(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!
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| The hand-off... |
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| 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.
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| Our seasoned camper. He was a trooper with the "skeeters", ended up with three bites on his face:( |
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| 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!
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| Eating at "Toots" |
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| 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!
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| Pancake thief! Also had a roasted marshmallow for breakfast dessert:) |
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!
