Minooka Park - Jemison, AL 9-28-13

 Yes, we decided to take a camping trip when we are 38 weeks pregnant.  Unless you are into birthing children in the wilderness so they may be raised by wolves, it's probably not the best idea; however, we did just great!!!




This trip was supposed to be to Tannehill but everyone with an RV and within a 50 mile radius decided to descend upon that area and didn't leave us a spot.  We looked around and were lucky to find a great new spot, and the best part is the park is only 20 minutes from home!  It is a very quiet place and we found ourselves mentioning several times that we couldn't believe it was so close to home. 

As with any Clayton camping trip, we got a later start than we wanted on Friday evening and had to stress a little more than needed in order to get set up before nightfall.  Fortunately, it wasn't too late and since we have done this a bunch now, we were able to move pretty quickly.  The evening was cool, and lucky for me, Kelly talked me into buying some clothes at Wal-Mart since I forgot any sort of long-sleeve or pant.  I get cold very easily and need to wrap up at night!!  The very night's sleep was great!!!  Everyone slept straight through until about 7:00!! (This is Kelly and that's SO not true:) Being pregnant this trip was much better than our trip during the first trimester... Except for the fact that I was waking up every two hours to use the wonderful porta-toilet! So we didn't exactly ALL sleep through the night).

 Saturday morning brought the usual wonderful breakfast by Kelly!!  She had donuts and fruit for us and then also cooked up some great sausage!  Carter devoured his donuts and did a good job of getting powdered sugar everywhere.  As we sat around, Kelly decided it was best to drive home to get the camera card that she left (and always leaves) so we could take pictures of this trip (As well as Carter's life jacket, helmet, and fan for the A/C issues you will read about later. Oh how Donald forgets some of the details!).  While she was gone, Carter and I went for a walk down to the lake.  Little did I know a simple walk would be so adventurous. 


I made a mistake in not taking the jogging stroller with me because Carter was certain to tire at some point.  We managed to trip and fall twice within the first 10 minutes and turn his "boo-boo" into a "BOO-BOO!"  We shook off the scrapes and pressed on to our destination.  As we turned the corner, a deer ran across the street in front of us and completely made our morning (still so sad I missed this- Kelly)!  Carter was determined to race the deer, but unfortunately for him the deer did not heed his challenge.  We continued down the hill and found a swing set that Carter ran straight toward.  I pushed him a few rounds and then he decided it was time to push me.  We switched places and he pushed me until he got too close and my backswing caught him right in the face.  Carter fell straight back and cried until we found out that he had cut his tongue.  Fortunately for us (and I'm not making this up), a scout leader and her pack of scouts who were on their 5-mile hike showed up and asked if we needed any help (merit badge hungry kids ...).  The scout leader went into her backpack and got us a gauze for his tongue, and then went on to make Carter a bag of trail mix while recruiting him into future scout service by saying "you too could someday be a scout!"  By this time we had had enough and I proceeded to carry him all the way back to the camper (remember: no jogger). 

Kelly made it back a little while later and the day of fun was on.  We ate sandwiches, chips, dip, and fruit in the camper before heading back down to the lake as a family.  We were hoping to scout it out for a little kayaking later and needed to find the best point to drop our boat in the water.  Not only did we need to find a boat landing, but we also needed to get out of the camper since for some reason the air conditioning would not come on.  At night it was no problem, but during the middle of an 80-degree day, we needed to exit the oven for a little while.  This AC problem had been on my mind all morning and it was becoming increasingly more stressful, so some time at the lake was needed.  At the lake, we threw MANY rocks into the water and also tried our hardest to prevent Carter from falling in (we were successful).  I also had a nice little competition with the opposite shore as I tried unsuccessfully to throw a rock from one side to the other (there was a day I could have made it, and there was another day when I wouldn't have left until I was successful ... neither of those days were today).  By now it was naptime so we headed back to the camper.

                                                        Carter met a friend that took him for a quick ride

My job was to take Carter for a walk in the jogger to get him to fall asleep.  I started out and about 50 steps into the journey I realized that I had failed to plug in the AC while setting up the night before.  Carter and I spun on a dime, went back, and plugged in our saving grace!!!  Game-changer for sure!!  Carter eventually fell asleep and Kelly and I set up outside for some reading.  I read the newest People (thrilling, I know) and Kelly read Outside magazine (how appropriate).  I didn't make it long and then went inside for an hour and a half nap.  Carter lasted about two and a half so everyone was in good spirits around 4:00. 

