Camping Trip

We returned from our camping trip today!!!  We had a lot of fun, but I think we've decided that next time we'll go kid free.  At least until Caleb's a little older.  Some of the things we wanted to do (like swim without a kid attached or fish off of a dock without sufficient railing for a 2 year old) would have been easier without worrying about keeping Caleb safe and/or occupied.

Enough of the jabbering...here's what you really want, right?  For you literary types, I'll still give you plenty of reading material along the way.  Something for everyone, ok?

Lance and Stephanie...who may not have known quite what they were getting into.  Just kidding.  These two are wonderful with Caleb and were quite comfortable roughing it for a few days.

Us, of course.  As Stephanie pointed the camera at us, Caleb leaned his head to mine and gave a big cheese.  Beautiful!

Thanks for the swimsuit, sis!

Here are our digs...a nice size, 3-room tent that Jadie purchased 3 years ago with some incentive points he earned by selling phone service.

This was just for us and our junk.  Lance and Stephanie had their own, very similar tent to sleep in.  What you cannot see are all of the millions of tiny ants that were under, on, and in our tent.  During day two, we acquired a can of Raid to take care of that nasty little problem.

Check out this beautiful, God-given weather we were graced with!  I snapped this one on Saturday night at sunset (as you can tell).

Swim-time Friday night.  This was as close at Caleb would get to the water without some serious effort.  I know you can't see the numbers, but that post showed the water to only be 3 feet deep within the roped-off area.  After last week's episode at Lake Waco, Caleb was cautious when it came to water.  He had to be held the entire time and would only stop whining and fussing after about 10 minutes of convincing.  Anyhow, this was Friday night.  I didn't get any pictures of our 4 hour pebbly beach experience from Saturday afternoon.  We went through the same holding and wading routine Saturday and Caleb finally fell asleep on the beach towel after about 2 hours.  Steph went and got an umbrella and covered him with a towel to protect from the sun.

Caleb discovered this little stump and thought it was a good spot to stop and rest between golf games.  Yes, we took his little golf set and he played and played at our campsite.

We found a long machete in this tree trunk.  Scary!  The tree behind Caleb had a hollowed out split that someone had probably stored it there during their stay.

Jadie fishing, but not catching anything.  We didn't really have much luck all weekend.  The two pictures you'll see later are two of the fish we caught out of three different trips down to the dock.  Besides the pitiful fish you see below, Jadie caught a small bass and Lance caught an ugly gar.

Beautiful day.  Lance is getting read to fish.  Little does he know, they just aren't biting.  They preferred to nibble.

First catch!  Just a pesky little perch.  Oh, well.  I did it before the boys!

Jadie's catch of the weekend.  I know, you're thinking that it's impressive.  Actually, it is pretty impressive.  There's a story to this catch.  Jadie  wasn't content to fish with just one line, so he tied some fishing line to the metal bar of the dock.  He tied on a hook and dropped it in until he could get a weight and bobber ready.  When he had the weight and bobber in hand, he pulled the line back out of the water to find this silly little fish who is apparently attracted to siny things in the water.  That's right.  Just a hook.  

Steph sat out during the fishing experience.  It's just as well given our luck with catching the big ones.  She let Caleb bother her instead. Ha!  

Caleb just thought he could wear the goggles. Really, they're not flattering on anyone. Not even a handsome young thing like him.

These are the stairs we had to climb up and down to get to the fishing dock.  As said before, we ventured down to the dock 3 times.  The last time, Saturday night.  Caleb took a tumble on the way down.  I had been walking ahead of him, but decided to stop and let him catch up.  I let him pass me by one step.  I started thinking that it would be better if I were below him in case he lost his footing.  That way I could stop him from tumbling down.  Anyhow, at the very moment that I decided to step down to the step below him, he did take a tumble.  I freaked!  Amazingly, while he was head down, bottom up, I was able to grab the strap on his life jacket (the one that runs between his legs).  I grabbed it with my pinky finger, screamed for Jadie who was already at the dock.  I pulled Caleb up (still with just my pinky), dropped my bag, and took a look at his head.  It was bleeding, of course.  It is absolutely amazing what God allows us to be able to do in the excitement of a scary moment.

Here's Caleb showing off his "owie."  Another amazing accomplishment of God.  What a tiny little scrape in light of what could have happened.