We had a great time camping though. The spot that Russ and I scoped out on our motorcycle outing last week was open and we set up our happy little camp; our home away from home for the next two nights. 
We enjoyed the sun peaking through the trees before sunset.
Then we walked down to the lake.
At the lake that first night, we did some serious rock skipping. 
We slept in our tent without the rain cover on, looking up to the trees and the stars. It was a peaceful night. The next morning, Russ and the boys took off early to go fish. I kept the fire going, and enjoyed some coffee and a beautiful quiet time. Psalm 43:3-4 “Send out your light and your truth; let them guide me. Let them lead me to your holy mountain, to the place where you live. There I will go to the altar of God, to God—the source of all my joy. I will praise you with my harp, O God, my God!”
Afterwards, I peeked in on my guys and saw a sight that melted my heart. What a great start to the day. Camping is a lot of work. But this trip, was already different than ones before. We were enjoying a quiet and relaxed rhythm to our day. Time was standing still for our family, and we were enjoying time with one another.
At breakfast, we felt some sprinkles and had to quickly get the cover on our tent, some more clothes on and our canopy over the table (which we threw in at the last minute, not knowing why because the forecast was for 90 degrees, dry and windy.) Somehow, this is often our camping story.
We walked back to the lake to take some pictures in the misty weather. 
Dellen still enjoyed playing with the sprayer bottle I had brought along for when we were all dying of heat. He liked making his boots look darker by soaking them. 
The boys’ camo tent in the middle became our little outhouse during our stay. The campground is p.r.i.m.i.t.i.v.e., and the nearest vault toilets were far away. We set up our own little collapsible toilet inside the tent, and all worked out just fine. Well, for me anyway. I think my guys all went in the woods most of the trip.
We took a little drive and went to the lookout tower for a 360 degree view of the area. Beautiful!
The meadow was in bloom. Trees were full of ripening fruit. We ate several mulberries off of a nearby tree. 
Our next adventure was a hike cut short due to extreme amounts of poison ivy. It was everywhere. Small and creeping, bushy and viney, large and climbing. We took immediate actions to change back at camp. And really cleaned up once at home again. (So far, we aren’t seeing any rashes.) Everyone is looking where they step at every moment in these pictures. Really unfortunate, because it had been such a promising and pretty little trail. 
In the afternoon, we napped and rested and fished and played some catch. 
The sun came out and it did indeed get hot and windy as predicted. 
The guys all saw several snakes at the lake. I only saw this one. They saw one catch a fish in the water and swim away with it. 
We left Saturday morning with a parting shot of the buffalo. What a fantastic time together!
