Spring Break

OK, so we've been back from our Spring Break camping trip for 3 days and I'm just now getting a chance to blog about it! Life is so busy. That's why it was so nice to get away from our everyday life. Here's are the highlights from our trip...

Day 1 - Wednesday

We got a later start than I had wanted to on Wed. Lance had to work that morning at the office to get some charts closed before the end of the month. So I was having to pack everyone's clothes and the camper by myself that morning. It took a while, but we got off by noon. Lance and the big kids got there before Emma and I did because I had to go to Wal-Mart to get a few final things. By the time I got there, he had the camper set up. He and the big kids went for a hike at the campground while I got the inside ready. Then Emma and I went for a walk around the campground, because we couldn't find everyone else! That night, Lance's parents and sister and nephews drove down for a cookout. The kids loved playing with their cousins.

Home Sweet Home

Emma and I on our walk

Day 2 - Thursday

We went for our first real hike on Thurs. Unfortunately, since it had been raining all week so far, it was very muddy. I had a hard time truly enjoying this hike because I was so stressed about the kids shoes. I can handle dirty and muddy when it's warm, but it was pretty cold this week and the kids couldn't just go barefoot. I didn't get on to the kids and tell them to stay out of the mud, but I was internally stressed a little. That afternoon, Luke rode his Razor scooter all around the campground. He loved it! Sara made one loop on hers, but got tired, so the girls and I just walked around. I was excited to realize that Devil's Den has a laundry mat. I'd never noticed it before. I was able to do laundry twice while we were there. That helped with the muddy clothes!

hiking

Day 3 - Friday
This was the worst day of the trip. I had started getting a migraine Thur. night. I had some pain meds in my car, but not migraine meds. I went ahead and took them twice during the night, but they didn't help and actually made me sicker at my stomach. We left after breakfast to go home so I could get some medicine. After 4 stops on the side of the road, we made it. :) It rained all day, so we just hung out around the house and then I started feeling better. We headed back down late afternoon. It had stopped raining, so we went on walks and Luke rode his scooter. We made friends with the family next to us who had a second grader, so Luke had fun playing with him. They were a Christian family, and we enjoyed visiting with them. Lance's parents came down again that night for dinner. The kids were very excited.

Day 5 - Saturday

SNOW!!!! I couldn't believe it. We knew that it was a possibility, but I didn't really think that it would. For crying out loud, it is Spring Break! It was pretty though. And we had a great day despite it. I took each of the girls separately to the shower house for a shower that morning and really had a sweet time with both of them. On the way back to the camper, Sara started singing a sweet little praise song. I asked her where she learned it and she said, "nowhere, I just made it up." I love it when my heart is smiling and I know that God's is at the same time! Because we couldn't get out and do anything outside, we went to Fayetteville to a pottery store and painted pottery. The kids picked out something to do and I painted a platter with their handprints. It was a lot of fun. Then we went to eat at El Chico and then to Wal-Mart to buy a movie for movie night in the camper. Our kids love to do movie night. So we put on pj's, popped popcorn, climbed onto our bed and watched Bolt! It was so much fun!

SNOW!!

Painting Pottery

Day 6 - Sunday

Our final day and we finally had great weather! We went for the best hike ever! I kept telling Lance that I didn't know of anyone else as crazy as we were for taking our 4 small children on such a hard hike! It had it's harried parts, and I got nervous once, but our kids did great, minded well and had a great time. We were gone for about 2 1/2 hours. The kids loved the waterfall (even though I was a nervous wreck hiking behind it!) We got back to the camper and started packing up.

All in all, despite the headache and crazy weather, we had a BLAST! We love our camper, love to be outside, and love experiencing it with our kids! We can't wait to go camping all spring and summer!