Camping

We just returned from our second annual Labor Day weekend camping trip with the Timms Family. We had BEAUTIFUL weather....sunny and warm enough during the day to spend some time at the lake,

but just chilly enough in the mornings to allow us to pull out our long lost sweatshirts and enjoy some hot chocolate!

The girls all brought their Nature Notebooks and sat down together to work on those.

Michael had a close up encounter with nature while we were there.

These signs were posted everywhere, so I was careful not to let my kids wander around off the paths.....no one told me the snakes would come into my campsite!!! We were all over at the Timms' campsite (it was late and DARK!), and Michael ran over to get our extension cord. After unplugging our lights from the cord he felt something hit his foot (did I mention he was wearing flip-flops?!?). He put the light from his very little flashlight down by his foot and sure enough.....copperhead snake! It wasn't super big.....12-18" but hello, it was by our table!! I had just sent 2 of the girls over there alone to get water bottles from the cooler that was on the table! He threw his hammer at it and injured it enough to keep it still. Then he and Michael Timms went back with a bigger, brighter light to look for any snake friends and to finish it off. Needless to say, we didn't sleep super well that night! :)

Caleb had a much happier nature encounter....he caught his first fish!! Of course, I wasn't there and so neither was the camera, but here is a pretty cute picture of him fishing with his daddy.

On Saturday, we hiked ALL the way to the top of Fort Mountain. There was a beautiful view from up there. We would have been able to see forever if it had been a little clearer.

Near the top of the mountain is a stone tower and rock wall.

The where, why, who, and how of the structures is a mystery (did I mention that I hate mysteries?? I'm very much a "need to know the facts" kind of girl!). There are several different legends.....one of which has a Prince Madoc from Wales building the structures in the late 1100's.....some 300 years before Columbus! The big question is if Prince Madoc was even a real person.....or just a made up legend. It's very interesting to me that even with all of the research, there is still so much that we will probably never know for sure.

And now, back to school and every day life...... :)