Camping: Part 2

The next morning Patrick decided to get a fire going so the kids could roast marshmallows. Yep, you read that right. They ate marshmallows before their breakfast.

 Madeline picked me some flowers.

 You see that book that Havi is playing with in the shot above?  That would be our Florida field guide.  We spent a lot of time looking at it, which meant she just had to have it.  A good toddler tantrum would ensue if she couldn't have a look also.

After breakfast, we headed back to the water.  The clouds were a refreshing change from the super hot, sunny outing from the day before.

 Havi loved the sand...and to be the boss.

 The kids liked climbing on these dangerous rocks.  The current on the other side of the swimming area is intense because it's where the river empties out into the ocean.  Scary stuff.

 Patrick saw Madeline chilling on the rocks and called me over to get a photo of her...except Phillip decided to be a photo bomber.

 After frollicking in the water, we headed back to the campsite for some lunch.  It rained on and off during the afternoon.  During a break in the rain, we headed over to the pier to fish.  We didn't catch anything, but our time there was abbreviated because it started to rain.  Naturally, I kept checking the sky as sunset approached, hoping the clouds would create some drama.  They weren't as dramatic as the night before, but it was still nice to see it set over the river.

I actually ran back down to the water with a towel draped over me because it was raining when I took this shot.

Well, we really truly enjoyed our time glamping.  And we seriously can't wait to do it again.  We're so grateful for kind, fun loving, generous friends, and we love spending time with them.

Our camping trip- Part 1

We really enjoyed our time camping last weekend.  It was so much fun to stay at one of our beautiful state parks with our dear friends.  We did a lot of chillaxin' both inside the campers and outdoors.  I loved sleeping right in the middle of nature...walking outside and straight to the water's edge.  It was just so peaceful, something we could get used to.

Anyway, the first morning we woke up at sunrise.  So I quickly grabbed my camera to capture the moment.

Since we were staying pretty close to home, our friends' kids went to their gymnastics and soccer camps, and Patrick went to work.  I decided to take the dumplings down to the water by myself.

Once everybody returned back to the campsite, the kids went right to playing.  They often went down to the water to walk along the rocks.

We grilled out for dinner and cooled off with some tasty watermelon.

Then after dinner, we went back down to the water to watch the dolphins and sunset and to throw skip rocks.

We had a fantastic first night camping/glamping.  Havi did extremely well. A few months ago when our friends asked us if we'd be interested in joining them, I was concerned that Havi might not do well.  I was preparing for a very difficult transition home and was afraid to commit.  But Havi didn't bat an eyelash.  She had a blast and slept and ate well.  I was relieved.  Caleb and Madeline thoroughly enjoyed themselves too.  The heat and the bugs didn't bother them nearly as much as I thought they would.  Yay.  I do have a few photos I took from our second day, but I figure this is enough photo overload.

We are headed to Deb and Andy's today to celebrate our niece and nephew's birthdays.  The dumplings are excited to see their cousins.  Then tomorrow we are going to have Havi dedicated at our church.  So we have a busy weekend.  But it's all good.  Hope you all enjoy your weekend too!

Summer fun

Well this summer fun has kept us extremely busy since coming back home with Havi.  Oy!  It's like we haven't skipped a beat.  These photos I'm sharing are old, like 3 weeks old...but I'm sharing them because they happen to be the start of all this hot, outdoor fun.

I had determined that, since I had no jet lag upon returning from China, we would be spending time outdoors.  So we headed to our favorite park.

Caleb is such a great big brother, pushing Havi on the swing.

That bruise on her cheek was from when she fell at the pediatrician's office many moons ago.

We ended up seeing Stefan and his little sister Belle playing tennis, and that's when Caleb was approached again about lessons.   Well, you know what happened next.

 Madeline initially did some lessons with Caleb, but her time on the court was brief.

I spend my time either courtside with the girls or playing with them on the playground.  The court is adjacent to the playground.  So I can still see Caleb practice.  Love that.  I actually managed to videotape part of a rally that Caleb had going with his coach at his second lesson.  This was only half of the rally.

He really has learned so quickly.  So now Caleb no longer practices on the small court.  He's stricktly on the full court.  He'll be practicing every day this week because his coach will soon go away to college.  I'm so proud of his work ethic and attitude.  It's really quite remarkable considering just how hot it is to play tennis in Florida in August.  Lessons are right in the middle of the morning. So our school day today went a bit longer than I would have liked.  We might have to change to afternoon lessons next week.  

Anyway, we actually just returned from a weekend of "glamping", that's a fancy word for glamorous camping.  Friends of ours have an RV.  They also have a travel trailer so friends can tag along.  We were fortunate enough to be those friends this past weekend.  I took a bunch of photos that I will share soon.  The dumplings are already telling us how much they miss camping.  Some big time fun might be on the horizon for this bunch.