Into The Woods

We went camping in Georgia over Veteran's Day weekend with Marmie and Granda. We stayed in FDR State Park and saw his house in nearby Warm Springs. We loved hiking, geocaching, playing on the camp playground and hanging around the campfire. But I think the high light was the Wld Animal Safari in Pine Mountain. I highly recommend that if you ever get the chance! SO MUCH FUN!!!

These are the pictures from the Wild Animal Safari. The animals stuck their heads right into the car trying to get food. You got to see so many wild animals up close. It was amazing. The girls weren't too sure about it. Kaylin stayed nestled between the driver and passenger seat the whole time. Annlee and Maryella stayed in the trunk part of the van most of the ride. But they still all thought it was pretty cool. There was also a walk about area with a few more animals to see.

The rest of the pictures are from all the other fun we had while we were there.

Kaylin's Camping Journal, Part 2

Here is Kaylin's version of our trip to O'Leno State Park. You can tell that she isn't too much of an outdoorsy girl.

day 1... . We just now spoted a dear! It is back. It is at the end of the day and I got bit all over by bug's. Oh and I am going to get out of the bug's by going to the bathhouse to give my sister a bath. Yay!

Day two, I had a good night sleep last night. Oh we are so cold this morning and I slep in! we are having pancakes today. now I am so warm now that I am next to the fire. I Love the fire. the girl's are watching daddying clene the grill. Last night 8 dear came it scard me so bad. I had 4 tick's on me today it was scary. I hope the drive home is better than this camping trip.

last day.... Today we all are going to pack up and go home. yay. and we all are going fishing. And Daddy is letting me fish with him it will be fun! Gess what I did have fun! and I bet evrybody had fun today. Even little Mis Jellybeen (Elianna) had fun. Daddy gave me green bate he is so nice to all of us. Oh I allmost forgot we packed up our tent and went into the car. we turned on the T.V. And I had 4 tick's on me this trip.

Roughing It, Take Two!

Over Spring Break, we camped not only at Stone Mountain, but also at O'Leno State Park in Florida. We had ended up leaving Stone Mountain a day early and the girls were sad and said that we didn't get to have all of our Spring Break. Jeff and I discussed what we could do with the rest of the week to squeeze a little more fun into our school vacation. We tossed around the zoo and the beach, but nothing seemed right. I was secretly wanting to go somewhere for more than just a day, but hated to say it since we had just spent money on our Stone Mountain trip. But then Jeff suggested going camping again since we were pretty much already packed for it. It's pretty cheap and there was a state park close to home. Perfect idea!!!
So we got home, quickly washed clothes, took a fast trip to the doctor for Maryella who brought a rash home from Stone Mountain (Fifth Disease) and got everything ready to head back out into the woods!
O'Leno is only about 20 minutes south of us and the girls were thrilled with the short drive! We were thrilled with the campground! It was perfect! Very woodsy, flat, near the bath house, great walking trails, wildlife... everything was fabulous!
We pulled up to our campsite and got out to walk around and admire everything. As we were looking around, Annlee pointed out to the woods and said, "Look!!!" We were all amazed to see deer right there at our campsite!

We continued to see them throughout the weekend. They would just come up and stare at us. So neat! Annlee and Maryella loved it, but Kaylin was a little intimidated by them. She practically crawled up in my lap everytime they appeared.
The first day, we got all set up at our campsite. While Jeff set up the big tent, I set up a little tent for the girls as a "playroom". They ended up not playing in it as much as we thought they would, but there were just so many other things to do! We got our tent all set up and our beds ready to go! Our campsite looked great all set up. It was the perfect site, really. And we all had fun playing and just enjoying the great outdoors!Then it was time to explore a little. We found a playground in our campground and let the girls play there for awhile. We walked down a little dirt road next to our campsite. We got ready for supper - hobos on the fire! YUM! And, of course, we roasted marshmallows for smores! My favorite campfood! I love Maryella's version - two marshmallows, very lightly toasted, haha.Then we took our showers and headed to bed. What a great day!

Day two was spent doing lots of hiking!! It was in the 40s when we woke up and we were all freezing! I had made everyone wear socks to bed, but still our toes were cold when we woke up. Jeff had decided to wear 2 pairs of socks and said that it helped. However, he forgot to take off a pair before putting on his shoes so he spent the first part of the day with both pairs of socks! So with the cooler temps, we all started out the day in our jeans and jackets. There was a long swinging bridge on the trail and we enjoyed playing on that!We found a really nice trail and we were able to bring the wagon for Elianna and sometimes Maryella to ride in. Annlee was our trail guide and loved finding all the yellow trail markers. She reminded me of her Uncle Max many years ago when we used to camp! We went back to the campsite and were ready to change into some shorts, eat lunch and let Elianna take a nap. After that, it was time for more hiking! This time, we took a little longer hike, enjoyed a snack in the woods, and found another fun playground.

Just for fun, I thought I'd show off a little of what life is like while camping. Really, you have all the comforts of home. There is a sink to wash dishes. A fridge and pantry to store your food. A dryer, seen in the background here, to dry your towels and washclothes. A stove to cook on. An oven to warm or cook your food. A dining room so we can eat as a family. Room to play indoors. And also notice the air conditioning. Showers (as long as you wear your flip flops!) And comfy beds - this happens to be the master bedroom.

On day three, we got up and packed up our campsite. What a fun trip we had! We decided we would get all ready, get the car packed up, and then head back over to the river we had hiked beside to let Jeff and the girls do some fishing. While Jeff got all set up, the girls found this really cool tree to play on. They fished for awhile and didn't catch much, just a few elusive branch fish and the stray fishing line or two. But they all had fun. And I'll finish off with my favorite picture from the year so far. I just love it! What a good Daddy these girls have! They love him so!