Cloudland Canyon, Cloudland TN with the Williams April 2019

The 4th Annual Williams-Clayton camping adventure finally made it here!  This trip was scheduled originally for October; however, we had to postpone til the Spring.  Everything worked out great! We love having our friends over for a camping weekend!

Everyone arrived somewhere between 5:00-6:00 Friday evening.  We set up camp and the kids began playing right away. Since the Williams now live in Georgia, it was a reunion of sorts and something our kids were very excited about.  We did the normal hangout, ate well, let the kids stay up later than they need, had good conversation around the fire, and then retired for the evening. Carter's birthday was actually the first night of the trip!

Saturday brought the normal great breakfast that has become a tradition of this trip.  Fortunately the playground was nearby so the kids went up there a pretty good bit. This was our first trip with walkie-talkies and they got put to good use.  The kids had bikes and scooters so they were having a blast. After playtime we all decided to go out on an adventure. We heard there were waterfalls in the park so we figured it would be fun.  We discovered that the waterfalls were too far away for the tiny legs so we just followed a normal trail. The kids enjoyed it even if dad got a little nervous as everyone got next to the edge. Yikes!!

That afternoon/evening, we ventured into Chattanooga to do some exploring.  We played for a little bit and then walked across the bridge. The kids had a lot of fun walking across and looking at the water.  They made up a lot of games. At the end of the bridge we found a really good ice cream place and treated ourselves well. Despite the late hour the kids did really well.  We ended up driving back, letting the kids fall asleep, and then putting them straight to bed.

 

 

Saturday morning the Williams had to pack up and head out.  They played a little while longer and then got on the road around lunch.  We were actually scheduled for one more day at Cloudland so we went in search of the waterfalls.  Fortunately we found them this time. They were a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong way down in a hole.  The first one seemed like 400 steps down and once we found it we were pretty excited. We got to play around a little and basically enjoy the scenery.  It was pretty great. Carter wanted me to go with him to the lower waterfall and I agreed. It was another 500 steps down, which wasn’t that bad until we realized we would have to climb another 900 to get out.  We took lots of breaks on the way up but finally made it. The family enjoyed a lazy evening, went to bed, and then headed out the next morning. All in all, it was a great trip.

 

***Important Add-on... when we got home we went straight to see Gretel at Mayfair (Dr. Russell) and then from there to the ER as she was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes on April 29th, the day we got back. Katelyn was talking about how Caroline had really lost all of her baby fat, then as we were talking about it that afternoon I feel like God gave me a lightbulb as I added up other symptoms and I was thinking maybe she had it. She had previously been having extreme thirst, snacking, potty breaks during the day and at night, delirious at night, and now this. I called Katie and thought she would think I was crazy but said no you should take her in. So we did just that. These hiking pictures of her here were tough on all of us... she was NOT wanting to do this and I was having to rotate which girl I was carrying while the boys explored the other trail!

3rd Annual Topsail Spring Break 2019

This was our third annual Spring Break trip to Topsail Hill in Santa Rosa Beach, FL and it just seems to get better every year!  As usual, the weather was great, the campground was pristine, and the times were good. We eagerly look forward to heading back next year!

 

We took our time getting ready on Saturday and had most everything packed for the Sunday morning departure.  Traffic was fine and we ended up pulling into spot #11 at 12:30. Once everything was set up, we headed down to the beach for our first taste of the perfectly calm ocean.  The kids did their usual … Carter and Caroline ran from waves and Cora played endlessly in the sand. Kelly and I joined in on both and also found time to lay down and relax.

Monday was more of the same but with an earlier beach trip … and it also included a lift on the family favorite Topsail State Park shuttle!  We came back and had some awesome sandwiches that Kelly made before Cora went down for nap. Side note: Kelly rocked the food for this trip. We only ate out once and had our fill of good meals the whole time we were there.  It was pretty great.

Kelly's meals:

Breakfast: Quick meals- kids favorite chocolate donuts, bananas and yogurt and steel cut oats with berries and walnuts for us... on our cooking mornings we had pancakes, sausage and eggs

Lunch- Sandwiches, hotdogs, tacos, introduced the kids to ritz crackers and squeeze cheeze! They weren't as impressed as they should have been!

Dinners- making taco meat before was huge... we ate them the first night and had them throughout the week, also had chili hotdog night and bratwurst night.... sooo healthy!

Tuesday the kids pushed back on going to the beach.  It was mainly because Carter got really sunburned on the back of his legs (mommy and daddy had a miscommunication on who was going to apply … ouch).  Caroline was more interested in making a return trip to the pool, even though the water was too cold to get in. We went anyway and ended up sitting around the pool while the kids acted out different sea animals.  It was pretty fun.


Caroline's crab stance, Kelly and Cora's bike ride, Kelly got her tabata workouts in, the kids played so well together with puzzles, coloring, a scavenger hunt, sitting by the fire, cleaning dishes, playing tag, uno, go fish, soooo much fun!


