More Fun at the Water's Edge

What is it about water that draws children?  It doesn't matter if it is a mud puddle, lake, or a watering can sitting on the porch, they seem to be instinctively pulled to it like a thirsty desert traveler.  

There was a swimming area in the lake, but before we could find it little toes were itching to get wet, so we walked down to the lake's edge in front of the cabin and tested the waters. 

"Hey Mimi, there's tadpoles in here!"  (Actually, they were tiny minnows.)
"Can we catch them?"

"Come here, you little squirt!  Let me catch you!"

"Uh-oh!  I slipped. " 

"I shouldn't have laughed when she fell!"

Belle showing Gran her treasures

The dragon flies were plentiful.

We spent the afternoon at a nearby park exploring the old grist mill and playing in the creek.

Afterwards, we came back to the cabin and Gran proceeded to teach Spidey how to grill burgers.  The smoke did a number on him though.   He decided he would wait until he turned ten to try and learn that particular skill.

I am really loving these special times.  I know just how quickly they fly by, and it makes me really want to squeeze the most out of every moment.

Another "Grand" Trip

We started out this weekend on another adventure with two of our grandchildren.  We chose to make the travel time a good bit shorter and picked a place with a cabin this time.  The kids loved it and so did we!

 It had a playground which was a real plus in their eyes!  They discovered that pine straw makes a slide go faster, a little trick I remember my dad teaching me when I was a child.

 There was an old see-saw, which they really enjoyed, I wonder why you never see see-saws on playgrounds anymore, I mean other than the fact that kids try to catapult each other off, it's pretty safe, right?

The lake was beautiful, of course, and we all enjoyed just being outside soaking in the beauty.

There was even a few moments of stillness...

but mostly there was a lot of squealing, running, swimming, and trying to catch things.  Belle, who I call Ellie Mae, just loves any sort of critter!  She's always trying to get a closer look, and her brother is pretty eager to help with that sort of endeavor.

We had a great time and I'll share a little more tomorrow.

The Creek

Most of our camping time was spent in the creek.  The creek bottom is covered in rock of various sizes, and all of them are slippery.  I have bruises peppering my body from my many falls. 

The girls loved going up and down the creek, and since they have a much lower center of gravity coupled with a youthful, nimble body, they were able to scurry around much easier than we were.  They both banged their knees a few times, but jumped right up and hustled back and forth like nothing ever happened.

Gran and I used a stick to help us balance in the creek.  Sweet Cheeks and Scooter were tickled pink when Gran cut them one too.

I loved the moments when they were holding hands and helping each other.  

I hope they will always be this close.

Floating down the little ripples was their favorite part.

Happy times!

First Time Campers

Sweet Cheeks and Scooter's first view of the creek

We have big plans of taking all of our grandchildren camping, but we are not so brave as to attempt taking them all at one time.  A couple of years ago we took the oldest and this weekend we took two more.  It was their first camping trip and the anticipation was great!  Sweet Cheeks backed out the day before the trip.  She got homesick just thinking about being away from her parents and other siblings, but when the day arrived she braved up and decided to go.  They both had a blast and the homesickness did not show up again until we were fifteen minutes from home on the return trip.

The ride was a very long one, but we arrived a little before dark, so they got to scope out the site.  Of course, they wanted to see the creek first.

Scooter is a budding naturalist.  She loves learning about plants, insects, and animals, and her current favorite book is Dr. Doolittle.  

Sweet Cheeks resting after a swim.

They wanted to spend every waking moment in the creek!

"Whatever it was, she did it!"

"Can we get back in the water now???"

We cooked a little in the Dutch ovens, and did a little exploring.  A huge fuzzy red and black ant entertained us for a while.  He moved too fast to get a good picture.

Dragonflies kept drinking water off our skin when we were in the creek, and butterflies were plentiful.  The sweetest lavendar one seemed to follow us everywhere.

We marveled over plants and various flowers while the birds sang to us from overhead.  We tried desperately to escape the mosquitos, but they always managed to out manuver us, so we brought a few bites home with our souvenirs.

They girls wanted to climb every tree they passed.

Gran had lots of help building the fire.

It was too hot to really enjoy the fire, but what is camping without a fire, so we did build one.  We didn't sit around it though.

It was a wonderful trip.  When we asked if they wanted to come back again they replied quickly, "Yeah, tomorrow!!!"