Bethany and Benjamin.  My last two B Bs.  Hee hee.  I sure hope they continue to like each other!

We have had a fun week!!!  We packed up the whole house (you know what that means) and went camping!  This time Kevin needed to finish his work week before he could come play with us, so we traveled with Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik down to Palisades and set up camp together next to the lake.  (Actually, it’s a reservoir, but it felt like a lake!)  It is so beautiful there.  I felt like I finally found my place.

Here is the view from the beach looking out at the water and the swimming dock:

And here is the view from the beach looking back at our campsite:

This was on Wednesday and more people did arrive as the week wore on, but it didn’t interfere with how much fun we had.  We did a lot of swimming and a lot of canoeing and some playing in the sand/rocks.  There was much jumping from the swim docks and even some chasing of minnows.  There was also peace and rest back at the tent and Grandma and Grandpa’s trailer as well as games.  On Friday night there was even s’mores!  On Saturday, Grandpa and Kevin went golfing on the adjacent golf course.  I thought it was a just a little piece of heaven.

    

     

Calianne has really taken to swimming ever since swimming lessons early this summer, but Cheyenne finally got the hang of it this week down at the beach.  I am so thrilled!  (So was she!) 

Sarah and Megan were silly together constantly.  They have a lot of fun together.  But that’s not really new.  The new dynamic was that Mariah spent a lot of time with the twins and especially Calianne.  Cali was Mariah’s little bud.  Cali even prayed to say thanks that she and Mariah had gotten to be such good friends.  That was priceless.

Even though we diligently slathered on the sunblock, everyone got very sunburned.  Even little Ben got a little pink in the cheeks. Sarah, Megan, and Mariah got it the very worst.  Mariah is even starting to peel on her face.  Bummer!

I guess there’s not anything that special about where we just went.  Just a little water and some trees and some campsites.  And the water is clear and deep.  But what could be better than being able to jump into clear cool water when it's so hot outside and cool off whenever you want to?  What could be better than an evening swim every night before bed?  What could be better than having your children happy every day?  What could be better than getting away from your house that always needs attention and screams at you to clean one more thing and, instead, just breathe in the fresh air and look up at the blue sky and read your book and watch your children play and cool off in the water when you get hot?  

I will definitely be going back again.