Camping at Hocking Hills

We LOVE camping. Camping in the summer in Ohio is too too hot. We decided to go over Labor Day weekend. We figured that by then, the weather might not be so hot and humid.

We were wrong! There was a heat wave that weekend. I'm talking serious heat and humidity. Mid 90's and air so thick you wouldn't believe!

We went with our great friends, the Udink's. Monica and I were both at the end of our first trimester in pregnancy. She had a flattened Capri Sun box that she was using as a fan. She threatened serious consequences if it was to accidentally end up in the fire. I wish I would have gotten a picture of her with it.

For some reason, my boys get super sweaty. They look like they've been playing in the water but it's just sweat!

Minus the humidity, we had a great time.

We caught frogs.

(Bug nets are a must when camping. That thing was a hit!)

Loved the frog!

Probably to it's death.

Went hiking.

Enjoyed time with great folks.

Got more dirty than thought possible.

 Hiked some more.

Kids NEED the outdoors.

 We caught a RIVER TURTLE! That was awesome.

Remember that comment about the bug net? Well, Jeff and Ryan played with it about as much as the kids.

They caught frogs, fish, turtles and crawdads.

Okay, the dad's took the kids to the river. Mac comes back with this itty bitty fish.

Oh, gross. I don't want to touch it. 

He carried that dead thing around for over an hour. It's guts were coming out of the gills on it's neck. Yuck!

Mac loved it and was in heaven. He was so happy. 

I couldn't watch.

Boys!

Mac and Hunter watching the turtle.

Such a great time. I thought this time was busy, we'll see how next summer goes, camping with twins!

Did I mention I'm lucky?

 Well, I am pretty lucky.

I think about all the different lives people out there have.

Mine is pretty great.

We are blessed.

These are some reasons why:

Cause my boys have a great dad, that they insist on hanging on him ALL the time.

 Cause most of the time, Kam & Mac are good little buddies and they share "the cave" on the bottom bunk.

   And look adorable while they sleep.

 Cause even though my 4 year old is the king of mess-making, he has such a creative little imagination.

When I find a mess like this, it makes me wonder what he's been up to.

  Soup making. What else?

Grapes, carrots & strawberries. Yum.

 

  Cause even the rain is great.

Love my 3 boys.

World of Bounce

Places like World of Bounce were made for little boys!

...and their moms.

We went with a few friends to World of Bounce in Grove City. 

Good times.

Let me introduce

Vanessa & Stephanie 

I thought they were pretty awesome for going down kid-less.

I didn't think it was a good idea for me to go down cause I was still in my first trimester and still a little nauseous. Nobody likes barf on stuff like this.

But after they went and made it look all fun, the yellow in me came bursting out and I had to go down.

Kamden couldn't wait to beat me to the bottom!

I didn't barf. I went down again. Then I really wanted to barf. :)

We were having a grand ole time.

Until...some kid bit Mac on the cheek.

SO SAD! He was trying to hug the little boy. Mac was going through a "phase" where if you asked him to stop, he wouldn't he would persist and do whatever he was doing more.

So, he probably just was giving the other little boy super awesome hugs.

Not to go into detail or anything, I'm just gonna say to all the moms out there:

Sometimes your kid does things you might think they would NEVER do.

Like bite my kid.

Just help them learn that we all make mistakes, become better and move on.

It's called accountability.

The battle wound.

Poor Boy. 

He was a good sport and learned a good lesson. 

Don't hug someone until they bit you.

Backyard Fun

It seemed like everyday this summer, the boys wanted to play in the pool.

They could actually play together this year as opposed to last summer when I was constantly playing defense for McKay from his brother and neighbor kids. :)

Now, they're little buddies.

A different kind of dip in the pool.

Ya wanna know the next best thing to a fenced backyard? A long alley way behind your house.

It's perfect for the boys to play in. The only people that drive down it are the few that live on the street.

So, I'd pull up a chair and either read or chat on the phone with family while they just played to their hearts content.

Yes, McKay does look studly.

Kamden, showing off his bike riding skills.

Oh, and notice the non-matching striped shirt and shorts? He insists on choosing his clothing; daily battle. 

