Camping Vacation - Part 1

Our first camping trip of the summer, and first time for daughter H to go camping EVER occurred during the hottest (so far) week of this year.  Yes, we know how to pick our weeks!  It was SO hot and humid.... it threatened multiple times to derail everyone's attitudes.  But it was the only time this summer that all of us would be together until the end of August, so we seized the opportunity!  I seriously did not think that my husband would be able to fit everything in this time, but he did.  He's amazing like that.

It was so hot already, a fire did not do much to add to our discomfort, and it did a whole lot to add to our camping experience, so we ended up having a campfire every single night.  First night s'mores!

Smoke writing. :)

 

This was our campsite.  Two tents with our "kitchen" in the middle.

The big family tent.

And the boy-man cave!

My beautiful girls, as we set out on a hike.

Daughter H had a goal to overcome her fear of spiders.  I'm not sure she completely overcame it, but this was a huge milestone for her to HOLD a daddy long legs!  Whoo-hoo!!  Go H!

Here's one of me to prove I was there too.  In spite of my red face I was NOT about to have a heart attack.  Red is my natural color in summer. ;)

Our children!

A really cool beaver dam we came upon.  There were signs of beavers amidst the trees as well.

After the hike, during which time our clothes got so wet from sweat it literally looked as if we had been swimming, we went swimming for real.  What a great way to cool off!

Daughter H taught us how to do trust pushes.  We had to stand on the edge of the pool and strike a pose without looking behind us.  At some point, we were pushed into the pool from behind.  You had to trust that the person pushing you was not going to push you too hard or hurt you in any way.

Yes, I was there too!

Ignore my in-need-of-polish-toes, and look at where I am..... POOLSIDE!  (with a book!!!!!)

Daughter G spent a lot more time telling us about her mission trip.  It was a bit of a debriefing time, or processing time for her.  She learned SO much.... about God, His Word, herself, what God wants from her.... it thrilled my heart to hear her articulate what she learned and how she is thinking about what she learned.

 My hero.  How I love this man!

We got back from the pool with just enough time to set up our canopy before a thunderstorm struck.  So we got the "full" camping experience, complete with rain.

Inside activities during the thunderstorm:  making duct tape wallets,

and having quiet time.

After the thunderstorm, another fire for cooking hamburgers!