We left our house early Tuesday, July 1 to go to Indy for Breanna's annual MRI at Riley Outpatient Center. Her brain tumor didn't change PTL! After the MRI and doctor visit, we went to our wonderful hotel, Comfort Suites. We had a full kitchen with a full sized fridge, microwave, two burners, a dishwasher, and small sink! We could put our cooler items in the fridge and re-freeze the ice we brought. We were able to get the friends and family rate (thanks Bekki!).
We stayed in the hotel for two nights. We spent one day at White River State Park and went through the Indiana State Museum. The next day we went through the Indianapolis Museum of Art before we headed to Shades State Park for our 4 nights of camping.
Friday morning it rained until 1pm. Around 11, we decided to go to a Walmart and get a canopy so we could at least have a place to sit during the rain. By the time we got back, it had stopped raining and didn't rain until we were on the road home but at least we have a canopy that will be used a lot especially for Breanna's open house next spring.
After the rain, we took a hike on the Shades trails. We chose the two rugged trails. They were nice but muddy because of the rain.
The next day we didn't do much of anything. Amber and Matt came around 5:30 to stay for two nights. Sunday, we went on a 8-mile canoe trip down Sugar Creek near Turkey Run. After canoing, we went miniature golfing 18 holes. I won the front nine but came in close to last in the back nine. The back nine were definitely harder!
We heard thunder and lightening on Monday morning around 5:30. At 6am we decided we'd better break camp while everything was still dry. We had planned to eat breakfast and then break camp. We got everyone up and were on the road around 7. It started raining as we drove to a restaurant to eat breakfast.
Highlights of camping:
Having the whole family together for two days and nights!
Getting away from electronics and spending time together as a family.
The first night Amber and Matt were there, I laughed so hard I cried real tears. Something struck me funny so I was laughing already. Amber said what I thought was, "Are you wearing your black party shirt?" I thought she thought that was why I was being so giddy and laughed and laughed, while tears were pouring down my face. (She was really asking if I was wearing the "Block Party Shirt" that their church had made up for their annual block party in the neighborhood.) Matt asked me why that was funny. I said, while laughing hard, "It's not really funny!" and kept on laughing. Everyone was looking at me very funny. It reminded me of my sister Jenny.
Kyle made a "cigarette" by rolling up a tree leaf and lighting one end of it. He didn't inhale he said. He said it tasted good, kind of sweet. Jezra tried it too.
Raccoons! Every night right after we turned out the lantern and went to our tents, we would hear the raccoons messing around with our stuff. The last evening we were there, we didn't turn on our lantern, we just sat around the fire. As the fire died down, the raccoons got braver. Breanna was sitting on the picnic table with her back to the table part. She heard a noise behind her. She turned her head and looked right into the face of a raccoon. She screamed, jumped up and ran away from the table. After that, Matt (and Bob) would be sitting around the campfire and then all the sudden turning on the flashlight toward the woods. We would be able to see the raccoons on the edge of our campsite. We put out peanuts and they came pretty close. One even put a paw on Bob's foot! What fun!
During the night, the raccoons would fight. They have a pig kind of oink when they fight. We would wake up hearing them really go at it.
The camp was totally full except for one or two sights over the holiday weekend but Sunday evening when we came back from canoing, we were one of maybe four or five campers. We had the showers and flush toilets (that we had to walk about 10 minutes to get to) all to ourselves. One morning I waited a good 1/2 hour to get in to the showers because the DNR was cleaning them first. Lots of women were waiting but I was the second one in line so I got into shower 2 right away when they were done and the restroom was clean for a second at least.
It's good to be home in our own beds but we so enjoyed camping. We decided next time we will either do tent camping or hotel sleeping but not both. It made for a lot of different things to bring along and trying to keep food cold for that long was hard even with our 5 day cooler.
The first night in our own bed, I woke up to pee and got very disoriented. I walked around our bed and stopped in front of the towel rakes outside our bathroom. I stood there for a minute trying to figure out which way to go. It was so weird!
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We stayed in the hotel for two nights. We spent one day at White River State Park and went through the Indiana State Museum. The next day we went through the Indianapolis Museum of Art before we headed to Shades State Park for our 4 nights of camping.
Friday morning it rained until 1pm. Around 11, we decided to go to a Walmart and get a canopy so we could at least have a place to sit during the rain. By the time we got back, it had stopped raining and didn't rain until we were on the road home but at least we have a canopy that will be used a lot especially for Breanna's open house next spring.
After the rain, we took a hike on the Shades trails. We chose the two rugged trails. They were nice but muddy because of the rain.
The next day we didn't do much of anything. Amber and Matt came around 5:30 to stay for two nights. Sunday, we went on a 8-mile canoe trip down Sugar Creek near Turkey Run. After canoing, we went miniature golfing 18 holes. I won the front nine but came in close to last in the back nine. The back nine were definitely harder!
We heard thunder and lightening on Monday morning around 5:30. At 6am we decided we'd better break camp while everything was still dry. We had planned to eat breakfast and then break camp. We got everyone up and were on the road around 7. It started raining as we drove to a restaurant to eat breakfast.
Highlights of camping:
Having the whole family together for two days and nights!
Getting away from electronics and spending time together as a family.
The first night Amber and Matt were there, I laughed so hard I cried real tears. Something struck me funny so I was laughing already. Amber said what I thought was, "Are you wearing your black party shirt?" I thought she thought that was why I was being so giddy and laughed and laughed, while tears were pouring down my face. (She was really asking if I was wearing the "Block Party Shirt" that their church had made up for their annual block party in the neighborhood.) Matt asked me why that was funny. I said, while laughing hard, "It's not really funny!" and kept on laughing. Everyone was looking at me very funny. It reminded me of my sister Jenny.
Kyle made a "cigarette" by rolling up a tree leaf and lighting one end of it. He didn't inhale he said. He said it tasted good, kind of sweet. Jezra tried it too.
Raccoons! Every night right after we turned out the lantern and went to our tents, we would hear the raccoons messing around with our stuff. The last evening we were there, we didn't turn on our lantern, we just sat around the fire. As the fire died down, the raccoons got braver. Breanna was sitting on the picnic table with her back to the table part. She heard a noise behind her. She turned her head and looked right into the face of a raccoon. She screamed, jumped up and ran away from the table. After that, Matt (and Bob) would be sitting around the campfire and then all the sudden turning on the flashlight toward the woods. We would be able to see the raccoons on the edge of our campsite. We put out peanuts and they came pretty close. One even put a paw on Bob's foot! What fun!
During the night, the raccoons would fight. They have a pig kind of oink when they fight. We would wake up hearing them really go at it.
The camp was totally full except for one or two sights over the holiday weekend but Sunday evening when we came back from canoing, we were one of maybe four or five campers. We had the showers and flush toilets (that we had to walk about 10 minutes to get to) all to ourselves. One morning I waited a good 1/2 hour to get in to the showers because the DNR was cleaning them first. Lots of women were waiting but I was the second one in line so I got into shower 2 right away when they were done and the restroom was clean for a second at least.
It's good to be home in our own beds but we so enjoyed camping. We decided next time we will either do tent camping or hotel sleeping but not both. It made for a lot of different things to bring along and trying to keep food cold for that long was hard even with our 5 day cooler.
The first night in our own bed, I woke up to pee and got very disoriented. I walked around our bed and stopped in front of the towel rakes outside our bathroom. I stood there for a minute trying to figure out which way to go. It was so weird!