Logan Landing 5-29-16

It’s Memorial Day Weekend!!  We rarely get an opportunity to go camping on this three-day weekend because I have just finished a school year (read in between the lines: I. Am. Super. Tired.) and it is almost impossible to find a place with an open spot somewhere.  Since we now have a trailer and we are so excited about using it, Kelly and I decided we better get on it and find us a place.  I did the normal state park and corps of engineer search to find a nice oasis somewhere in our lovely state’s protected lands, but it seems that everyone else had their eyes set on the same oasis we did.  That left me to Google things like (in this order): “best RV places in Birmingham” to “best RV places in Pelham” to “best RV places near highway 280” to “any RV place anywhere.”  Eventually we got a look at some private RV parks that had some openings.  This is a good time to interject that Kelly and I normally stay grounded to the state/national parks because they are cheaper, there tends to be more trees and nature, and there tends to be more privacy and things to do.  All in all, I found this super awesome (or so the internet showed me) RV campground called Logan Landing RV Resort.  Hey … it’s on Lake Logan Martin and it’s a resort … can’t go wrong!  Not to mention that, but the advertisements were for people who may want to purchase a lake lot for their camper.  Man!  This must be high class RV-ing!  ………………………..

Friday afternoon rolls around and we were committed to making it to the campground even if I was about to fall over from fatigue.  See, this was the last day of school for the year so I had 188 days of work in place that was begging me to say, “let’s just go in the morning.”  But, since we now have a camper that is easy set-up, we pushed through and made it happen.  Kelly loaded the kids and I hooked up the camper … and we were off on another adventure around 5:00.  Travel down 280 was easy, except Kelly needed gas for the van and we were all starving.  Carter and I drove ahead while Kelly got gas and a sack of burgers from McDonald’s.  Good camp food, right?  

Alas, after an hour or so on the road, and crossing what seemed like 53 railroad tracks, we made it to the entrance of our campground. Wait, this is a campground?  Aren’t they parked pretty close together to be camping?  Are you sure they aren’t like that for storage?  Hmmmm.  I went into the main office to check us in, and the head lady said to sit tight because “Pete would escort me to my site.”  Hot-diggidy-dog!!  An escort!  This is the high-life!  Pete loaded up in his golf cart and took us to our spot … and hot-diggidy-don’t … this isn’t the high-life.  Before we go any farther in this post, Kelly and I are camping snobs.  Again we prefer lots of trees and wooded areas … that said, Logan Landing is a great place that obviously serves a lot of campers very well … it just wasn’t necessarily our cup of tea (or Yeti of coffee in this case). 

Pete pointed to our spot and I looked at it like “I’m supposed to back up on to that?!” It was certainly not the easiest parking job, but after 4-5 minutes of uneasiness I was able to maneuver that bad boy into perfect position.  Note: these were tense moments as two workers and three family members were watching me and judging my every turn.  Whatever … I got this.

I knew how stressed Donald was so figured why not take pics to remember this moment!

Cleanup crew getting us set

Set up was once again a thousand times better than what it was with the pop-up and we were off and running in no time.  The kids watched something really quick and then we decided to go exploring … and man did we find something.  We had heard there was a stage near the playground that would have some Memorial Day entertainment so we headed in that direction.  The playground was adequate, but Carter and Caroline thought it was the best thing they had ever seen.  I’m still not sure how they got so much joy out of it but we were glad they did. 

Then we ventured down to look at the stage … it seemed that there were some people milling around and possibly setting up for tomorrow’s performance.  They had a bubble machine already running so our kids were drawn to the area naturally.  On our walk down there it became evident that we were going to get some music this evening and not have to wait an entire day.  The man on stage began hooking up his equipment and the first song came out.  Hey … it’s Memorial Day so it’s going to be some kind of USA song or “Thank God for the red, white, and blue” … right?  Nah.  Nothing says THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE like … “Mr. Brownstone” by Guns N Roses? Do what?  So … vulnerable moment here … I can rock out with GnR like a madman, but something about this setting just didn’t seem like it fit.  Regardless, Carter and Caroline didn’t seem to care so they danced and danced, and ran and played … all thanks to bubbles, Mr. Brownstone, and the fine people at Logan Landing.  We did this a little while longer (“this” being Carter and Caroline dancing, me and Kelly staring with our mouths open) and then it was time for some karaoke.  There were some pretty good participants, and no I did not get up there despite Kelly prodding me for some Johnny Cash songs.  She said it would make the blog that much better if I would go do it.  Nice bait, Kelly, but this fish wasn’t biting.  Finally we had enough bubbles and music so we all headed back to the camper for the night.  The kids were absolutely wired and didn’t seem very interested in any sort of direction Kelly and I gave, but we all eventually settled in and seemed to sleep well.  The kids didn’t wake up until around 8:20 so we all had ample sleep that prepared us for the next day.

