Camping - we made it!

First, and foremost, Steve is doing really, really well. By Saturday a.m. he was feeling good enough to be bummed he wasn't camping with us. He's on a three-week course of antibiotics with a good chance of making a full recovery. We missed him very much, but I'm also glad to report that by mid day on Saturday, I'd already decided our trip was worth the obvious obstacles! We really had a blast.

I took my camera camping, but as you can imagine, I didn't get many photos - you're looking at most of them! I was too busy trying to keep everyone...alive!

But, some highlights:

• Jumping rope: we went all the way to the Adirondacks to learn that Ben and Ella both love to jump rope - go figure!
  
• Pitching a tent in the rain: nothing beats the feeling of arriving at dusk when it is pouring rain and thinking "I wonder if we can sleep in the car...?"
• Junk Food: Smores, Popcorn, Burgers, candy, chips, dips...mmm...it was all good.
• Our Hike: We took a mile hike to the Kane Mtn. Fire tower. It must have been The views were spectacular and I got a lot of prayer time climbing that tower, praying that all the kids I was responsible for would make it safely down. Levi rode in the backpack and loved the adventure!
• My kids were simply amazing: I couldn't have asked for a better weekend.
• My 11 year old friend, E, had me laughing, crying (in a good way), and sitting back amazed. J & K - you should be very, very proud of your daughter. She made this trip wonderful in every way. You've done a marvelous job - she's a delight.
• Levi stuffing Mike & Ikes in his mouth: He has a bit of a sweet tooth, and found the box while the rest of us were busy packing up. We'd blocked him into the car to keep him safe, which wasn't hard with the amount of stuff we had packed! When we went to check on him, he'd crawled into his carseat, with the box of mike & Ikes in hand and was stuffing them in before we noticed. We couldn't stop laughing - it was the perfect ending to a wonderful trip.

We missed you Steve, but I think I need to bring E with us every year! And Levi thinks we should always bring Mike & Ikes! :)