Long over-due post!

I've been quite absent from blogville lately! 

 So sorry!

Sometimes I just don't have any thing to share, sigh.

Last weekend I went camping with Beth, Lucas and the boys (also Quinn and Zoe.)

It was interesting.

First off I tried really hard to beat the incoming rain to the caves where Ceili is stored.

I almost made it.

So, hooking her up to the truck was accomplished during pouring rain!

A feat made more difficult due to battery deadness. It charged.

I have a power tongue jack and while you can raise and lower it manually it isn't easy-

especially since I'm short.

End result was that I was drenched to the skin and

the dogs had fogged up the windows with their panting!

Arrived at Wallace State Park and after much trial and error with Lucas 

FINALLY got Ceili backed into my site.

Did you notice I said BACKED?

On my own I always get a pull-through.

Rained off and on Friday and Saturday but it did stop long enough for a campfire

and S'mores!

Missouri has average rainfall of 34 inches a year. 

(Only 6 inches less than "rainy" Seattle!)

Scott says it's basically a swamp with a few feet of dirt on top.

All that rain is great for vegetation!

This is the view from the back of my campsite.

In another month the green will be darker and the forest impenetrable.

Filled with trees, shrubs and lots of

 Poison Ivy!  

The great giver of itchy rash-

and for those foolish enough (or extra allergic) to touch the leaves and then touch you face

eyes swollen shut. 

Happened a couple of times to me!

In really allergic folks it can cause the throat to swell shut.

Then it's off the to Emergency Room for treatment.

There's a lovely lake at the park.

In search of 10,000 steps we all set off on foot .

Once at the lake we took the path around it-Yes, it was muddy!

Kolby admiring nature below the dam.

Ethan, always on the look out for fish.

I think Brayden might be getting a tan on those winter white legs!

This is where Ethan always is-running way out in front!

Dang, I wish I could bottle some of his energy!

Those way out in front missed out on the amazingly HUGE frog I saw-big as my hand.

We hit the road back to the trailer-ALL up hill, even the dogs were dragging tail.

This being my first time out it was a shake down, clean Ceili trip.

Loading all the stuff in I had taken out last fall.

Only a few more things are needed.

Mostly, propane!

I was completely out!

Will get some on the way out of town on my next camping adventure.

Got home in time to buy a pizza, shower and crash!