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!!!"

Busy Summer

It has been a whirlwind of a summer so far!  I spent a week at camp with 2 of my grandchildren (don't tell but we snuck back home to sleep in our beds at night).  Then there was a week spent in the woods with my husband camping redneck style, followed by a week working in VBS.  This week I've been busy canning salsa and blueberry jam.   Whew!  It makes me tired again just thinking of it all!

Below are a few highlights of our camping trip.

He really enjoyed panning for gold, but alas no luck this time.

He caught a few fish

We did a little Dutch oven cooking.

This is the after shot of the meal above.  It looks a lot more appetizing here doesn't it?

At least one morning of camping calls for homemade biscuits, don't you think?

Now this wasn't cooked in the Dutch oven, but it sure was good!

This may have been my favorite part.

It was beautiful up and down stream!

Things have grown up a lot since our last trip.

We were surrounded by beauty, and the birdsongs were amazing!

...and her nest of eggs

Sweet little momma bird...

Up until now you thought I was kidding about redneck camping.

But, hey, it's not too bad inside, especially when he puts the ac in that little hole in the wall.

We even watched old episodes of Daniel Boone projected onto the side of the trailer.


It was one of the most relaxing trips I've had in a long time.  I took my chair out into the creek
and sat and read, and just let the water swirl all around.

I could have stayed for another week easily!  I didn't see a soul other than my husband for 6 days.  

Last Camp of the Season

I suppose last weekend's camping trip was probably the last one of the season. The water is too cold for swimming, and it gets mighty cool in the evenings in a nylon tent. However, we had a wonderful time. My parents, one of my brothers and my sister-in-law went with us.

This is very close to where my parents grew up, and they took us on a little jaunt to some of their old stomping grounds.

The scenery was beautiful, as was the weather.

Even the drive was beautiful, howbeit, very bumpy! Some of the way we rode across what looked to me to be ditches running across the road, and other times big boulders were part of the roadway which was pretty narrow, making it hard to dodge the various problem spots . I didn't take any pictures of those though because I was too busy taking in the more lovely aspects.

From time to time we got out and hiked a little.

We did a lot of looking...well, there was a lot to see.

Doesn't my brother remind you of Huckleberry Finn with his britches legs rolled up?

Some of the leaves were beginning to turn, like little patches of fire here and there.

Of course there were the regular camping activities, like campfires, tents, cooking, finding and chopping firewood, and setting up camp.