Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Labor Day Outdoor Adventure

Every year, my mom & dad and sister and brother-in-law go camping (in their campers) at Lake Argyle in Colchester, IL. In years past, we have gone up for the day but hadn't done so in a couple years. This time...we decided to camp the entire weekend....in a tent.....with a 3 year old....and it was 93 degrees....without the humidity. The following picture is how I felt about all of the above:

It actually wasn't that bad....minus the little green worms that decided to invade our tent....I handled it quite well. I told Mick it was much easier to sleep in the tent at night when it was dark and you couldn't see all the dirt and bugs that you were laying in....Mallory decided after night one...that she would much rather snuggle up to Grandma in her air conditioned camper.;)
 
Mallory....Night #1! Pretty excited to be able to see the stars when she slept!
 I very much enjoyed that their was no WIFI!!!! Just each others company....Mallory enjoyed time with her cousins....PLAYING!
Mick making some pizza over the open fire....yummy!
CHEESE!!
Mallory LOVES bread and butter...
Or just butter....
Learning to shoot a dart gun...YIKES!
Meanwhile....Elliott...just hanging out!

No wifi=use your imagination!

Mallory was using this as her ipad.....it was her "Appisodes" that she was reading to Elliott. He looks enthused.
SELFIE! Mick loves selfies....HA!
Mom & Me Selfie.

Mallory experience her first "bike ride". It made me a bit nervous at times but she did great listening.

LOVED the playground!

Slide races...

Doing a little antiquing with mom and dad....
Bike Ride #2....with Collin & Grandma....Watch out world!!!
They had an imagination park....
Pretend boat ride....

A tee-pee....

A balance beam....
A chalkboard wall....
I loved this....it was all created by the local boy scouts....(we believe).
Music Station....
Mallory loved beating on this thing....
It kept getting louder....
and LOUDER.....
AND LOUDER!!!
Performance Stage....
Doing straddle jumps.....
She loved how fast this slide went....

About has fast as momma's heart beating....
The look on her face....explains it all....PURE ENJOYMENT!!
As mentioned....It was HOT!!!
So I allowed Mallory to dump ICE COLD water on her.....she thought it was so funny...and obviously felt good.
She kept thinking she was going to get in trouble...I would tell her it was okay and she would just giggle. 
We truly enjoyed our weekend. I loved the fact that no technology was used....we just had each other. My mom and I came back from a bike ride on Sunday evening and the kids were playing hide and go seek and just giggling. I loved that they were using their imagination and playing so well together....hence how we ended up staying another night. I couldn't interupt that kind of play. I have so many memories of playing those types of games with my cousins and the neighborhood kids and think it lacks in the youth today....so I let her play.....There is just something about good old fashioned fun and togetherness....it could also have something to do with just being outdoors. I took a run one morning....at sunrise....I know....I wouldn't normally be up that early but sleeping in a tent....kind of gets your morning going....I ran down through a wooded area and ended up at the lake....no sounds...no traffic noise....nothing but the outdoors and the sun rising over the water...It was nice to take some time to just reflect on life and how amazingly beautiful the world is...we just have to take the time to look....




And of course....no holiday weekend would be complete without a
SPEEDING TICKET! 
Yep...I was granted one of those on our way home....
Whoops.....




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