The Best Camping Ever!

We traveled down to Nelsonville, Ohio to Hocking Hills State Park where there are lots of caves and waterfalls. It's about an hour or so from the West Virginia border, which to me, explains how there are caves in Ohio. We live only an hour from the Ohio border and I couldn't imagine any caves around these parts! Just like the pictures, it was gorgeous!! We went on lots of short hikes (and one very long 2 miler) and enjoyed the beauty of nature.

We stayed at a campground called Happy Hills. It was so quaint and nice. There was hardly any noise late at night, a lake and pool to swim in, a bouncy pad, some four-wheel peddle cars, and no mosquitoes!!  The only downfall to the campground was that it was about 45 minutes away from all the hikes we wanted to do. I enjoyed the drives, but those who got car sick, even the driver, not so much!

The other thing that made the campground so nice was our new camper! I have never slept so well camping. I completely forgot where I was each night. The kids slept well too. Luckily, the weather was pleasant, so we were perfectly comfortable in that regard too. Even though was had a camper, we still cooked most of our meals outside in the fire and dutch oven, so I felt like we were really camping. We could enjoy being very active outdoors because we were all well-rested. Since the beds are under the canvas of the camper, you still have that "being in a tent" feeling as you can hear the crickets and feel the air when the windows were open.

All set up!

Cozy in the king bed.

Old Man's Cave

Lower Falls (just a trickle, really)

Upper Falls (another beautiful trickle)

Cedar Falls (this 2 mile hike took us a very long time, but they were troopers and enjoyed it!)

Rock House. It was too dark and dangerous inside to take many pictures.

My favorite hike on our last day, though I can't remember the name of this one.

This is part of my favorite.

The lake at our campground, Happy Hills.

We loved our camper, the hikes, and the area. We can't wait to go on more adventures!

Our New Toy

Jason has been talking about getting a pop-up camper for a couple years, maybe not even that long. I didn't think it would happen this summer! We had been doing some prep work on the van so that we could tow it. When the last of the work was complete last month, he said we could casually look around and if we find a good deal, we would buy it. Well, we found a good deal and we bought it! The kids and I finally got to see it last night. We're taking it out this weekend for the maiden voyage.

It has a grill and a shower on the outside.

table

King sized bed where Karissa, Austin, and Erik will sleep.

Austin wanted to be in every picture when he realized I was taking pictures.

Kitchen. The canvas behind it unzips for a window.

Queen sized bed where Jason and I will sleep.

There is a radio to Karissa's right. Austin loves the remote control that goes with it.

This is the table area that turns into a bed and will be Victoria's sleeping space. The canvas also unzips for a three-way window here.

It's kind of unreal to me still. It seems like something somebody else would have, not me. We can't wait to use it!!

IN and OH

We had the wonderful opportunity of going to see the open house of the Indianapolis Temple. Living  in Michigan, we don't get that opportunity very often, so we planned it for months! The kids were excited to see all the rooms in the temple and felt the Spirit along with Jason and I. It was beautiful! It seemed big to us, compared to the mini Detroit temple, but was small compared to many of the temples in the west.

Taken by Karissa.

Taken by Karissa.

It was so bright outside, we were lucky that they had this little set-up inside.

 The next day in Indianapolis we went to Connor Prairie Interactive Park. They had a Prairie town with homes from the mid-1800s (like Nauvoo), they had a Civil War set-up with activities and enactments related to that, a water play area, an Indian encampment, petting zoo, and some indoor displays and play areas.

Tram ride to Civil War displays.

Sending Morse code.

Soldiers ready!

"Attention!" They led the kids with "rifles" on a march and taught them to charge!

Water play area.

Petting zoo (the favorite)

Cute little lamb.

Little book nook.

Fort making.

 They got to dip candles and work with pottery. It was super fun!

We came back from Indiana Saturday night, went to church Sunday, hung out part of the day Monday, then went down to Toledo, Ohio to see Grandma and Grandpa Chatterley on their way to Philadelphia for their year-long mission! They stayed right off of I 80, about an hour from us, so they could keep up their schedule to get there. The kids and I got to swim with them in the most comfortable temperature pool ever! We got there, swam, ate dinner, watched So You Think You Can Dance, went to bed, ate breakfast, then swam 'til we left at 11 the next morning. So fun!

Bright sun and crazy pool hair! Victoria was water-logged at this point. 

Sweetness

Jason and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary on Friday, the actual day! We decided to just go out to a nice restaurant and enjoy dinner together for our gifts to each other. We went to a Cuban restaurant in Detroit and ordered various tapas to try and even dessert and a delicious drink! We got dressed up, ate slowly, and had conversation at a normal speaking level- heavenly! The food was fabulous. I'm starting to like downtown Detroit more now since we've been getting there a little more lately. Jason said it was our "sweet 16" anniversary, and it was sweet!

This was at Belle Isle. I finally got Jason's pics from his phone. Notice my long-sleeves. That was when  my arms were at their worst with poison ivy.

What also is sweet is Erik. Beneath all his tough, crazy, boy act, he's so sweet! He has really been enjoying getting his back "pet" by Jason or me. He'll lie on the floor or my lap and say, "Pet me!" and I'll rub his back for a long time and he won't budge! On Sunday we had root beer floats. He just had plain ice cream, but when he decided to try the last few sips of Jason's melted float, he loved it so much he said, "Austin, you have to try this! It's so good!" Even though Austin had just finished his. So sweet!

Look at this face!