***It must be noted that the kids did the dishes this trip. Kelly, being the old Environmental Science teacher, likes to help our environment when we can... which unfortunately means more work. But now that the kids are cleaning the dishes rather than us throwing away paper plates, it worked out quite well! They have quite a system down made of three parts, one for each kid!

That evening we headed into Rosemary Beach for our annual trip to Pizza by the Sea. The kids always do so well there and we enjoy their variety of options. The night was cooler than we were expecting but it still worked out for us.  After dinner we headed to Seaside to complete our other annual tradition: buying 75 cent sea animals from Sundog Books. We usually end up spending about 20 minutes deciding who should get which animal, how many they are allowed to get, etc. It’s all fun for the kids and they really look forward to this.  Unfortunately, Caroline realized on the way home that she had left Moo-Moo (her stuffed animal cow) at Sundog. Kelly called the store, they found Moo-Moo, and I headed back the next morning with the girls so we could reunite the two. It was an adventure for sure.

For our last full day, we went back to the back and soaked up even more time on the sand.  Even though the water was cold we managed to all head out there for a bit. The water was calm all week but this particular day was incredible.  Since it was so nice, we stayed a little longer than normal … long enough for Kelly to rock Cora to sleep on the beach!





We also went for some Ice Cream and Pecan Jacks!  That is some good stuff!

Later that evening we went fishing for a bit.  Our rods are not in the best shape and kept malfunctioning, but somehow Caroline’s new princess fishing rod she got for Christmas managed to reel in big one. Caroline had been telling us her line was moving but we really didn’t believe her because everyone else’s hook had been getting stuck on lily pads.  Surprise surprise. Once we got some pictures, Carter took over. He said he knew how to hold the fish to get him off the hook, and he was right. It was a classic evening for sure.

The final morning was normal last day stuff, with the exception of the incredible breakfast we cooked!  Pancakes, sausage, eggs, and avocados. Yummmmmmmmmy! It was pretty great! After eating, we started the cleanup process and managed to get it done decently quick.  Since we had been there four nights there was a lot more to clean up this time.

All in all, it was another great trip to Topsail.  We’ve been there three times for a total of about 10-12 days, and we have yet to experience a bad day.  The weather is always incredible and the campground is always the best. We have some very fond memories from this place and we are looking forward to more in the future!

Lake Jackson RV Park/Formerly Florala State Park Florala, AL

Our first Christmas camping trip was one for the books... or not! We should have taken it as a sign on our way down when the kids were all excited to get kids meals and McDonald’s, so we stop, try and go in but the lobby was closed. Sooooo when you can’t go in, are pulling a camper and have upset kids, you do this...

We have been wanting to take a Christmas trip for a few years now and decided to travel south to avoid cold temps. Donald “researched” best Chrismas festivals in the south and up came “Candyland” in Andalusia. Though they have this festival, campgrounds are limited which brought us to Florala 30 miles south. 

Unfortunately the weather didn’t cooperate and made the trip a little cold and a lot wet. 3 different weather systems came through and kept us on our toes with high winds, cold and lots of rain. To make matters worse the heavy rains made way into the camper causing Donald to spend some time on the roof at midnight while Kelly was trying to figure out how to dry her side of the bed. Luckily the kids had no clue all this had happened! 

The following morning we saw enough break in the weather to allow us to venture out for a nice walk and scooter ride around the Lake Jackson. After much play in puddles and some ending in more rain, our soaked selves were ready to stay in the rest of the day. 

After some games and devices (let’s be honest here), we decided to head into Crestview to see Mary Poppins. We all loved the movie, popcorn and candy and were hopeful the next day would be better, especially for Kelly’s birthday! 

*Sidenote- we would have bailed on this trip most likely but we were determined to go to Candyland and this just wasn’t the night to go with the weather the way it was! 

The cold and high winds were off to a great start the next morning but on a positive note Donald did an excellent job on the roof with the tarp and we were at least dry indoors! The weather did get better mid-afternoon and we made our way to “The Big R” restaurant for some birthday lunch home-cookin and then to... CANDYLAND! 

Candyland was full of tiny little houses that different companies sponsored, decorated and each at kids activities in. There was also a sled ride that was actually so fast and a little scary! Kelly and Cora were the only ones that wanted to keep going! The kids loved the “Arctic Maze” and the numerous train rides. We ended with some kernel corn and got chocolate and we had a blast and were all in good spirits. 

The trip couldn’t be complete without a tacky Christmas camping pic! “Scarla” is our new blow up that the girls were given as a gift (thanks Brooke) as a discard from a dirty Santa game. Caroline immediately named her Scarla, sang to her for fifteen minutes, and hugged her so hard that they both went tumbling. She is now our camper Christmas decoration (and we are thankful she won’t be in front of the house!)