for at least two hours.  He was growing more spots in this one.  ;)

It was a beautiful day.  A little warm for camping, but fun (and bug free!), none the less.  We all slept like babies that night, until eight o'clock the next morning.  But more on that tomorrow. 

I am so thankful this was such a fun trip.  Our last few camping trips have not been great, so we really needed a good one to redeem ourselves.  Sometimes I think I'm crazy for loving to camp, and I will admit that after our last few, I had begun to doubt that love. 

But this one changed it all.  God kept us all healthy and strong and the weather was perfect. 

Love to all.