We hung out and played trains at the camper and then went back to the lake for some kayaking.  We ran into some nice people who were tent camping (and also wearing a pistol on his belt) and chatted a little about inflatable kayaks.  Finally, we found a good spot to drop in and Kelly and I both took turns touring the lake.  Carter isn't much into boating but we did coax him in for a brief journey.  He is far more interested in rock throwing.  The lake was quite relaxing and a lot of fun, but it was time to head back for dinner.  Kelly doctored up some kind of "hobo" meal where you pack potatoes, meat, worsterchire, cheese, and other tasty items into tin foil.  Place it on the grill for 20 and voila, yummy-ness!!!  It was truly awesome!! 

Hobo foil wraps.  They were REALLY good and REALLY easy.  The picture obviously doesn't give it any justice!  From sixsisterstuff.com

As clean-up took place, I began prepping the fire pit with the FREE firewood the kind folk at Minooka brought us!  Carter "helped" set up the fire and eventually we had something good for smores.  Carter toasted his own marshmallow and then ate his smore!!  I say that he ate it, but he really ate half of it and wiped the other half on his face.  :)


I know, terrible that I added this BUT so proud of him for using the camping toilet!!!  Sorry Carter, Mommy loves you!

Now it was bedtime and fortunately for everyone, it was another good night's sleep (I did take some safe meds that knocked me out this time!- Kelly).  We both agree that Carter gets easier every trip.  This time around we just let him stay up pretty late (9:30ish) at night and just all went to bed at the same time.  That way we don't have to tip-toe around in the camper and don't have to fight him not wanting to go to bed as much.  One of the sweetest "mommy" moments for Kelly happened this night. Everyone had been quiet for quite awhile and thought he was definitely asleep, and she sneezed, then we hear Carter whisper "bless you mommy".  He was just so sweet!   

We all made it til 6:45, and then Carter and I watched VeggieTales while Kelly stole another hour of shut-eye.  The morning was slow and relaxing (as camping should be).  We basically took one more trip to the lake before cleaning up and coming home. Overall, it was a great last trip as a family of three!!  I still can't believe we went camping only one week away from having a child!

Our Rating: 7.9
This is without a doubt a great place that is made better by the fact that it is only 20 minutes from our house.  We found ourselves saying many times how we felt like we were "hours away," and that is enough to put it above some other places.  It is tough to find a place so close that feels so far away.  Also, it is a new facility that is well put together.  The sites are very quality, and they bring you free firewood!!  Lastly, the lake is very nice and very peaceful.  It is great for kayaking and fishing, and it has a great one-mile trail surrounding it that would be a nice hike for just about anyone. 

As for disadvantages, there currently isn't much shade at the campsites.  Some young trees have been planted, but we're a few years shy of that benefit.  It isn't a problem for fall weekends, but summer months would be brutal in a pop-up (plus side is that star-gazing is quite easy at night).  Also, there are no showers, so any extended stay would either be very grimy or require a trip home to bathe.  The last detractor to this campground is that Minooka is really a playground for ATV enthusiasts.  It is full of trails for motorbikes and four-wheelers, which isn't a problem, but it can be noisy at times.  It isn't anything too alarming, but it is noticeable enough to mention.

Overall, this is a nice campground that is perfect for a quick "get-away."




Mountain Lakes - Guntersville, AL CABIN 6-21-13

OK, so maybe this wasn't really camping since our pop-up Jack didn't join us, but it was still a trip to the great outdoors, and thus good enough for a blog entry!!!

So this trip began several months ago when we entered a contest at Camping World and "won." It seems to us that all you had to do was sign up at the table and you "won" a trip to Mountain Lakes. They called us back in February and we planned to go in April, but cancelled ... again in May, but cancelled ... and now we made it work in mid-June. Our original plan was to take our camper, but since the fine people at Mountain Lakes offered us a cabin, we went for it (June can be a rough month to camp in a pop-up ... really hot, lots of people around, and even more bugs).

We loaded up the car Friday afternoon about 1:30 and left for our cabin, all while hoping Carter would get in a great nap on the way! This trip was without much packing since we were staying in a cabin instead of the camper. It was much easier since we had an efficiency and did not have to bring a bunch of food. (This is Kelly- really I just didn't pack any food this time because it would force us to eat out the whole time and I didn't have the energy while packing to plan any meals except for hotdogs!)The most exciting item we packed this time around was the bikes! We are still trying to find a way to take them with us when we also have the camper, especially since we saw on this trip how much Carter loves to ride the "Mommy-cicle." Regardless, the trip was very easy ... Carter napped great ... pregnant mommy was comfortable(-ish) ... and no bikes fell off the back of the car. We made it to the campsite around 4:00, checked in, and moved right into the cabin.

