At the Campground

These are my last pics from vacation. Sadly, it already seems like it was a long time ago! I want another vacation! :-)

For three days that week we hung out at the campground, swimming, fishing, playing, and just enjoying being together. They had a nice pool which we swam in several times. One evening we had the whole pool to ourselves! (much preferred by me ~ easier to keep my eye on all five children)




This man made pond was stocked with blue gill and other fish. Hubby was able to take each of the children out separately on the canoe for some one-to-one time, and each of those who fished caught at least one fish! Here he is with son G.


And son C.




Our tent performed fairly well during the week, though we did get some rain seepage, and it rained parts of four days. The seepage was all in one spot, and it happened to be under daughter G's sleeping bag. We realized too late that there was a depression in the ground right at that spot, and water collected there. She handled it like a trooper!


The three older children slept at the far back,


son C slept at their feet,


and Little Man slept next to me.

As I mentioned, we forgot to pack the canopy, which normally keeps our kitchen area covered. Without it, there was nowhere to stay dry in the rain except our van and the tent (pup tent in background is used as a changing room by the kids, and holds their suitcases).


We were fortunate that it rained at dinnertime/bedtime only once. We cooked in the rain and ate in our tent! You haven't camped until you've cooked and eaten in the rain. ;-)

While hubby and I were cooking, the children watched a movie. Thank the Lord for electricity!

Cooking eggs for breakfast.



Our last night there we roasted hotdogs and corn on the cob for dinner. Son G helped lather butter on the corn and then wrap them in foil to be put in the coals. They were super delish!



Here's what the above photo really looked like without the flash.


After dinner we made s'mores and sang worship songs long into the night. One by one the children got tired and just went to bed, while the rest of us kept on singing. Sooo worshipful! I loved it.


To hear Little Man's sweet childlike voice raised in praise to God was so precious it made my heart ache (in a good way).


The morning we were packing up to go home, the boys found several little toads around our campsite. Evidence of how wet it was?! They constructed a little house for the toads out of rocks and sticks and grass, and were very sad to leave the toads behind.


As we were driving out I snapped this picture of the ruins of a stone wall that our boys had been climbing on all week. I tried to find out its history but none of the rangers knew anything about it. I wonder if it was there at the time of the Civil War? It was beautiful and mysterious. What stories would it tell if those stones could talk?

Thank you, Lord, for yet another fabulous vacation. Thank you for quality time together for our family. Thank you for the experiences we had and the memories we made. Thank you for giving us (mostly) good attitudes in the rain. Thank you for the means to do a vacation inexpensively. Thank you for each member of my family, who are so precious to me in their own way. Thank you for loving them even more than I do.

Thank you.