Beavers Bend State Park

 The cabin had a wonderful porch-perfect for watching the rain.  The kids rain boots were worth their weight in gold with all the mud!

Rain, Rain, was the story last week.  We decided to head out to Beavers Bend State park seeing as the sun was supposed to finally make an appearance end of the week.  We were able to get a cabin for our first night-good thing as the rain decided to stick around.  We were pretty happy not having to deal with the thought of setting up in the rain.  The cabin worked great, although the kids were running on high-lots of energy and lots of excitement, I felt like their were a kettle boiling and about to blow.  We woke up Friday to SUNSHINE!  what a welcome sight.  We were all to set up camp and enjoy our surroundings.  From canoeing, fishing, kayaking, horse back riding, turtle catching, bike riding.....the list of activities was endless and fun.

Once again the vehicle is fully loaded-what a bunch of stuff, I do really try to pack light!

This is what the girls were so excited to do-Wash dishes!  I have no clue what James thought he was going to do with the dust pan!

Hayride time....kids had  fun meeting new friends and getting free suckers and cotton candy. 1. 2. 3........HEY!

The kids were adamant about getting in the water-it was freezing but they all got in...Becca even swam underwater-crazy girl!

 We all were able to horse back ride.  If only I could have gotten a picture of James and his huge grin when the coyboy set him up on the horse-he was one happy/proud kid.  Brayden was a little unsure of riding by himself but after Becca informed him their was  a guide horse he seemed okay.  Becca was on Golden and was totally in her glory.  Andrea road with me on 'Nubbin' and talked the entire way...about what I have no clue!

 I was a little nervous seeing Brayden and Becca on the kayak to start with but that fear was quickly replaced with pride.  Brayden was in full concentration mode and in full control of the kayak-even going through the rapids-so fun to here them work together.  I think Ron and the kids caught about five turtles while we were camping.  I love that Brayden brags about the turtles but has Becca do all the touching and carrying.

Somehow we couldn't convince the kids to do the 6mile skyline trail with us....the one mile loop seemed to satisfy everyone.  Andrea was all bundled up in her winter fleece-80 degrees out but she wanted the pockets to collect rocks and save her candy.

Oh, the  endless rock throwing-I think if I hear James say drink one more time I will scream.  He would stand with rocks in hand crying drink over and over untill someone took him down to the river so he could throw his rocks.  He is so similar to Brayden it scares me!
It was a wonderful family time away all together, I could go on and on about what each kid loved to do-turtle  races, biking, getting water, roasting mashmallows, catching tadpoles and turtles, fishing, coloring/writing-it was so fun to hang out together just having fun.