This blog will most likely be my longest yet as I want to document our first week long adventure as an "RV Family", so I apologize in advance for I may bore some of you. Befo
re we left on Sunday morning, Leigha was baptized. I was so proud of her. She just beamed like a little ray of sunshine as Solomon took her confession. When she came up out the water she asked me, "Mom, did he get all of me, did he get the top of my head, and is it ok if he didn't?" She is such a special girl and I know God has great things in store for her. Most of our families were in attendance and her grandma Rachel gave her a dainty little cross necklace as a token of remembrance, very sweet. It was an awesome way to start our week. We arrived at the Jellystone Campground in Fremont, IN on Sunday evening 7/20/09. After the ranger took us to our site and we got settled the fun began. We were conveniently located right beside the playground, so the girls spent a lot of time there. In fact, Leigha had already made friends after only having been there a couple hours. We took a bike ride around the grounds to scope the place out. Shortly after returning Austin took off on his bicycle only to return in tears, limping. He'd just had the worst wipe out he'd ever had on his bike. He'd managed to scrap up both knees, almost all his fingers on one hand and a toe. I honestly thought
he was going to pass out on me he was in so much pain. His wounds were large enough that even the large band aids in my first aid supplies weren't big enough. I had to go to the camp store and purchase gauze pads and medical tape...Are you kidding me...We've only been on vacation a few hours? We spent 10 minutes, twice a day for the next three days changing bandages. It seemed as if his week might be ruined but he quickly bounced back and only let the injuries keep him down about 24 hrs. Later that evening while Austin was recuperating, I took the girls to the indoor pool swimming and tried to ruin their dinner with ice cream. We ended our first day on just the right note...hot dogs and smores over the campfire. On Monday, I took the girls to the pool and water park while Larry and Austin went exploring (Austin wasn't too interesting in soaking his wounds in the chlorine at this point) After meeting back at the RV for a quick lunch and the boys' stories of the new RV's they had drooled over at the next door sales park, we went to the catch and release pond for a little fishing. I decided after just a few minutes of fishing with my kids the sport should be renamed to "Cast and Reel". Abbie would almost immediately ask after Austin had just cast her line, "Do I reel it in now?" Needless to say the fish weren't biting and the kids were bored pretty quickly. We continued to cruise the grounds on our bikes checking out the multiple playgrounds. However, it paid off as
Abbie
learned to cross the monkey bars all by herself! Tuesday we split up in the morning again (I say morning, but our schedules were so off that we weren't even up and around until nearly 10 am everyday) I took the girls to the pool again and lunch at the snack bar while the boys rented a boat to try fishing on the lake w/much more success. Austin caught at least five fish, 4 blue gill and a small mouth bass. We ended the night with another campfire, burgers and a board game. Wednesday was our worst weather day so we spent it doing my favorite...shopping! I wanted to catch some deals on summer clearance and school shopping so we headed to the nearby outlet malls. The girls spent all their souvenir money and we had lunch at "Timbuktu's", a little hole in the wall
restaurant specializing in their own homemade soups, sauces and desserts...YUM! We started Thursday off with a a big pancake breakfast. Then we were off to another park for some more quality time on the monkey bars. After lunch Leigha and Austin rode the water slides while Abbie enjoyed the pool again. She could touch in about half the pool and thought it was so cool to not have to wear floaties. On Friday we relocated to another campsite about 1 1/2 hrs closer to home near Wolcottville, IN called Indian Lakes Campground. After getting settled we did our usual bike tour of the grounds discovering yet another awesome playground where Abbie would live out most her weekend. That evening we went to the indoor heated pool for a nice relaxing swim before bed. When we arrived we were only five of less than 10 people there, however, that number quickly grew to nearly 45 people with the next 1/2 hour and it became a bit crowded to say the least. We enjoyed it in spite of the crowd then went back to the campsite for our late night campfire, hot dogs and smores. When Saturday came I was already dreading the return of reality counting down the T-minus 48 hrs. and counting that I had to soak up my family. It rained during the night so everything was pretty soggy when we woke up. It took all of us awhile to get motivated but as the day cleared up our energy levels did too. Its amazing what a little sunshine will do. We got out the cornhole and hillbilly golf games and played awhile before lunch. After lunch we decided to rent a canoe and paddle around the lake. Because the canoe wouldn't hold all five of us, Austin, Leigha and I went first. Austin and I didn't make too bad a team after we got the hang of it. We paddled around the whole lake in about an hour collecting some lily
pad flowers along the way. Larry and I then took Abbie out in the canoe while Austin and Leigha played on the shore in the sand. We timed our next trip to the pool that evening hoping the campground bingo night would lessen the crowd a bit. We went to bed that evening late planning on possible spending an extra night because we were having such a good time. When we woke up Larry realized he had several things to do on Monday morning before the went into work and we should really all go home Sunday. However, we talked the campground owners into letting us stay until the evening so we could do some more biking, swimming, playing, etc. We just didn't want the week to end. We left the campground around 6 pm, stopped for supper and ice cream on the way home, and arrived in Wabash a little after eight...just in time to see the most beautiful full rainbow I've probably ever seen. It truly was a blessed week and God had just put his mark of approval on it!