Cabin #2, more effectionately known as "Bigmouth Bunker," was our home for the weekend; however, we almost didn't make it to our temporary home since Tessa the front office worker told us it was Cabin #6. Donald walked straight into #6 and was greeted by a dinner table full of dirty clothes.  Fortunately there were not any big scary people cleaning their hunting rifles when the city boy walked into the wrong cabin. Disaster averted.  Soon we were settled into Bigmouth Bunker after stepping over the giant animal cage on the way in- comforting. 

After re-checking with Tessa, we made it into the correct cabin and found some time to relax. Carter then found his toys and the television. He became pretty hooked on Mickey Mouse before we pried him away to go eat dinner. The sweet part about this campground is that there was a "country cafe" about 100 feet from our cabin. We basically ate every meal there and added many pounds to ourselves. Friday night was a catfish special!!!! Once we had devoured all of the catfish, hush puppies, French fries, and tartar sauce our stomachs could take, we toured the site on bike. It was great to see the lake at sunset and to relax on the shore for a bit. Finally we made it back to the cabin for bedtime. Carter took a little longer than normal than usual but eventually fell asleep.

We all slept really late ... 8:00! ... and then jetted out for a country breakfast. Direct quotes from breakfast: Carter: "Yummies!" Kelly: "I ate way too much." Donald: "Are you gonna eat those hash browns?" Now that breakfast was tucked away, it was time for kayaking!!! We drove down to the boat ramp, inflated the kayak, and got ready for a nice cruise through Guntersville Lake. For some reason unknown to us, something just didn't seem right. We paddled around for a bit and dodged some bass boat waves. Then, Donald began acting weird. His questions turned from "Have you ever seen a lake so nice?" to "Do you have any water in the front of the boat?" As the paddling became more difficult and everyone's swim shorts became more wet, it was evident something wasn't right. Turns out that "super cool outdoors dad" forgot to plug the bottom drain in the kayak. Yes, that's right, we toured the lake for about 10 minutes while we slowly took on water. Luckily, we made it back to the shore before Carter received his first swimming lesson in the middle of Guntersville Lake.  Now that we were safe, we took Carter to the pier to use his kids fishing pole.  He threw it in the lake three times and Kelly saved it twice... but not before we got some cute pictures. :) As we were all leaving the pier feeling pretty defeated, Kelly randomly started a bloody nose.  Couldn't get any better!

So, the morning was a pretty big fail, but hey, we could correct all of that with a nice trip to the pool! We took Carter and he was successful in stealing a bunch of toys and running everywhere his parents told him not to. But, he did his usual entertaining gig for a sweet grandma named Miss Pat. No one was sunburned so we'll call this a success.

Carter then pretended like he was going to nap, but faked mommy and daddy out. He was a little too wired for napping, so we all headed back out for some fun. This time it was the playground and other areas of the park before coming back for pizza. Lastly, we closed out the evening with another bike ride to the pier. We were able to see the sun set once again before retiring for the evening.

As for the final morning, we were signed up for a 90-minute presentation so they could try to sell us a membership.  After much prodding on their end, we said no. We're more of a state park family. :)

Until next time, happy camping.

Pooles Knob Corps of Engineers Campsite... outside of Nashville, TN 5/27/13

(FYI- Kelly is writing- therefore MAY not be as entertaining) We went to Poole Knobs in LaVergne, Tennessee for Memorial Weekend. It worked out perfectly because we were going up there for our neice, Grace's, second birthday and had been wanting to use the camper since we had canceled our last two trips. We have got to start learning to plan ahead on the holidays because all the campsites are snatched up so quickly! Luckily, Jenny helped us fine a great Corp of Engineer site that had two spots left. So far we have had great luck with their sites! You can tell it was pretty perfect as we like to have Carter as enclosed as possible to keep him from wondering.

 

Yes that is Carter shooting a ball into my new portable toilet!  As you know from the last post I had decided the kitty litter toilet, though a great idea, just wasn't going to cut it. Before you get too grossed out- the bag is changed everytime and we didn't let Carter continue after he made his first shot:)  The first night went pretty well- Carter woke up a few times because I did not plan well and hadn't put his sweatshirt on the first night.  So he would wake up moaning when out of his covers.  The next two nights we took care of that and he slept all the way through in his own bed.  It is amazing how he can go from totally asleep to "mommy,mommy,mommy, daddy, daddy, daddy" in half a second quite early in the morning!  But luckily he loves watching Diego, fire trucks, and Thomas :) 

After checking out the site that morning (we had another late arrival the first night) we headed to get ready to go see Donald's family at James' soccer game.  The facilities were OK.  Still gave me the feeling of not really wanting to touch anything but showers had plenty of hooks and a bench to keep your stuff on so I was happy.  Carter got to shower this time and loved it!   