That morning we did our traditional start … muffins from Costco, bananas and hardboiled eggs!  The kids devoured the chocolate ones like always and then we started getting ready for more adventure.

Morning, puffy-eyed, snuggles

I do look forward to my coffee and love my chair!  

Our neighbors about 10 feet behind us, the ones next door on each side about 5 feet!   The kids love reading this book about bugs!

Carter really wanted to go back to the playground, and we had heard there was a beach area on the lake.  We played a little while longer on the swings and slides, and then worked our way toward the beach.  

Toughening our kids up with some tetherball

She was not happy with me!

For some reason- he was obsessed with these swings

Sweet Daddy-Daughter moment

Happy Memorial Day!  

Fun with the Daddy Long Legs

 Much like Oak Mountain State Park, it was more of a muddy area that poses as a beach.  Fortunately Carter and Caroline do not discriminate when it comes to beaches (daddy does … I’m a bit of a snob) and they proceeded to play, splash, and build things all along the shore.  

Kelly took a jog back to the camper to make lunches and get the van so we wouldn’t have to haul the kids back later on.  She came through clutch with a turkey, cheese, mayo, onion, and guac sandwich that absolutely hit the spot.  I was also impressed with how quickly she made it back … my guess was it would take her 52 minutes but she managed to pull this off in 15 (yes I did time myself and point out how fast it took me! #kelly) … and let’s not kid ourselves here, she made it so quickly because she wanted to show me up. :)  

We then dried the kids off and went to explore the clubhouse.  They had a pool table and a big television, both of which had Carter’s attention.  He actually said about 2-3 times that he wishes this was our house.  Not so sure about that, buddy.  

After a lot of time logged in the sun, we headed back to the camper for naps.  It is still debatable as to who needed the naps more, me or the kids.  Either way, I managed to get in about an hour and a half and was much better because of it.  

Memorial Day BBQ aka leftover boston butt

Movie and Popcorn time!

We lazed around until about 6:30, and then realized we were missing the Elvis impersonator at the stage.  Oh no!!!!!  We actually did not hurry despite this uplifting news, and managed to make it to the stage right as they were closing everything down.  Who cares?  We still have the playground equipment.  :)  That evening we all watched a movie and attempted to put the kids to sleep.  For some reason that really did not work (again) and we ended up outside at 10:30 looking at the stars.  There are surely worse things that could be happening at 10:30pm than holding your child and staring at the multitude of stars above.  That’s a pretty cool way to end a day.  

The final morning arrived and man was it warm. We again dug into some muffins and lounged around.

I was pretty ready to go ahead and start packing up since we had managed to play on the playground endlessly already.  But nooooooooo … Carter wanted one more trip.  It was worth it because it was on this last trip that he successfully conquered the handle bars!  He didn’t think he could do it but once he got one rung complete he was determined to finish the whole thing.  It was fun to watch him experiment and learn about things. 

My mini-me from the ankles up!!!  

First time completing the Monkey Bars!

Go Carter!!!

Perhaps on a less “life-conquering” level was Kelly and Caroline’s trip to the port-o-potty.  I don’t really know what transpired, but all I heard was that the blue sanitary stuff stained Caroline’s backside, and when Kelly got outside of the port-o-potty she noticed Caroline had a tiny blue stain on her forehead as well.  Yuck yuck yuck YUCK! 

As is typical now, take down was work but it was a lot easier than it used to be.  We hit the road about 11:30 and made it home around 12:45!  Another successful journey in the books!

