Camping

Please...I beg you...let me go into this black hole in the earth...I MUST!!!!!
Oh please, oh please, oh please...

We went on our first camping trip last week end. Pack n' play, check, blow up mattress and down comforter (hee-hee! Momma doesn't own a sleeping bag) check, a bazillion other things (just in case), check. I have a more realistic list now of essential camping items for my family, but by the looks of the truck the first one was pretty impressive.

Our first stop was a beautiful natural bridge. It is hard to tell from the picture just how enormous the bridge was. Nick is actually going down hill. We visited the park once before and I was the only one to discover this spot. I wanted to take every one back to enjoy it. But first we hiked a pretty normal trail up to the top of a cliff. Little did my family know the leaf covered, not so interesting trail was hiding this beneath their little feet.

Later Daddy took all the little people on a cave tour. Samuel vibrated with enthusiasm, Lillian was impressed with the guide Jonathan, and Sophia snored. They saw a tiny bat, a stalactite chandelier and when the lights were turned off... absolutely nothing.
Meanwhile I was back at our tent trying to figure out how to start a fire without a lighter. I was supposed to be cooking dinner. I sat in a camp chair wondering why Nick had left me with no lighter. He had, it was in my pocket. How the heck did it get there? I have no clue. I also do not remember getting the baby out of her crib last night and some how I also missed the point which Nick went to sleep on the couch. Sad, I had the whole bed to myself and didn't know it. Anyway, the fire was started and the beef stew was an empowering accomplishment and very tasty.

Ok, my children think that an authentic Appalachia camping trip requires bare feet. Yes, and a coon skin cap (no pic, sorry)!

Good morning 49 degrees!

Hello yucky pancakes, but yummy bacon and eggs...and coffee...and FIRE!

Lillian took this picture. I love autumn!

West coast mountains are panoramic, breathtaking, and grand. In Washington the tall strong evergreens dominate the landscape, in California the mountains look like God picked up a carpet and shook it out. The east coast mountains in my opinion are quiet and supple; like they are keeping a secret.

This was just the secret we were hoping for. There was only a rough trail with no trail markers. But, Samuel doesn't understand "No trail markers" so off he went around the bend and through the low limbs of trees. This was a cave. It looked like the roof had started to fall in. Before Nick and I could decide how to proceed our son had already climbed to the top (he is like Waldo, see if you can find him in the picture). It is evidence of two major points, one, Nick and I are slow to make decisions and two, Samuel doesn't like to wait around to find out what they are going to be. And that is all pretty normal at our house. Anyway, I was only kind of waiting for a wild animal to come crawling out of one of the 20 holes in the wall looking for a sweet little boy morsel (or a Momma...morsel ;0)

Bless him, he didn't get to go far, but he did get to go!
(the shoes you see are actually Lillian's, you can't see Samuel)