Camping

These just happen to be in chronological order.  I'm too lazy right now to do it any other way.

Now that Howard is finally home for some warm weather and the kids are getting older, I really wanted to go camping for my birthday. Well that didn't happen, so I decided Mother's day weekend would be a good time.  I obviously didn't know when Mother's day was when we scheduled this trip, because we didn't change the date.  We went this past weekend!  And, it wasn't warm while we were there either.  I guess it's better than being miserably hot.  Although we look forward to going back to get in the rivers, lakes, and natural pools at the Chickasaw National Rec Area.  It was SO BEAUTIFUL! As I was packing for our trip, I realized we were terribly underprepared, so I had to get some Amazon and Walmart shopping done for us to go.

Erin sitting around the campfire.  With the Oklahoma wind, we never knew which chair would get hit with the smoke.  It was terrible!  

Luke in his new kiddie camp chair, all bundled up!

This was the river behind our campsite.  

Dash had to be tied up or on a leash at all times.  He didn't like that!

I'm not much for cooking out in the wild, so we have cold cereal when we camp, but I make sure I buy the good stuff that we normally don't eat.  We also eat simple sandwiches for lunch, and had foil packet dinners that I had prepared at home.

About a 10 minute drive from our campsite was Lake of the Arbuckles.  We were wishing we had a boat when we went there.

Skipping rocks!

Silliness!

One of the natural pools.  The water was so clear, I was wishing it was warmer so we could jump in.  I don't like swimming in lakes, but this was different.  I could see the bottom of it.

Both afternoons I ended up going on a long walk with Dash (by myself...heaven!)  I walked along a trail that followed this river.

Here I am almost at the top of the summit.  I know it's not very high up, but the last time I was this high up what when I was in a tall building in downtown OKC.  It's pretty flat in the metro area, so this was very refreshing!

The second night we had very nice camp neighbors.  The Mom brough 5 boys for a birthday party sleepover...and they were all Howie's age.  Here we are at their camp site and Luke is attempting to smile on command.  He's normally not this challenged at smiling.

This is just a picture that I like.

On my walk on day 2.

These rock wall and bridges were built by the CCC during the Great Depression.

Jack was in charge of packing toys...of course he brought his dinosaurs.

We played lots of Slap Jack and a little Uno.  

Most of the trip was great, mostly because we were in a beautiful place.  But I learned a lot about my kids while camping...they are deficient in outdoor common sense.  Howard and I were very frustrated with them, but we know it's our job to teach them the skills they need to be responsible outdoors in nature.  It's just hard sometimes to do it without yelling. We also got a few ticks on us, but were able to get rid of them quickley.  Since there were no bugs flying around annoying us, we forgot to apply the bug spray.  I know better now.

We will definitly go back. I can't wait for school to get out because it's close enough for day trips.