We will give Logan Landing a 5.9.  We had a great time but not what we were looking for as far as a "campground".  Crowded and not exactly the outdoor feel but the playground and Memorial production seemed to be the highlights!

OMSP with Growth Group 5-22-16

It’s late May so it must be prime camping season!!!  The weather is perfect and the woods are calling our name.  Once again, we decided to take a trip to Oak Mountain State Park.  Yes yes yes, we know this park has become a regular for us … but it is literally five minutes from our house and is one of the best State Parks we know … so get off our backs about it! (insert emoji that has a combination of a wink and an angry face) (or just see the pic below haha! #kelly).

Anyway, this trip was a little different for us because we came about this trip through a church small group (we call them growth groups) get-together.  During one of our bi-monthly growth group meetings we all decided to go camping together and this was the weekend we chose.  Since so many of us have small children (and no camper for relief), many couples decided to come for dinner and skip out on the overnight part.  

As a family, we were initially scheduled to set up Friday night; however, I was way too tired after a long work week to hook everything up and do anything.  Instead we went to eat some bad Mexican food and to watch a bad movie (so not true! Who doesn't love Moes and the kids both loved Angry Birds and Donald got a nap- so why is he complaining?! #kelly) .... other than that I am good at this point.  The next morning we woke early, loaded up, and made it to OMSP about 10:00am.  We hung out as a family and did next to nothing before the Mowrys showed up!  

They were our first community group guests and we were excited to see them get set up.  The Mowrys were set up for some true camping with their tent, which happened to pop up (just as advertised) in 30 seconds!  I’ve got to get one of those…

After the Mowrys were set up we all went to the day-use area and looked into renting some kayaks.  The Mowrys jumped in while the Clayton kids passed on anything that would restrict them from being crazy.  They are wise little kids that know being in a tiny boat fences in their freedom.  Truthfully, mom and dad know that as well and choose not to get into a situation (in the middle of a lake) where they are done with their current activity, thus causing pain for everyone.  Instead, we went to the beach area and let the kids play for about 20-30 minutes.  It is also where Kelly and I love to do some people watching.  By the way, it’s called a beach but it presents more as a landfill with water (ok it's not THAT bad! #kelly).

Next, we moved back to the campsite in order to meet Tim Shirley, who had just arrived for dinner.  On the way back, we received a phone call saying that the Park Ranger was looking for the Claytons.  Yikes.  Fortunately for us they were just mad that we had not checked into the group site yet.  I am about 99.5% sure I did everything correct earlier in the day, but I will not reveal any revenge plans here on this blog.  To make it short, I let them know how irritated I was that they called me in for nothing, we had a few words for one another, and they let me go.  No harm no foul, right?  Finally we made it to the site, and that’s when everyone started showing up.  

Don't mess with this guy... Haha!

The Martins, Coggins, Mowrys, Shirleys, and Menards were all present for the 1st Annual Growth Group Camp-Out, and it was a blast!!  Having so many people meant I had to work extra hard making burgers and hot dogs for everyone.  It ended up being not that big of a deal as Tim helped me knock things out and get everyone fed.  

The meal was really good and everyone seemed to enjoy hanging out for a couple of hours.  Somewhere close to dark we got the fire going and began working on s’mores. :)  The Menards and The Mowrys were all set up with their tents to stay the night, so we hung out around the fire until about 11:00 before calling it a night.  As all great campfire conversations should be, this one involved lots of laughter and inside jokes.

It seems everyone slept well and when we woke Sunday morning the temperature was perfect.  Kelly made some incredible pancakes that also happened to be as big as my face, and I managed to grill some sausage for everyone.  We all devoured the breakfast and then made plans for the rest of the day.

 It was decided that we should head over to the Bird Center so the kids could see all of the birds that are being nursed back to health.  It was a lot of fun as we ended up taking a walk down a really nice trail as well.  Everyone enjoyed being outside and taking advantage of the perfect temperatures.  

Lastly, once everyone had headed home, we loaded up the camper and took a quick trip to the archery park.  Carter has some nerf bow and arrows that were able to use.  Everyone in our family now feels like Robin Hood or Katniss Everdeen…

All in all, it was another great trip!  The camper was perfect and we are loving it more and more each day!