He said he wanted to be "Strip-ed Man"

Don't remember what he was saying but I do love this picture.

It was bound to happen sometime.

It was bound to happen sometime.

My child cutting his own hair.

I mentioned in the morning that we needed to give the boys haircuts.

He was just being...helpful.

I walked out of my bedroom and noticed a child-size chair in front of the open hall closet door.

*NOT GOOD*

I went downstairs and saw that Kam had gotten the hair scissors, held to the scalp and snip snip.

Now, it could have been worse.

Like, a cut in the front.

Or it could have been a girl with long locks of golden fleece.

It was funny but not funny enough that he should EVER do that again to ANYONE'S hair! 

:)

Ohio State Fair...eh

 So...everyone and I mean EVERYONE was talking about The Ohio State Fair.

How great it was. All the fun stuff to do and see. It was supposed to be just smashing!

Well, the traffic was HORRIBLE! We were sitting, waiting to get in for over and hour...in the ghetto.

Once we got there, it was after 7pm and parking was a nightmare. I spotted a space across the way and so I jumped out of the car to hold it. 

15 minutes later, still no hubs.

Well, his cell phone was dead, (story of our lives) but he did have mine. After defending the spot from angry parking-spot-searchers, a nice lady that had been chilling in her lawn chair, watching the whole time, offered her cell phone. I called Jeff, he couldn't find me and that is why he never showed. We easily spotted each other (how horrible was life before cell phones? maybe not horrible but miserable...haha.)and headed toward the fair.

Right into the entrance where the Budweiser Horses.

I was impressed. My dad always has a Budweiser Horse calender up somewhere in our house. Not for the beer sillies, for the horses.

Maybe the fair was going to be pretty awesome after all.

 That was about the extent of the awesomeness.

Neither of us enjoyed the food. (Which hello, that's the best part of a fair)

ALL of the animal expect for about 3 horses had been taken home or sold. :(

We are el cheapo when it comes to the carny rides. We said the boys could choose one.

The first couple of laps were fun but on about lap 20, they were done.

But I do love this picture. I think they are just so adorable.

 Now let me just say, I'm not complaining here, we just didn't have quite the experience we had hoped for.

I think the sitting in traffic for over an hour at dinner time may have had something to do with it.

Our experience was almost comical at the end of the night when we were leaving and didn't accomplish any of the things we had hoped to.

Give me the Caribou County Fair any day. :)

Palmyra

Palmyra Temple

The Sacred Grove

Kamden was looking at these pictures as I was posting them. He said, "I remember that place." I said, "What did we do there?" He said, "We went there to see Heavenly Father." I thought that was so sweet.

The Sacred Grove with John & Shirley

In front of the Smith Frame Home is a big, beautiful ash tree. The tree was planted by the Smith Family when their son Alvin died in 1823. I thought that was so special. McKay is sitting in front of that tree.

Looking toward the Sacred Grove.

At the Pageant an hour or so before it began.

Kamden loved watching the cast walk around before.

We even saw some people from our ward in NC! That was fun.

This boy was from Abu Dhabi.

The Pageant

 What a GREAT experience this whole trip was.

Niagra Falls

Niagra Falls was our next stop.

I was the only one who had never been there so we decided to go on the Maid of the Mist.

We went right up, almost into, Horseshoe Falls.

I think the boys had a pretty good time too.

Kamden likes to pose for EVERY picture. He's such a ham.

American Falls

Cutest 2 year old on the ferry!

 I just had to laugh at these pics. I was sitting on a bench and could tell that Jeff was sharing some of his "knowledge" with his mom.

 We like to call him "Tour Guide Johnson".

View from the US/Canada bridge.

Crossin the border.

Horseshoe Falls

We ate at this restaurant that had these porcelain faced mannequins.

It was weird. But, the boys thought they were awesome.

They kept touching them, I think to make sure they weren't going to move.

View from the top of Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side.

Mac was beat from the long walk.

He finally fell asleep once we reached the top of the path.

He wasn't sweaty. His hair is wet from the mist of the falls.

 Kamden and his Grandma. :)