Another Camping Trip

This past weekend, we loaded the camper back up (actually, we never really fully unpacked it) and headed back up to Lake Lanier for another weekend in the outdoors. Since we had enjoyed the location so much the first week, we were excited about returning. We checked Trinity out of school a little bit early and got on the road.

This group was a little bit different than the last group. We had three other families from our church and one family of our friends through Auburn. We had a total of 11 kids, 10 adults and lots and lots of fun.

All the kids - except without Bryce and Dawson

Since Xander seemed to be having fun on his little bike on the last trip, we asked Craig's parents to get him a new big-boy bike for his birthday. (Craig's parents really enjoy getting bikes for the kids and we hadn't had a chance to see them for Xander's birthday. So, we just bought the bike and gave it to him saying it was from them.) He's still figuring out how to actually pedal, instead of just be pulled along by the nearest adult, but he had a fun time. He was just as excited about his bike helmet "with the fire on it".

By Sunday morning, Xander was getting a bit creative about how to ride a bike.

Two of the other kids, Riley and Owen, also had their bikes on the trip. The key was that their bikes had their training wheels off. Now, let us see peer pressure working for the good. Within about an hour of seeing that, Trinity asked for her training wheels to be taken off. She did extremely well for her first two-wheeled riding. She took a bit of a spill late Saturday afternoon, but we were really, really pleased with her. Kalyn didn't want to be left out - she asked for her training wheels off too. We tried, but realized that she needed a bit more balancing skills before they come off for good. We were proud of her trying, though.

Go, Trinity!!!

You're almost there, Kalyn!!

Weatherwise, it wasn't too bad. Unfortunately, it rained a bit on Friday night. Fortunately, it was mostly after the kids had gone to bed and infringed only on the adults-sit-around-the-fire-time. The fire was a bit shaded by a tree, which made for fairly good cover for a while. We did get the chance to enjoy a few smores before we decided to go for cover. Friday night was filled with Steele's stories of his time in the Navy. I can honestly say that I cannot remember the last time my sides hurt from laughing so hard. They were amazing stories!! Plus, hearing it with Steele's personal humor and editorials made them priceless. Saturday was simply cool and cold all day. The sun was out and when you found yourself standing in the sun, it was just perfect.


There were games of tossing the frisbee and kicking the football. The biggest threat was the newly-risen water line. Craig made quite a few saves of the toys! The kids had tons of fun playing in the sand at the playground. We remembered all the sand toys that we had forgotten at the last trip, which made the sand much more fun. They played freeze tag and Marco Polo all around the playground. We went on lots of walks around the campground. Kalyn had been given an assignment from her preschool class to go on a nature walk and gather things she found in a plastic bag. What a perfect weekend for that homework. She picked up leaves, acorns, sweet gum balls, berries, rocks, flowers, various fungi and a huge, mammoth mushroom. (I wish I had gotten a picture of it, but I forgot.) By the end of the day, I had given out a few more bags for the other kids to keep their treasures in.

Sand play

Heading out on a nature walk

Checking out what's in the lake - that's Trinity, Xander, Owen, Kalyn and Riley (left to right)

Frisbee play

Really, what's a camping trip without wonderful, glorious smores? Yumm - it's my favorite part of camping.

Saturday night, we made dinner for the campers - our camping staple of rice and chicken, bread and a new dessert - apple cobbler deluxe. We love cooking in the dutch ovens! Craig's become a master at it!

It was a perfect weekend. We had great friends around. We enjoyed being together as a family. What a blessing to get away and relax for a bit!!