Blossoms and Blessings: Last Hurrah of Summer

We decided we'd like to go camping in one of the State Parks this summer. We looked into a week and decided on the last week of August. Dan requested the time off and we reserved the camping spot. THEN I remembered the school always does their back to school open house the Tuesday of the week before school starts. So, we'd miss it. I was sort of bummed, but we couldn't change the camping trip and we weren't going to drive an hour and a half to come back for it and then an hour and a half back to the campground! Dan worked his normal shift Monday, came home and took a nap for a couple of hours. I worked on packing the van (which Dan had taken to work the night before). We ate lunch and decide it would be best if the kids had their usual rest time. Andy fell asleep, so we left a little later than we'd planned, but we probably saved ourselves quite a bit of fussing by letting him get a nap in before we left. ☺ We arrived about 4:00.

The kids and I took a little walk:

and found the playground (we knew where it was, but it was at the end of our walk)

We went down to the beach for the sunset. I told the kids to not get their clothes wet (famous last words...)

Oops, the waves got us a little wet....

I guess getting a little wetter won't matter, either....

How about if we just splash around in Little Black Creek?

back into the waves...

How about if we just go swimming in our clothes instead??

The beach had lots of black sand (presumably from Little Black Creek)

Will was way in front of us! He's on the right of center, slightly in front of the other group of people) There was a time he wouldn't leave our sides!

Look how covered with sand he is!

There were a LOT of bugs (or something) making a lot of noise at night. I took this video so you could hear it...

but decided to do another one with the flashlight so you could see, too!

Day Two:

Emily and Sarah way up at the top of the dune (they were going to go higher, and I told them to stop)

Lots of similar looking pictures. Looking for the proverbial "Perfect Shot"!

Dan splashing into the water behind the kids

so they swarm him

After we swam and played for about an hour, we went on a walk for another couple hours:

The joys of a boy with a towel on a windy day ☺

There was a dead fish in the water. It is in the front with a seagull swimming behind it.

Seagull prints

Deer tracks

Ladybug

What creature made these tracks??

Oh, I see, the feather collecting human girl

We had no idea what this bug was. He looked quite prehistoric!

Another sunset:

We had the kids wear their swimsuits this time!

Day Three:

One of the things I forgot was a bowl, so each morning, I mixed the pancakes up in the lid to the electric griddle!

Both Emily and William helped with the dishes voluntarily (but I didn't get a picture of Will)

This picture is a bit blurry, but I liked it.

Playing on the tablet

Will with the "baby" katydid

We found this "Emily Rocks" on the beach and I had to take Emi's picture with it

There were tons of these flies. They looked like regular house flies, but they BIT!! (By the way, this is the only photographic proof I was even on this trip, as this is my leg!)

Will loves this kick board. It has helped him get to like the water. I also like how you can see a pale line above his swim trunks showing how dark of a tan he's gotten!