Buckskin Mountain State Park

This past weekend we went camping at Buckskin Mountain State Park. We've now been camping a whopping three times. That means we're experts, right? Well, we did learn a few important things. The first lesson came about when we arrived at the park after five hours of driving. The kids were out of the car and itching to get to the river. Since we were hoping for no drown kids I took all of them to the river to stop the pestering and get the kids out of the way of setting up camp. Whew! What a long sentence! So here are the kids running to the river bank.

Here is my dear husband setting up camp without help. Not a big deal, right? Well, quite a while later a very frustrated husband joined us dehydrated, dripping with sweat, and shouting about things being "impossible". I had been trying to help by getting the kids out of the way, but next time I will help Brad set up camp. The kids will just have to have memories of sitting for what seems likes hours.  Memories. At least they'll have a father who's happy and healthy.

Another lesson is no matter what you do to keep the sand out of the watermelon it's gonna get in there. Next time? The parent box and the kids box. Kids don't mind sand, right?

Looka! They're so cute!!!

Simon is fascinated by birds. He's recently learned to point, so he spent much time pointing, grunting, and looking for someone to confirm his suspicions... bird.

Sigh... a small dead, dried up fish. Lovely, Nathan. (inside joke to Anderson... at least it's not a dead lizard, decomposed bird, or maggot infested opossum)

The next morning Simon was up first among the kids. He went about exploring the tent, getting into sibling's faces, and bringing smiles to their sweet sleepy faces.

The next day we spent just about the entire day at the river.

Our sweet little kids enjoying ice cream on this super hot day. Their daddy is the best daddy ever!  Kaeley, I think, needs a couple gallons of more ice cream. Poor little bean pole.

The baby didn't get an ice cream of his own. You can just tell by the picture that he knows he's missing out. It didn't take long before the girls were both sharing their ice cream with him.

Have I mentioned best daddy ever?

Disgusting sandwich? No. I think this is his amused face. Shoot! He better not think that sandwich is disgusting! I spent good money on that deli meat!

Okay, he's in my good graces again.

I was going to help Brad pack up... after all that work for one full day... but my favorite baby stepped up.

"Dad, you need to move this cooler to the left a bit to fit in this other suitcase. Hand it over and I'll pack it up for you."

That's my back in the picture. Proof that I, too, was really at the family vacation.