Suffice to say....

The Clark W. Griswold family has NOTHING on us. We are tuckered out to say the least and I feel like I'm still in the boat. Here are some lovely images from our latest camping endeavor(fiasco). We had a super time despite the set backs. Maybe I'll be able to talk about them someday.

This time we camped at Lake Bob Sandlin and we'll definitely be going back. This is a nice campground with clean facilities and large sites. Somehow I managed to miss the cemetery information so we didn't visit this time.

Around Camp:





We pulled into camp at approximately 9:40 on Friday night. It had rained so everything was pretty soaked. At this point I was ready to drive back home. Seriously. After setting up tents and blowing up air mattresses, we were in bed by midnight.

When we camp, my one request is that we get close enough for comfort to the bathrooms but not right next door. We pulled onto the loop to discover that the facilities were on the left of the road before the actual loop started so we turned right and took the first site. So, it was actually across the road from the bathrooms and down a few hundred feet. Yay! There is nothing I hate more while camping than to have to walk down the road a quarter mile to the bathrooms in the pitch dark(especially when some fellow campers killed a large copperhead in that same road-at night).



Instead of canned soft drinks, I bought two liter bottles. We rarely get soft drinks at home so this is a special treat for the kids(and Mark this time). These lasted much longer and didn't attract bees like cans do. I made Zen tea for myself.

We always pack plenty of good food. This time I made ranch dip with bacon bits to eat with chips and veggies. It ended up being the perfect condiment for our breakfast burritos on Sunday morning too. Our Saturday morning ham and pancakes worked out just fine too. I ended up bringing the dry mix in a zip bag and the milk in a small tupperware container and mixed it up in my tea pitcher(this was before I made tea obviously). We also had chili dogs, Chicken Noodle Stew(Ramen, mixed veggies and grilled chicken with spices), trail mix, homemade brownie muffins, and other snacks.



To keep from being bored, the girls brought their drawing stuff. It was hot in the tent so Sarah didn't stay there long. You'll notice the brownish blob near the entrance to the tent. This was the queen-sized air mattress, used only once before, that developed a leak(we can't find) and lost 90% of its air during the night. The second night it only lost 80% of the its air. Sigh. The good news is that we were quite comfortable with our thrifted pillow cases and sheets.





The kids enjoyed relaxing in their camp chairs.



Mark spent a lot of time at the boat doing various repairs and equipment overhauling. He lives for that kind of thing.



This was the spot I chose to practice a new craft and enjoy the wildlife and scenery. In a few days I'll reveal what I learned and hopefully show you a finished project! I also taught the girls how to do it so it isn't anything hard.



Saturday afternoon we went to the swimming area but didn't stay long, I also forgot my camera. The area consists of two concrete brick retaining walls with a sidewalk at the bottom(at water level) that's about 15 inches wide. The water is about 2 feet deep right off the bat. The lake bottom has the consistency of raw wet biscuit dough with small chunks of broken concrete mixed with it. For future reference, next time we'll pass on this experience.

On the Boat:





After we made our way through the dead trees(which I wanted to take home), we were captivated by this enchanting sunset.









Then it was time to get down to the business we'd come to do.