Wildcat Den State Park

This weekend we went camping with Garran's parents. 

We went to Wildcat Den State Park.

It was seriously they perfect time to go. 

The weather was BEAUTIFUL! 

We could not have asked for anything better and we enjoyed the company as well. 

 This was the view from our tent.

 This is the kids checking out the campsite and enjoying being outside.

 Cullan brought his binoculars. 

After we got the tents up and everything organized we went for a walk/hike..

Here are Garran and Ayla before we left. 

(I love that smile of Garrans! Swoon!)

 Here we all are going down the trails. Of course the boys took off ahead, leading the pack. They kept calling it their adventure. It was so pretty. There were trees everywhere and they were all changing colors. LOVED IT! Have I mentioned fall is my favorite time of year. 

 Everyone checking out a bridge and the different things that were around. 

 Like I said, the boys kept running ahead. They were headed down to where the caves were. I mean caves and trails. A boys HEAVEN!!

 Of course I was crazy with my camera and had everyone pose for a picture. I try not to bug people to much when we do fun things, but I love having pictures to remember all the fun moments.  I don't think anyone minded. ;0)

 There was a small channel, I think that is what you would call it. There was not a lot of water, it was mostly mud. But it was fun to look at and check out.

 A little farther down the trail we found this cool bunch of tree roots. Garrans mom said something about how they would make a pretty picture. I agreed and everyone climbed up. I think they would have climbed up there regardless, but I got a picture anyways. 

 After we went for the walk, we came back to camp for dinner. I have decided if we ever have to live in tents, we are parking ours next to Garran's parents. His mom is a pretty tasty dutch oven cook. Much better than I. So we have already staked our claim if we ever end up in tents!! 

 Even though Garrans mom made some yummy dutch oven apple crisp, they still brought marshmallows for the kids to roast. I think my kids really enjoy the roasting part much more than the eating part. I was having fun playing with settings on my camera to try and get some fun pictures with the camp fire. 

 Breia was covered in marshmallow by the time we were done, She does enjoy the eating part of roasting marshmallows. She is so stinking cute.

 Here is most of our group sitting around the camp fire, just hanging out talking and enjoying the beautiful night. 

 I tried to get one shot with everyone but me, but it came out blurry. ;0(

The next day we went to a mill that was just at the base of where we went to camp. It was pretty cool to go in and look at all the fun stuff. I have to admit that in my old age, my fear of heights was giving me some trouble. The stairs were so steep and there was not much of a railing. Coming up from the basement my knees were so weak. I wish it did not bother me so much. So I did not go to the top of the mill. I enjoyed taking pictures outside. 

 Cullan and Kael waving to me from upstairs. 

 The kids learning about ground corn. 

 I don't know why, but I told Garran that this picture makes him look creepy. The only thing that helps is that Garran has a baby on his back. ;0)

 Look at that team work. Makes a Mama happy!!

 Garran doing some sifting. He sat there for a long time. I was surprised at how into it he got. 

 Kael and Briea found this in the basement. They were pretty interested in it until I said it reminded me of Hansel and Gretel. Then they were not so interested. I had to kind of laugh to myself. 

 You have to look closely, but you can see Garran, Ayla, Cullan, and Grandpa hanging out the Mill windows. I was up on the bridge at the time with Kael. 

I would recommend Wildcat Den State Park to anyone. It was really pretty and the trails were fun. It is right by the Mississippi on the Iowa side. 

We had fun spending some time out doors, trying to relax from life, and spending time with Garran's parents. I hope we get to do some more camping. The kids really love it!

