Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Camping in Cleveland!

We had our first camping trip Memorial Day weekend at Findley State Park, about 45 minutes west of us.  It's a pretty wooded park, with a small lake.   It was not an ideal place to camp, but it was nearby.   The forecast was great, sunny and warm all weekend.

The weekend had it's ups and downs.  We got to our site at 3pm.  We've stayed in better, but it was okay.  There was a lot of very tall grass everywhere, but thankfully the park staff came with a weed wacker and things improved.  There wasn't a lot of privacy, but we didn't have any people right next to us.

It was a busy park and there were a lot of scheduled activities (family games, ranger talks, kids craft, etc.) which we mostly avoided, except for the Ranger talk about Homing pigeons.  We found it ridiculous and annoying that there was a "Karaoke/Dance Party" Saturday night where they blasted the music until 10pm (we were trying to sleep at 9:30).  We could hear the "I'm sexy and you know it" lyrics and bass thumping 1/2 mile away.  We did complain in the morning and were told that they didn't realize their new sound system was so loud.  They apologized and said it wouldn't happen again.   Whatever, we probably won't be back.






There were definitely some positives about the weekend.  We made our first attempt at cooking on the fire (usually it's the camp stove) and it actually worked out really well.  The kids loved the corn on the cob!



The kids enjoyed riding their bikes around the campground 



and playing in the mud!




We spent our first morning relaxing by the lake and even went for a short canoe ride!





There was a nice trail close to our site that went around the lake.  



We listened to a range talk about homing pigeons and saw baby geese!



The weekend was going really well until Sunday about 5pm.  The kids were getting pretty cranky after two nights of little sleep and playing in the sun all day and it was getting really hot.  The mosquitos (which weren't a problem the previous night) were starting to buzz around my head and were really eating Jake.  We were going to push through, but then the camp stove ran out of propane as I was just starting to cook an omelette (we didn't have extra).  We had a family meeting and decided to throw everything in the car, order pizza on the way home and camp out in the living room.  We could unpack in the morning and then go to the pool.  This was the good thing about being close by.  I didn't want to give up on camping, but I didn't want to stay and be miserable.  We ended up having a great Memorial Day at home and a great time at the pool :) 







Sunday, May 18, 2014

12th Anniversary

We had a wonderful 12th Anniversary trip that included a B&B, beer tasting, steakhouse dinner, live music at a local brewery, zip lining and a night in a private treehouse built by the Treehouse Masters!




















Thursday, May 8, 2014

More Kansas Pics!



As long as Jake has vehicles, he's happy





Grace is happy with treats 


and dogs


and boats!



Working Hard?


Or hardly working? 


Easter!!  It was a beautiful morning to find eggs!!




Monday, April 28, 2014

Easter in Kansas

We spent Easter Weekend in Kansas.   It's a long 13 hour drive, but it was time for a visit so we decided to just suck it up and go.  What are the chances Jake will come down with a stomach virus the very day we are leaving......apparently 100%.  Poor guy threw up every hour for the first 4 hours (and poor me because I had to sit next to him)!  It was rough but we spent the night in a hotel and the next day went much better.  We did manage to get back home in one day, leaving at 7am and getting home at 11pm.   I had a good book, the kids had movies and Matt had a book on tape.

Once we finally got there we had a great time visiting, relaxing, fishing and playing.  Totally worth the drive (once a year anyway).


Relaxing on the porch watching a beautiful sunset (and drinking a beer).  
Not a bad evening!



Cousins!



Poor guy wasn't quite himself over the weekend (stomach bug) but four-wheelers and tractors perked him up!



He was pretty excited about peeing on a post too!





Fishing!



Matt got the prize for catching the smallest fish (Grace caught five, I think they were all bigger) 



My turn to drive...