Camping!

So we have really become quite the campers. And by that I mean that I will endure it for a 2-3 day period. Max. I can handle it for that long, but after that I need my own shower. But we really had a great time this past weekend. We met some friends at Edgar Evin State Park for the weekend-it was the first time we had ever camped with anyone in a LONG time since a horrible experience several years ago...but we won't talk about that. This weekend was great!!! It didn't start great, but it got there!! We had the brilliant idea to camp at Fall Creek Falls, which is something we had never done before. We called a MONTH ago to reserve a spot (yes I said a MONTH ago) and found out all the "reservable" spots were taken. But they have 100 first-come-first-serve spots that the lady assured me I would be able to partake of as long as we got there early Friday afternoon. To better ensure this, our family actually left Thursday and the other family was going to come out on Friday. After driving a few hours and setting up an emergency sleeping situation for that night in case it was still storming in the area (thanks Aunt Debbie) we find out that ALL of the spots were TAKEN. WHAT?? Jon had tried calling the day before and that morning to check on this but had never gotten through. So now what? We were almost 3 hours from home (thank goodness we got through to the site before we drove the whole 5 HOURS there), and more people were coming to meet us the next day. It was late in the afternoon and most campsites were closing as we frantically started googling and calling around. So we got a hotel room. I feel the need to state that part of the point of camping is that it is a cheap way to vacation-otherwise, why not stay in a hotel period?? But I digress. We found a hotel with an indoor pool and a hot tub and it was literally 30 steps away from an O'Charleys.  Jacob was thrilled. He did not mind at all that the "camping" trip was starting out this way:

Clearly the boy needed some relaxation time in a hot tub...

So the next morning we were able to find Edgar Evin park and it is GREAT! They had plenty of spots available, located on a lake so there was fishing, and they had a big playground. Plus, the bathhouse was really clean (a personal goal of mine). Here are some highlights:

 This is Jacob's friend Calvin. They have been friends for about 2 years now. They met in Karate out in Oakland and his mom and I became friends also.

Rock climbing and throwing rocks into the lake...

Love this next one..

Playing horseshoes

Playing "Perfection" with Calvin's little sister Jezella...

There were other boys there and a game of football was played (how awesome is that?!)

Some messiness occurred...

 I think I am going to blow this up, frame it, and hang it in his room...is that weird?

Sure, they look all sweet and cute...

...but they are really just gross little boys ;)

Going up to the look out tower...

On top of the tower..

There were free suckers at the bottom of the tower! Again, how awesome is that?!

It was windy...he normally does not sport the "something about mary" hair...

Apparently I totally interrupted his chill time with my darn picture taking...oh son, it will only get worse...

They really contributed to packing up...