1st ever Mom Campout!

here we are. three of the nine ladies that went camping. we had a blast. it was a great weekend. it was so relaxed. no kids, no makeup...just swimming, sitting around chatting and sleep..ahh...sleep! (well kind of)
we were the first to get to the cabin.
(left to right) meg, diana, stacy, krista
when we got there we chatted for a little while.stacy found this horn thing. really there are no words. i think we were just so dang excited to be there that we got a little crazy!krista found it too.. like i said... a little excited.
we decided to get ready to go to the lake and hang out while we waited for the other ladies. stacy and i had brought some floats but krista forgot hers. luckily diana had an extra. well kind of lucky.she is laughing like this because i took this ....she got stuck and was having a little trouble getting out. i took this picture. i don't think she knew right away that i took a picture of her rear end but i did get her permission to post it.
she has a good sense of humor.
so we finally got on our suits and headed down to the lake.
this was on the way to where we could go swimming. it was beautiful. so relaxing and quiet. exactly what i needed. this was the beach where we could hang out and go swimming.
we were excited to be there...can you tell?
we just hung out for about three hours, floating on our rafts, laughing and having a great time!
(i hate the smooched face from holding the camera myself and leaning back into the picture..oh well it was so much fun!)
after a little while had passed the rest of the ladies got there. this was a group shot of everyone.
left to right
krista, charity, diana, jamie, niki, susie, katie, stacy, meg
(i love krista's tough girl face..she looks mad...or that she might hurt you.)
of course we did a silly one. what can i say. a bunch of moms get some free time and we go wild!! LOL =0)after a fun day a the lake we decided to grill out and start a fire. krista is super excited about starting the fire. can you tell?
unfortunately stacy and i were in the danger zone. this was her...fighting the smoke!
niki and i at the campfire taking pictures of each other taking pictures... charity, jamie and krista sitting around the camp fire. i think krista is blowing some smoke and jamie is just super excited to be there!susie and diana laughing and having fun. we were having such a good time, we ended up staying up until 2:30 in the morning. then we headed inside. some of us just could not stop laughing and chatting so we headed back outside and stayed up until around 4:30 just having so much fun laughing.i came in for a bathroom break during all the festivities and saw this. (poor stacy and her back)
the next day we took a golf cart tour of the area that was at the cabin...
dang this hill.. stacy may be the only one to feel my pain on this one. something beautiful hides behind this massive hill.... you just will never see it!

a few of the ladies left around lunch time and the rest of us headed back down to the lake for some more fun in the sun. here are susie and i just getting in and getting on our floats. i have this stupid blue shirt on because my sunscreen from the day before was defective and i have a horrible sunburn. its a lovely shot i know. plus it looks like i have a toupee on. but i don't care..it was so much fun.. i am willing to post a horrible picture!here is our hostess for the weekend on her massively awesome float. we would pull hers out and then just tie ours to hers and we were this massive floating fleet on the lake. after the lake we knew it was time to pack up and head home. we were so sad to go. we had such a good time.
good bye sweet cabin and golf cart "aka the little engine that could"!!
until next year.
hopefully more ladies will be able to come next time. this year was kind of a trial run to see how it would go. we would love to invite even more people next time. the one rule is NO KIDDOS!
ps. i have to say thanks to my wonderful hubby who watched the kids so i could go with no fuss at all! he is great!

R&R~

goodbye blog.
at least till saturday night!
i'm heading out for a girls weekend with some friends to relax and have some fun!
hope everyone else has a great weekend too!

archives~

these are some old pictures that i forgot to post.

some of them are so cute though, so i decided to add them on here.
we were out at garrans parents house while they were on a trip doing some stuff out there and letting the kids play!
garran got a hold of the hose and the fun began!

the boys would run around him and act like they did not want to be sprayed...but they did!
cullan was soaked from head to toe!
they love being outside and playing in the water.
kael was too for that matter.
he was so funny running around with his big squishy diaper!he was even more cute tough with it off.i think he was wishing their was something in that fire pit to warm him up.
after playing in the water, the kids went inside to clean up and garran started to grill.
the boys played in their pjs for a while and then garran decided it would be fun to have a boys camp out in the backyard! garran set up our tent so that he, cullan and kael could play and have a boys camp out. the boys loved it. they were really excited. however kael fell asleep before they even made it out to the tent!garran just scooped him up and took him out there. he slept the whole time.
garran said cullan sat up for a while talking with him and eventually feel asleep after singing a few songs. the next morning when the came in cullan announced very happily "mom i slept in a tent ALL NIGHT!"cullan and kael played until we decided it was time to go. i thought this was cute. cullan climbed in one of grandmas bags and was pretending to do something. i can not remember now what it was but he just looks cute i think!