re we left on Sunday morning, Leigha was baptized. I was so proud of her. She just beamed like a little ray of sunshine as Solomon took her confession. When she came up out the water she asked me, "Mom, did he get all of me, did he get the top of my head, and is it ok if he didn't?" She is such a special girl and I know God has great things in store for her. Most of our families were in attendance and her grandma Rachel gave her a dainty little cross necklace as a token of remembrance, very sweet. It was an awesome way to start our week. We arrived at the Jellystone Campground in Fremont, IN on Sunday evening 7/20/09. After the ranger took us to our site and we got settled the fun began. We were conveniently located right beside the playground, so the girls spent a lot of time there. In fact, Leigha had already made friends after only having been there a couple hours. We took a bike ride around the grounds to scope the place out. Shortly after returning Austin took off on his bicycle only to return in tears, limping. He'd just had the worst wipe out he'd ever had on his bike. He'd managed to scrap up both knees, almost all his fingers on one hand and a toe. I honestly thought 
he was going to pass out on me he was in so much pain. His wounds were large enough that even the large band aids in my first aid supplies weren't big enough. I had to go to the camp store and purchase gauze pads and medical tape...Are you kidding me...We've only been on vacation a few hours? We spent 10 minutes, twice a day for the next three days changing bandages. It seemed as if his week might be ruined but he quickly bounced back and only let the injuries keep him down about 24 hrs. Later that evening while Austin was recuperating, I took the girls to the indoor pool swimming and tried to ruin their dinner with ice cream. We ended our first day on just the right note...hot dogs and smores over the campfire. On Monday, I took the girls to the pool and water park while Larry and Austin went exploring (Austin wasn't too interesting in soaking his wounds in the chlorine at this point) After meeting back at the RV for a quick lunch and the boys' stories of the new RV's they had drooled over at the next door sales park, we went to the catch and release pond for a little fishing. I decided after just a few minutes of fishing with my kids the sport should be renamed to "Cast and Reel". Abbie would almost immediately ask after Austin had just cast her line, "Do I reel it in now?" Needless to say the fish weren't biting and the kids were bored pretty quickly. We continued to cruise the grounds on our bikes checking out the multiple playgrounds. However, it paid off as 
Abbie 
learned to cross the monkey bars all by herself! Tuesday we split up in the morning again (I say morning, but our schedules were so off that we weren't even up and around until nearly 10 am everyday) I took the girls to the pool again and lunch at the snack bar while the boys rented a boat to try fishing on the lake w/much more success. Austin caught at least five fish, 4 blue gill and a small mouth bass. We ended the night with another campfire, burgers and a board game. Wednesday was our worst weather day so we spent it doing my favorite...shopping! I wanted to catch some deals on summer clearance and school shopping so we headed to the nearby outlet malls. The girls spent all their souvenir money and we had lunch at "Timbuktu's", a little hole in the wall 
restaurant specializing in their own homemade soups, sauces and desserts...YUM! We started Thursday off with a a big pancake breakfast. Then we were off to another park for some more quality time on the monkey bars. After lunch Leigha and Austin rode the water slides while Abbie enjoyed the pool again. She could touch in about half the pool and thought it was so cool to not have to wear floaties. On Friday we relocated to another campsite about 1 1/2 hrs closer to home near Wolcottville, IN called Indian Lakes Campground. After getting settled we did our usual bike tour of the grounds discovering yet another awesome playground where Abbie would live out most her weekend. That evening we went to the indoor heated pool for a nice relaxing swim before bed. When we arrived we were only five of less than 10 people there, however, that number quickly grew to nearly 45 people with the next 1/2 hour and it became a bit crowded to say the least. We enjoyed it in spite of the crowd then went back to the campsite for our late night campfire, hot dogs and smores. When Saturday came I was already dreading the return of reality counting down the T-minus 48 hrs. and counting that I had to soak up my family. It rained during the night so everything was pretty soggy when we woke up. It took all of us awhile to get motivated but as the day cleared up our energy levels did too. Its amazing what a little sunshine will do. We got out the cornhole and hillbilly golf games and played awhile before lunch. After lunch we decided to rent a canoe and paddle around the lake. Because the canoe wouldn't hold all five of us, Austin, Leigha and I went first. Austin and I didn't make too bad a team after we got the hang of it. We paddled around the whole lake in about an hour collecting some lily
pad flowers along the way. Larry and I then took Abbie out in the canoe while Austin and Leigha played on the shore in the sand. We timed our next trip to the pool that evening hoping the campground bingo night would lessen the crowd a bit. We went to bed that evening late planning on possible spending an extra night because we were having such a good time. When we woke up Larry realized he had several things to do on Monday morning before the went into work and we should really all go home Sunday. However, we talked the campground owners into letting us stay until the evening so we could do some more biking, swimming, playing, etc. We just didn't want the week to end. We left the campground around 6 pm, stopped for supper and ice cream on the way home, and arrived in Wabash a little after eight...just in time to see the most beautiful full rainbow I've probably ever seen. It truly was a blessed week and God had just put his mark of approval on it!
