Camping at Lake Murray

Family pic---thanks Cari (she took pictures for us all weekend because our camera battery was dead--how this happened I don't know:)

Abby and Reese sitting by the lake on our hike

Greg pulling a tree out of the ground--or so the kids thought:)

Reese trying to do the same--he wasn't quite able to though:) ~hum Greg, I wonder why? You trickster!

Reese and me by our tent before bed

Getting ready for bed

Greg and me sitting around the campfire--can you tell?:) Ha! (great picture Cari) And no we are not on fire, but I did melt the bottom of one of my shoes!! Nice huh? :) I was cold and wanted to be near the fire...real near apparently! It was really funny--out of no where Greg says, "Becky your shoes are smoking!"~ and indeed they were-melted almost all the way to my toes--yikes!

Abby jumping over a bike jump on the trail

Reese doing the same...

Camp site

This past weekend we went camping with some friends (7 families) at Lake Murray in Oklahoma. We left late afternoon Friday hoping to get there in time to set up camp and get a fire burning. Thankfully we got there in plenty of time and we even found all our friends with no trouble--yay! Altogether there were 14 adults and 14 kids---craziness yes, but super fun too:)
We shared a camp sight with our friends the Vaughns and the Hudkins. The kids had a blast sitting around the fire singing, eating hot dogs and roasting marshmallows. It was a chilly night but the kids had no trouble getting to sleep while some of the parents sat around the fire talking. This is my favorite part of camping for sure! We had a great time telling stories and catching up on each others lives! Good times!
Saturday morning we got up early, ate some breakfast, and started to take down the tent. We have gone camping a lot with the kiddos and their favorite part is going on hikes in the woods so we were trying our best to get them out on the trails before we had to head home. While we got packed up the kids were having a blast playing by the water (aka, the MUD) and Reese got to play some baseball with some of the dads--he was in heaven! I sadly, was extremely cold and could not get warm!!! I even sat in the car with the heater on...this actually helped alot but it made for a miserable morning!:(
We ended up going hiking with the Hudkins and had a blast exploring with the kids. We headed home a little after lunch--thankfully we got home early because I had 5 loads of muddy laundry--yikes!!
*I sadly came to a conclusion this weekend--now I always thought I was a "camper" girl BUT I think I realized that I love camping in "perfect circumstances" and if it's too hot or too cold camping kinda stinks--I do feel bad but it's the truth! I think I am more of a girlie girl than I thought:) Oh and I definitely have "issues" with the kids getting all muddy (OCD I know-I am shamefully aware and working on it EVERYDAY:)--I really, really had to calm myself down and relax so many times this weekend while I watched the kids get muddy from head to toe! Greg and I seriously considered throwing all their clothes away including their shoes!!!! (so sad and so unwise I know:) BUT to our credit we didn't throw anything away but oh we wanted to....real bad!!!;)
Now after all this will we ever go camping again???...of course -Greg won't have it and by the time we go again I will forget how I am feeling right now--isn't that always how it works?? ~just like no woman would ever get pregnant again if they "remembered" all the pain right? :)
Oh camping, you are so bittersweet! Ha!