Blog theme for today... click to listen



Hello all.. We just got home, unpacked and finally are resting on the couch. Me blogging and John watching NASCAR. Both girls are napping though Annabelle will be up soon I suspect. We just got home from a fun filled weekend "camping" at Cedars of Lebanon. It it just outside of Nashville, about 45 miles or so and a really nice campground. The Coopers, Thomas, Cerae, Ryan, Ally and Joel were at the next site in tents but we shared our common area between the two sites. Both John and Thomas were gone more than they were there with Thomas working and taking Ryan to football practice and John working Friday and having to go to a social event Saturday night back home.. I think he drove about 400 miles for this weekend trip.

All in all we had a great time! It really is fun to camp with other kids... Annabelle thinks so for sure. Sharelle, Craven and Randy stopped by Friday night and had dinner and hung out with us. Sharelle and Craven were there Thursday afternoon and helped us set up as well! (thank you!) All of the Cooper and Evans' clan other than Ryan and Thomas went on a 2 mile hike and then once Thomas and Ryan got back we all went to the pool. It was fun but no photos were taken at the pool.. I have a rule, no bathing suite photos !!! haha

We made s'mores, hobos, caught frogs, hunted for more frogs, sang camp fire songs, hiked, swam, ate homemade ice cream and even listened to some really bad live music.. it was fun... RVing isn't a bad life..

Last night we apparently had some storms near by because when Ally had to go potty at 4am they saw lightening and looked up the weather and could see some ugly storms near by. Sleeping in tents, they decided to pack up and head for shelter! I don't blame them.. I had no clue until I got up at 7 and they were gone. They knocked and told John when they left what they were doing so he filled me in.

We planned to stay and check out late but with the Coopers gone and not really knowing what the weather was going to do we decided to pack up and head home early.

Thinking it was going to be a bear to get our massive 38.5 foot RV out of our crappy site (as I was told) we prepared for a painful exit from our site.. Lucky for us and Monty... ( I have decided to call the RV, Monty) Lucky for Monty, it was as easy as pie to get out.. We didn't hit any trees or tables or buildings!! yeah !! No kidding, we were really worried about this..

I headed to Cerae's to drop off some of the things we had inside that was theirs and headed home..

It really was fun.. I can't wait to go again and as soon as I get finished with this entry, I am going to start looking for our next location!

Love to you all
Carolyn


Here is a slide show of our fun weekend!

So I decided to order Annabelle (and one day, Addison) the Learning Tower. http://www.littlepartners.com/ It is a fancy step stool really but one that is really sturdy and can be climbed on and all over without worry of it tipping over. Is is designed to get the little ones up at counter level to be apart of the fun of cooking, washing dishes and the likes ...fun to us, no... but a two year old find this fascinating! So it came today and I have put it together.. Annabelle was cheering as I screwed in the parts and was so excited to play on her "Castle". I am assuming this comes from a "tower" in the movie Shrek that is in a castle... it is very cute and Annabelle keeps thanking me for it! she LOVES it... I, however, am not so sure I haven't opened a can of worms. She LOVES water and now she can reach the water.. WHAT WAS I THINKING?!?!?! haha.. regardless, it is pretty neat and I will attach some photos..

Addison is almost crawling but not quite ... I really think it is a matter of days and she will be on the go.. Our new neighbors (YEAH) have a little boy who is 5 days older than Addison and he is all over the place.

No much to post... here are a few fun photos though

Love to you all
Carolyn

I have decided after our second trip out in the 5th wheel that Rving with small children is like Golf... How so? you ask.... As many of you know, I am not a fan of golf but I do appreciate several aspects I was told that make it such a great sport to many; golf is played in beautiful surroundings, at times it can be very relaxing and the pain/pleasure ratio is fairly good. What I mean by the pain/pleasure ratio is that when playing golf, you may have a hole that is just horrible... but if you hit just one really smooth drive or sink just one long putt, all that frustration seems to fade. This is how I am seeing Rving with small children.. We are in beautiful locations and though it is work having the both girls with us, seeing Annabelle really enjoying and living memories that we hope she will have forever makes all the frustrations worth while. Addison will soon follow with those life long memories.






I must post about how I used to think about RVers in a campground. I recall saying on more than one occasion seeing those "campers" heading inside for the night as weak and not really experiencing being in the great outdoors. That they were cheating in a way and we, in our tent and sleeping bags, appreciated the camping experience more.. My perspective has changed and I can say now with zero hesitation, we were just lying to ourselves about it all. RVing is the way to go! we still get to sit out around the campfire, still have that smell from being out in the smoke, still cook over an open flame... but actually get to sleep comfortably, take showers and don't have to worry about something biting our butts when we have to pee in the middle of the night!! haha

Currently I am awake, at 4 am! due to the fact Addison decided to wake up at 230 this morning.. It woke me enough that I just got up and stayed up. I thought I was going to get a small break in the action with Annabelle staying two nights at grammy and papa's but it seems Addison had other plans!


Kurt and kids came into town to drop Caroline off while he and Nathan go on a scout camping trip (in tents, haha.... ) so when we were there yesterday Annabelle and Caroline had a blast playing together... they were attached by the hip so we thought it might be fun for both of them to have Annabelle stay a night or two and give Caroline someone to play with. I was planning to head back to Nashville Wednesday to take Annabelle to a local ice cream plant with mom and Caroline so it seemed like a good idea to just let her stay until then. We shall see how last night went when I call today... Last I spoke to mom, Annabelle and Caroline were still awake, talking to each other like you would expect two girls to do!

