We spent out Memorial Weekend on our first camping trip of the season! We headed about an hour and half south to Nashville, and camped at the beautiful Brown County State Park! We had such an amazing time. We arrived on Friday around 4:00pm, and spent a couple hours popping up the camper, getting our things organized, and making the beds. I got a fire going (see above) and we made campfire pizza's Friday night for dinner. Our site was really pretty nice. We didn't have any neighbors to the south, only nature. The only bad thing was, as it's a little hard to see from the photo above, but our site sloped quite a bit from the level asphalt that the camper was parked on. You can actually see it better in the photo below. Rikki and I moved the picnic table, and found a spot that wasn't quite as severely sloped. We stayed Friday night, Sat night, and Sunday night, and headed home early Monday afternoon. Even though it was a long weekend, we could have stayed a couple more days, there was so much to do! We also brought the dogs with us, and they did really well. They especially loved the walks through the campground that we took them on! Darian had an absolutely amazing time. He was such a good boy, and a real trooper! He was so excited to be camping that he stayed up till midnight on Friday night, jumping and rolling around on the bed!! The next two nights we actually took him on a stroller ride to put him to sleep, then transferred him to the bed. That worked out much better! :)
Darian helping daddy gather kindling for the fire! Such a good son!
My other hairier son Hubble...coming in for his close up!
My BOYS!!
Me and my sweetie in front of our camper!
Deedle and his beautiful momma!
"Stay away from my beer Darian!!!"
Obviously pointing something out to his mommy!
Heading to the saddle barn!
Mom and Dee watching of group of riders come in from their trail ride! The saddle barn is pretty cool. You can take either a 10 or 15 mile trail ride through the woods!
This was the first pony we put Darian on...named Macaroni, which they said was great with the younger kids. I couldn't get it to move! LOL!
Darian was a little scared at first, but after I led this little boy named Jackson around once, Dee wanted to go! Not sure this horses name, but I was able to get it to walk. Though I'm pretty sure it knew that I know nothing about horses, because it pretty much did whatever it wanted, stopping to try to eat stuff every 50 yards or so. :)
Mommy came with us to make sure Dee didn't slide off his saddle!
COWBOY DEE!!!
We stopped at a playground on the way back to our campground after leaving the saddle barn!
He loves going down slides!!
And he loves to SWING!!!
Back at camp Sunday morning! Momma washing up dishes after breakfast! I think Darian is back there "catching bugs" (catching dog food and putting it in their water bowl) with his bug catcher!
Yep...thought that was what the stinker was up to!
After breakfast we got cleaned up a little (which was pointless), and rode out bikes a couple miles from our campground to the Nature Center. We were trying to see how tall Darian was compared to the wild animals, but he sat down. I guess, sitting down, he's about the size of a red fox! :)
Checking out a wilderness rattlesnake, which can apparently be found in the area!! I hoped Rikki didn't see this, considering we were getting ready to go on a hike, but she did!!
On our way to Strahl Lake!!
.5 miles downhill to the water!
Stopping to rest before descending a steep stretch by way of several stairs and landings!
My beautiful family!!
I was so proud of Darian. He hiked the whole half-mile trail down to the lake by himself! Stairs included. He held our hands most of the time, as there were some steep drop offs at several locations.
But he did get to walk by himself for short stretches. It was only a half-mile, but it seemed like 2, and took us quite a while. He had to stop and pick up sticks, then draw in the dirt, then point something out in the woods...etc. He did so great though!
We made it!!
And boy were we thirsty!! It was a really hot day!!
Super happy to be at the lake!
Ready to go find some water to cool off in!
Found it!
It was pretty cold, but Dee didn't mind. Felt pretty good on such a hot day!
On our way back to the top of the hill!!
I didn't realize how steep the descent was until I had to carry a 25 pound sack of potatoes on my shoulders all the back!! :)
Back at the top! That view gives you a pretty good idea of how steep that 1/2-mile hike was! We were drenched in sweat!
Then we had another hilly 2-mile bike ride back to our camp to eat lunch!!
After lunch we headed to the pool!!
We spent most of our time in the baby pool, which was much warmer, but Darian did want to get in the big pool, so I took him! He loved to step out onto the ladder then jump into my arms!! He thought that was the greatest!
My best buddy!! I love that kid so much!
Dee and his gorgeous momma! POPSICLE time!!
Back in the camper chillin!
We had to run the A/C on Saturday and Sunday or else it got pretty hot in there. Though our site was much cooler since we were pretty shaded!
These were our neighbors kids. Joshua (age 9) and Jessica (turning 14 on June 9th-which is Darian's birthday too!)
They were a super nice family from Louisville!! Their mom and dad are Doug and Carla Edwards.
Joshua and Jessica helped entertain Darian while we got out camp cleaned up and packed! Very nice kids.
Happy Dee, playing with his friends! It was such a wonderfully exhausting weekend! Can't wait till our next camping adventure!
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