Spring Break

 Back in March we decided to go camping.  I am not a big fan of midwest camping at the height of summer - 104 degrees + 95% humidity = very unhappy momma from the Northwest!  So we went in March!  And we went south, hoping to catch a little more warmth than we were getting here.  We landed in Devil's Den State Park where we enjoyed hikes, crawdad chasing, paddle boats, and a ginormous new tent (car camping just got way more comfy).  Spring was just around the corner - there may not have been many leaves on the trees, but the grass was green, and there were no mosquitoes, no ticks, and no humidity!  And there were beautiful hills and valleys and rivers and lakes.  Here are a handful of pictures from our little adventure.

 Baby A is such a big kid (she needs a new blog alias - "Baby" is just wishful thinking @ this point) - she tore off her shoes and socks and followed K-lady and J-boy right out into the stream.  Joseph tried to get them to herd some crawdads into captivity, but it didn't quite work. :)  They still loved it.  This was the evening of the first day - right after we took these photos, we hopped back into the car and drove a half hour to the nearest town w/ a sports bar - we watched the last BYU March Madness game over dinner.  :)

That's Joseph' pop can stove on the top left, and J-boy looking for fossils on the bottom right. :) We went to one of the park ranger classes at the visitors center on fossils.  5 minutes into the 1/2 hr. presentation, the ranger asked if any of us had any questions up to that point.  J-boy raised his hand politely, and asked, "When is this going to be over?"  :)  Love it.

"I haven't had anything yet, so how can I have some more of nothing?"  "You're killin' me, Smalls!"

 Baby A was in HEAVEN when it was finally her turn on the paddle boat.

 Cheese whiz & crackers, granola bars & lemonade for lunch.  All the essential food groups, right?  K-lady was thoroughly grossed out by the cheese whiz texture.  Can't say that I blame her.

 Devil's Den was built by the CCC back in the 30's - beautiful trails, cool old caves (closed down so the bats don't all die of some weird bat disease spreading across America that makes them wake up from hibernation early, then starve to death because there aren't enough bugs around to eat), amazing stone shelters & dams.  In the Visitor's Center they had some of the old original CCC newsletters from the camp titled The Voice of Satan.  HA!  Cheeky little Depression boys, right?  :)

The day we got there was beautiful - sunny, about 70 degrees or so.  The next day dropped down to the 50's-60's and drizzled a bit, and that last night we had a HUGE thunderstorm - the kids slept through it alright (amazingly enough!), but Joseph and I stared at each other wide eyed for a couple hours.  It cleared up enough in the morning for us to get up and make breakfast and pack up camp.  The temperature kept dropping and by the time we got home, it was just cold (that's frost on the window on the way home - she was very protective of her junk food even in her sleep :).  That night we slept snug in our beds while it flurried outside. 

Yay for the first camping trip of the year! :)