Memorial Day Weekend 2011

What a weekend! We left home Friday morning for Lake Hendricks in Iowa. The road to the park was under construction so we ended up on gravel roads and now I am sure I will need to get new shocks on the back of the car!

It was rainy and cold the first night and I was extremely thankful that we had electricity and a radiant heater in the tent. I also will never go camping without my queen size double height air mattress! Dad helped me set the tent up and we got it up just before it started to drizzle! Ellie was so excited to go camping. We had a perfect spot. Close to the playground, a hop skip and a jump from the beach, and just the right distance from the bathroom and showers! Yes, I said "showers!" Thank goodness for showers! When it is cold, rainy and muddy there is nothing better!

Our first night grandpa made hamburgers and Ellie ate a whole half along with chips. Going to sleep was an Olympic event with Ellie doing gymnastics all over me. Eventually she went to sleep but the bigger problem presented itself at about 1 AM when the air mattress had expanded from the heat of our bodies and I was sleeping as if I were in a recliner... at least my backside wasn't touching the ground... there was still enough air. Needless to say we made it through the night.

One oops on my part was that I forgot my camera so the few pics I did get are to the right. When we were gathering the stuff for our camping adventure, I ran across a "Disney Princess" fishing pole. Now I know that Dad likes to fish and I also know how much my little girl "loves" her Grandpa, so I had to get it! It was so much fun watching her learn to cast with Grandpa! They later went fishing Saturday afternoon.

We had been hoping to be able to ride bicycle around the trails but due to the road construction the trails were closed. That didn't stop us from riding a short way and getting to see a doe standing in the forest not more than 5 yards from us!

Sana, Mike and Emily joined the group on Sunday and the two little girls had a blast playing with the other kids at the playground. They got so muddy that I later took them to the showers to clean them off! We had a wonderful time. The girls got to see a bald eagle swooping down to catch a fish from the lake and had the joy of roasting marshmallows over the campfire. At bed time they both hopped into bed with me and we watched "How to Train Your Dragon" until Ellie passed out and Emily couldn't keep her eye's open.

Monday Morning we enjoyed a sunny, warm, windy day and started it with waffles ala Dad! Yummy! We eventually got everything packed up despite the wind wanting to take everything away and made it back to the folks house. Ellie and I spent the night there, using Mom's washer and dryer to clean our clothes and taking care of some computer stuff for Dad. It was an amazing and fun weekend topped off with Ellie turning Grandma into a "flower bush!" My little girl is so much fun!