We Survived

Okay, now that I have all the pictures up I'll do a little bloggin on the trip. First off, we had a BLAST! I know I needed to get away and so did Brad and the kids. Shades State Park was a little over an hour away which was pefect---far enough so we felt 'gone' but close enough for us to get home if we needed to.

Wednesday night was a little interesting. We got the the campgrounds and got the tent all set up right before the rains started coming down. All of us piled into the tent and I arranged the kids on one side in their sleeping bags and Brad and I on the Futon mattress. Benjamin did not want to be away from me so he was right next to us and Justin was being really "Mommy clingy" so he was on the other side of Benjamin where I could still touch him. The rains were really coming down and I could feel the rain shield leaking some, but didn't really think much of it. I couldn't sleep and neither could Brad. At about 4:45 am Jasmine sat straight up in her sleeping bag because she was WET. The tent had leaked all over her. Her clothes were soaked and she was cold. So, we re-arranged the kiddos and everyone tried to sleep for the next couple hours.

Unfortunately, when we all got up Thursday morning, I found that my tennis shoes were SOAKED. I went to the truck to get the bag with my flip flops and Brad's tennis shoes...but they weren't there. The kids were helping me pack the truck and forgot to give me that bag. I had no other shoes and Brad only had his dress shoes. Say hello to Wally World. We headed there and got Brad and I both some shoes and an air matress and some other odds and ends that we forgot. Once we got back to camp we all headed out on a hike. It was beautiful. The kids had a blast splashing through the water in the ravine. It didn't matter that it was super cold, they had fun anyhow. Benjamin got mad whenever we pulled him out of the water to dry land. The original plan was to have fish that night for dinner but since we hadn't gone fishing yet we pulled out the burgers and grilled those up.

Brad bought Little House on the Praire and started reading that to the kids at night while we were there. (It was a big hit and has continued on since we've been home. The kids are mesmorized by it!) We had put a tarp up over the tent with hopes to keep Thursday nights rain out of the tent and it worked! We did a lot of praying that night though, because the park along with most of Indiana was under a Tornado Warning...or was it a watch? Whichever one means that the conditions are right is what we were under. The kids were a little nervous and to be honest so was I. God kept us safe and we woke up to somewhat sunny skies Friday morning.

Friday we went fishing. It was a very interesting experience having 5 little ones out there and I was nervous about Benjamin falling in the pond. We started out at river (the picture that I took from the covered bridge) and I wasn't very comfortable there at all. There were no bites so we decided to try out the pond at Shades State Park. The pond was where it was at! Jasmine started us out by catching the first Bass and Justin followed soon after with his first fish! He was so excited!!! Jas wound up catching 2 Bass, Justin caught 3 and Brad caught one catfish. We had to throw them all back because they were all too small. It's a good thing I packed hot dogs because we were supposed to have fish for dinner Friday night too. =) On the way back from the pond I dropped Brad and the older kids off at some trails so that they could do a "little" hiking. We failed to tell the kids that the "little" hiking was actually a 3 mile hike. Ooops...guess we left out that detail. They came back exhausted but bustling with stories of what they saw.

Friday nights weather was clear and cold! It got down into the 40s Friday night. We were just a little chilled when we woke up. Benjamin did really good Friday night and fell asleep between Gabe and Justin and couldn't have cared less that I wasn't with him---my little boy is growing up! Saturday we got up and packed everything up before going on one more hike. It was GORGEOUS!!!! The leaves were beautiful and the air was so crisp and clean. I hated having to leave there.

The funnies from the trip though....

-Gabe saying he needed to go to bathroom and stepping out of the tent and into our screened porch to use the restroom. I think the whole campground heard Brad say "NO GABE!!!! OUTSIDE, NOT IN HERE!!!!!!!"

-Justin was half asleep and says, "Mommy, can I watch a movie when I get up." (Like we brought that)

-Jasmine getting mad at me when I laughed at her question, "Can I bring my gameboy?"

-We got some neighbors Thursday. Our little social butterfly started walking circles between our campgrounds....when asked what she was doing, she says "Nothing." But Brad and I both knew that Haeley was trying to get the attention of the little girls...it worked.

-Benjamin "hiding" behind the little tree.

....I could probably think of more, but that's enough for now...