On a side note, my father was in a car accident. He is ok as are the two in the other automobile. It happened three days ago just after a rain. The other car hydroplaned and slid into dad forcing him off the road. His van, as well as the other car, are totalled (we assume) but thankfully no one was injured. Thanks to those of you on facebook, for your prayers!

This has been a very sad week for many of my friends. Though I try not to use the words of others, I find none more comforting than the following...

This is for Roy and Candi who lost their beloved Papa... for Chris who lost his 17 year old son, for Tammi and the boys who lost their "meme" and for Lisa who lost her 18 month old nephew

I know your faith is strong but when times are the darkest, God will be there to carry you... You are in my prayers...

One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord. Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.

In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were two sets of footprints, other times there was one only.

This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life, when I was suffering from anguish, sorrow or defeat, I could see only one set of footprints, so I said to the Lord,

“You promised me Lord,
that if I followed you, you would walk with me always. But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there has only been one set of footprints in the sand. Why, when I needed you most, have you not been there for me?”

The Lord replied, “The years when you have seen only one set of footprints, my child, is when I carried you.”


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mary Stevenson, 1936

Here is the theme song/video for you to enjoy...


I would call our first trip a success! haha... we really did have a good time despite the frustrations of RVing with two small children. We are heading out once again this weekend to a more "campy" type location. Hurricane Creek off Lake Barkley ion Kentucky. It will be much more secluded and we won't hear the rumble of the interstate, instead we will get to enjoy the songs of nature.

Annabelle is back in her bed and Addison snoozing in the swing. I am not really ready to get back to real life but it will make the weekend even more enjoyable.

Not much to post today but wanted to update!
Oh, I did forget one biggie!!! Addison has said her first word. DADA!! John gets it this time.. I have been trying to video her saying it but for some reason I can't get video's to load and I haven't been able to really catch her in action either.. She has been doing the dada thing for a few weeks now but I think we finally decided over this weekend if was official... DADA is Addison's first word! Yeah Daddy...

Love to all

We are presently on day three of our first adventure as "RVers" As I type, Addison is sleeping in her swing and Annabelle and Daddy are snuggled on the couch watching a movie on DirecTV. Personally I can't with good conscience call this camping so I am going to refer to it as "RVing" from now on. I mean really, watching satellite television (in surround sound, mind you) while typing on my laptop via wifi is in no way camping... I will admit, this is not 100% joy and happiness.. in fact it is about a 50/50 fun vs work experience for me if not everyone. John might disagree but I am doing the typing so I will speak for myself. This is, I am sure, because of several reasons... the first, doing pretty much anything with a 2 year old and a 7 month old is hard. Heck taking a shower is work so it is no wonder RVing is a bit of a challenge. Second, this is our first time so we have forgotten a few things...uhm... like diapers!?!? lucky for us we are very near a wal-mart... and we don't know what we are doing though we have done well for novice, I think. The camp ground is ok. It is not what I am used to and not really what I enjoy. Personally I like more out of the way places with more nature and less concrete. It was an excellent choice for our first time, being that we forgot a few essentials but next weekend will be better and more like home in the woods. We are going to Hurricane creek at land between the lakes next weekend and camping near the river. There is a neat feel for the community here, the community of RVers.. it is kind of like guys that drive motorcycles.. you know how they wave to each other when they pass.. we we do that too! haha... It is pretty funny and fun too. We have taken walks each day to check out what others have set up for their RVs and have taken notes for what we need to buy to make it more like home. I am sure this list will continue to grow, much like Kurt and Sharon have with their cabin. There is always something else to buy. Day one of our trip we really didn't do much but get our RV legs. We got settled in and really enjoyed sitting outside under the awning. The weather has been great, until last night when it rained out the bonfire. The first night sleeping we had Annabelle and myself in the master bedroom with John on the sofa sleeper and Addison with him in her pack n play. Annabelle didn't sleep at all. She kept waking up wanting water or milk. I am sure she was just unsure of where she was but it didn't make for a fun night for me. John and Addison did well. I think Addison likes the slight vibration you feel with the air conditioners running. Yesterday we showered and headed to dinosaur world (thanks to Randy and Sharelle's suggestion) It was fun and Annabelle enjoyed it. Heck I enjoyed it. I never knew there were so many different kind of dinos. We came home, grilled out pork chops and corn and made s'mores. We also learned Annabelle doesn't like smores. so she had a marshmallow and a gram cracker "not smoochy" (I ate hers!!) We switched sleeping arrangements with John and Annabelle in the master and me down in the hide-a-bed with Addison in the pack n play. Everyone slept well! Annabelle did great last night and has decided that room is "her room". She went down went to sleep and let John and I have some quiet time. I wish it hadn't been raining as it would have been really nice to hang out outside. But instead we watched the news and the race. (go tony!!) The bonfire was cancelled but they still shot off fireworks that we watched from our double rocker recliners!! haha... I am saddened to hear about Steve McNair. What a shame and I pray for his wife and children. Also, a friend from high school lost his 17 year old son yesterday after a car accident so please keep them in your prayers. Today we went for a walk and many of the other "campers" have headed out. We plan to shop a little today for some thing we need. Lucky for us (and them) there is a camping world as well as Gander Mountain just a mile down the road from here! A great place to spend money and stock up on some much needed camping gear. I need to go shower so I am going log off. Here are some photos and A video (if I can get it to load) from our trip so far.. Love to you all Carolyn