Camping-May 2013

 Before it got hot.  Okay, nevermind.  It's just now getting hot here.  Before the monsoon season (seriously, 40 plus days of rain here).  We made a trip to FDR State Park.

It was a beautiful park.  Despite the ticks.  There were a few on Zoe, Ceili Rain and Mark.  And we had a wonderful time camping.  We were one of very few who were tent camping so we had a great area on sites to select from.  However, the first night, we chose a site right by the bathrooms.  And the street lamp.  Malachi had a cold and couldn't sleep.  I wound up putting him in the van, clearing out a seat and throwing towels up over the street lamp side of the van.  And scoped out the rest of the area to find a better spot.  We moved right after breakfast the next morning and slept much better the second night.

 We hiked a few miles too.

 And rested a bit.  Malachi had it sooo easy.

 Family portrait on a pretty bridge over a creek.  We're all there., I promise.

 This was a "fairy" house we found on one of the trails.  Too cute of a discovery and so thankful that my children take time to explore.  My type A had a goal in mind to just hike the trail and be done.

Malachi tried to clean up the campsite (with a wipe no less).

 We stopped at Dowdell's Knob on the way down the mountain.  Absolutely gorgeous views.  Dowdell's Knob was the place F.D. Roosevelt picked out as a prime picnicking spot.  He didn't believe in roughing it though.  He had a grill and stone table built and would only eat when a white table cloth and china were brought out.

Camping sure makes some people tired.

We also stopped in Warm Springs, Georgia to check out the Little White House.  That was just as fun as camping and really neat to learn about one of our president's who called Georgia his home (at least for a little while).  Quite an interesting man and family.  And, of course, I have zero pictures from that.  We were herding seven children in and out as they completed a scavenger hunt with the park worksheet.  

By the way, if you ever go to a state or national historic site or park, stop in at the ranger station to pick up a scavenger hunt or worksheet.  The national parks have amazing booklets and the kids get really cool ranger badges with the historic site name on it.  And it's free!  I believe that a lot of museums are using them as well now.  For us, it's a great way to make sure that our children are actually stopping to read what's before them and they are learning a bit.

And one last thing.  There was a gentleman who was dressed up as FDR.  So we stopped by to talk.  Of course, he was totally impressed with the kids but he kept saying, "Ah, a bunch of Little Democrats."  We just chuckled and didn't say much else.  I was waiting for one of the kids to say, "Nope, not at all."  But they didn't, thankfully.  He definitely stayed in character though.