camping report

I just can not begin to rave enough about our fun trip to OK. We rented a cabin, which was so lovely. The kids were excited all week to go and ran around exclaiming in delight over all the details when we got there. It was beautiful and rustic and we had plenty of room and all the comforts of home.

I forgot how much a like state parks. I love the smell and the nice pathways and the sunshine and the rangers. It makes me feel like singing John Denver songs aloud and skipping around...which is what we did.

Highlights: playing outside around our cabin. The kids had a wonderful time. Bub had lots of bad guys to fight and sticks to fight with and guys to set up in battle.
The jacuzzi was wonderful and we went in it several times a day to relax and look at the trees or the stars and talk.

Sitting around the camp fire. Everyone enjoyed laughing and roasting marshmallows, reading aloud or listening, talking about our hopes, our family and God.

We enjoyed the several free museums and cabins and displays to look at.

It was cold but of course the kids couldn't resist the river. We took several nice hikes and wadded and climbed. We found a couple of geo caches and enjoyed the splendor of the outdoors.

Inside we painted Easter eggs, cooked, watched movies, and relaxed.

J brought her personal progress and she and I worked on it quite a bit. She now only has two projects left and she'll earn her medallion, which I am so excited about. The quiet time with no distractions was really nice and allowed us to have time for meaningful conversation and study.

I didn't get a chance to go to the library so I didn't have the book I wanted to read, which I was so sad about, but it turned out for the better since I looked around the cabin's library and found "A Purpose Driven Life", which I probably never would have other wise read, and read it (not all but I will go check it out now and read the rest) and I really liked it. It was very evangelistic in accent but had a lot of good ideas and I enjoyed the way it was written and the message it gave.

My one sadness was we went on a trail ride and I was really looking forward to taking everyone and especially of getting pictures of E and G on their first "horse back ride". They didn't allow cameras though, which made me annoyed. DH snuck ours in his pocket and did take some; however we didn't get any good ones. Lu was riding in a buddy saddle behind me and we have one where she's peeking around but it could have been a cute picture and instead we got a lot of horse butts and trees but nothing good.

The ride itself was highlight. Everyone enjoyed it. Brother was scared to do it but overcame his fear, rode Queenie all by himself and did great. Lu was scared and hanging on to me in the beginning and leaning over hitting trees with her hands and chatting a mile a minute by the end. I had to keep one hand on her pants to keep her in the saddle:)

H was a huge helper and so fun and everyone got along the whole time. At one point H said "I think we are having more fun than any other family in the world" which was a highlight for DH and I.

And, true to form, we had a mishap as well. It was our last day and we were eating our picnic lunch and planning our next hike when J said "it's almost not like a real vacation because no one has thrown up" Laughing by all. Not five minutes later H was complaining about a headache/stomach ache ran to the bathroom and ...explosion. Someone sick, check. It was a real U family trip :)