James did great at his soccer game!  It's so funny to watch him and Carter together- you can see Carter looks like a little James clone in these pictures.  Unfortunately Carter was quite the handful since he was so mad about not being able to play. 

We had a wonderful celebration for Grace's birthday.  There were many funny dialogues between Grace and Carter that mostly included two words... NO MINE! 

We stayed at Jenny and Johns through dinner on Saturday and then came "home" so we could keep Carter on schedule.  We were all pretty wiped out and had a wonderful night sleep! 

The hand-off...

Touchdown!!!

 
Sunday morning we had everyone over for burgers and hotdogs.  John's parents, Charles and Pat joined us as well.  Good food, great company, and lots of bug spray.  We also were able to use the new grill that Cory and Gina got us- thanks guys! We walked down to the lake and had a couple games of bean bag toss going on while enjoying the PERFECT weather.  I think the high was about 75 that day, but we were in complete shade.  After everyone headed out, Carter took a long nap while we caught up on some reading and relaxed. 

Jenny and Donald having a teaching moment on sharing.  We have a ways to go.   

  

Our seasoned camper.  He was a trooper with the "skeeters", ended up with three bites on his face:(

I am exactly 20 weeks pregnant with Caroline.  I feel like you can definitely see that in this picture- but thats ok:)  I am just thankful to have felt great all trip compared to our last trip in Seaside.  We didn't write on the blog because it was still early, but I had an entire day there of throwing up.  Not this time!!!  All I had to worry about was keeping my belly full:) 

Since we had been at the campground all morning and I wanted some good greasy food, we decided to head out for dinner.  I know, you can judge us its ok.  True campers would not go out to eat, but we have definitely learned that we both get a little antsy if we are in one spot all day!  We also went to Academy after dinner.  Too much info- but Carter had a terrible #2 diaper while we were there, threw a tantrum while I was trying to change it.  Just as I finished, he proceeded to pee all over before I put his diaper on and I ended up having to change him on the bathroom floor.  He left with a wet shirt- I refused to buy him another one! 

Eating at "Toots"

Beginning of a great nap

We had a relaxing start to Memorial Day by making pancakes on the fire and sausage on the stove.  I begged Donald to let me get an anti-gravity chair at Academy... I've made quite a few purchases lately.  BUT by pulling the pregnancy card and getting it on sale I was able to pull it off.  And I am pretty obsessed with this chair- and it didn't take long for the rest of the family to jump on board either! 

Also want to say that we are very thankful to our troops on this Memorial Day.  Especially as Cory just finished his first week in Afghanistan.  This is his second trip there and he will be gone for 7 months.  Thankful for his service and praying for his safety! 

Pancake thief!  Also had a roasted marshmallow for breakfast dessert:) 

 

We took a nice walk down to the lake after breakfast and before packing everything up.  The packing up process is always quite a bit of work, but we are starting to get into much more of a routine and it's getting much easier! 

Final stop of the trip was for ice cream.  The big mistake was letting Carter have the rest of his cone in the car where he decided he would eat the bottom first.  Poor guy was throwing fits when I kept licking some of his ice cream as it was melting.  We had a great trip home! 

 

Our Rating: We are going to give this site a 7.8.  We debated this number for many reasons.  The site itself was exactly what we like.  Surrounded by trees, very private.  Even though people weren't still close to us, it was very peaceful and everyone was very respectful and quiet.  The following lowered the rating: showers/bathrooms run down but not gross, we always drove to them because the alternative was walking up a big hill down the road, and the road was really narrow.  Donald did not get pulled over this trip- but he did get reprimanded for going the wrong way on the one-way road on the way to the bathroom.  Oops!:) So as far as entertaining Carter it was difficult at times walking with him on the road with the traffic coming in.  We did have fun playing on a small rocky shore of the lake, but besides that most entertainment for him had to occur at our site.  So far this comes in second place after Gunter Hill outside Montgomery.  Overall we were very pleased with this location and how it worked out for us to visit with family at the same time.  Rate was $20/night. 

Things we learned on this trip;

1) We have these awesome flashlights and I was playing around with them one of the nights.  Well it is not a good idea AT ALL to shine them around the ground when you are sitting around the campfire.  You really DO NOT want to know that there may be thick spiders walking around the size of a small fist, among other insects.  Definitely won't do that again.   

2) Bringing a toy for Carter that he hasn't seen for awhile, or a new toy, is KEY. 

3) As much as we love camping, we still like to have our convenience and option to go eat out.  I guess maybe we aren't "true campers":) 

4) Now that we have been next to the lake a couple of times, we are feeling the need for a water toy.  We would love a boat of some sort, but since that's not practical we may settle for a cheap kayak or two.  We will see!