camping

well, for a minor picture overload, here's some of our camping trip last weekend. it was paul's spring break, though he still had to work long hours almost every day, he did manage to take friday off so we could go camping with our good friends. we had a blast, trying out a new state park (new to us). it's rather small and has a nice little lake, called Meridian SP. it was nice, and although we were rather close to the highway, there was also a little creek running just behind our campsite, so the noise balanced out.

here's a picture of my personal favorite part of camping:

manly men making dinner for everyone

(yes mike, we girls love to be pampered)--fabulous baby back ribs (paul's specialty), almost done potatoes, and grilled asparagus, fancy feast!

another big favorite for everyone was our "hike" we didn't go very far, but the kids all made it, and we had a great time and saw some beautiful scenery:

though the kids favorite part of the hike was stopping to throw rocks in the creek :)

this picture also cracks me up... what, if you can imagine, could possibly keep four children between 18 months and 3 1/2 totally enthralled to the point that they drag their chairs across camp and SIT STILL for up to TEN minutes at a time to watch???

yep... that's right

horseshoes...

and i think mike beat paul every single game :)

a traditional favorite part of any campout:

roasting marshmellows

for smores... YUM!

and for lunch time on saturday we weren't planning on building the fire back up, but afton really wanted a fire, so she gathered the sticks herself and mr. michael helped her get her big bonfire going. she LOVED it!

we spent a bit of time "boating" on the fishing pier, which was a floating pier and rocked just enough to feel it :) (the kids were looking for fish and alligators, but i don't think anyone found any)

who is this dirty, dirty child?

and last but not least... the ride home was very peaceful i think camping was a success!