Could it get any better than this? or My Favorite Vacation Ever

Okay, now that I have had a chance to catch my breath, I can fill more in about our vacation.

We drove about 3 hours, to a camp on a little lake in the woods. This camp includes many cabins, a kitchen, a lodge, a shower house (with laundry), and a beach, canoes, and hiking trails. We had the entire place to ourselves, and although we could have used more than one cabin, we decided to stay together in one with 4 bedrooms. Now this is a rustic place. The rooms are small, the beds are metal frames with foam on boards for matresses, etc. BUT, they are cozy, and comfortable and as clean as you can get in the woods.

We made some spider pets right away. For some reason our family always connects to spiders. There were two in the shower house that had tubular webs. They were so shy, they would retreat into their tubes whenever we came in there. By the end of the week, though, they were used to us, and would only hide if we made too much noise. We named them Charlie and Stripes.

The second day there, we caught a baby chipmonk in our cabin. SO CUTE~ but I didn't want it to be in my cabin. We put him in an upside down mesh wire trash can for a while, and fed him apple pieces and acorns. He settled down, and relaxed once he felt safe. A yellow jacket flew into his makeshift cage, so my dd let him go - she didn't want him to get stung. She said, "Even though I miss Oreos (as the little guy was named), I am happy for him to be free. I am sure he is much happier now."

Over the rest of the week we caught, named, kept shortly and released a toad (Fatso), two frogs (Jelly Bean and George), a small garter snake (Stinky), and another spider (Giant, and he was HUGE). The boys and dh caught a catfish, and a blue gill. My 3 yo son caught the blue gill all by himself, and he tells anyone that will listen, "I caught a boo giw."

The weather was absolutely, perfectly, gloriously lovely. The first day was slightly chilly, crisp and aromatic. The next 4 1/2 days were warm and balmy. I sat on the beach, under a pretty pastel umbrella, and read while watching the children play at the beach. The little ones had life vests on, and this is a really shallow beach, so I didn't have to be right on top of them every second. The last three days were chilly but not uncomfortable. We had a little rain one night, just enough to be cozy, and it was chilly enough the last evening to have a fire in the lodge fireplace. *Sigh* just thinking about it makes me relaxed.

During the week, I read "A Town Like Alice" and "To Kill a Mockingbird". Ahhh. Sweet, sweet glorious free reading. I enjoyed both books immensly, and will go into more detail in a different post. This one will be long enough!

The view from my bedroom window was across a soft hill down to the beach. I sat there and watched the kids and dh for hours. I realized I had never had the pleasure of watching him with the kiddos alone. If he has all the kids with him at home, that means I am gone. On other vacations, I usually stay with the littlies, and he takes the older kids. This time, he had them all at the beach, even the baby (who only ate a little sand). He is a terrific dad, and compliments my parenting so well. I can see what God was thinking when He put us together in this parenting thing.

Well, there is more, but I will have to take it up later. Duty calls, and I want to do a good job relaying this gift of a vacation. Blessings to you all!