The Wright Side of LifeThe family is one of nature’s masterpieces.

Our BIG camping trip with our friends the Morbers, started off better than we could have hoped for – the long 6.5 hour drive went smoothly and even with two vehicles, three kids, one teenager and two adults we made better time than googlemaps predicted thanks to a very few, fast stops.  Arriving at our campsite, we were happy with the proximity of our two sites to each other and the overall setup went very well too!  We did a quick run into town to stock up on some basics and came back to get the kids tucked in and asleep, before gathering around the campfire in our Snuggies

After a good night, we headed over to the cabin we had rented as a backup – it had an actual kitchen (totally cheating, I know) and a private bathroom.  It was fairly rustic but it was so nice to simply gather up in the mornings and head there where we could cook up a big breakfast of pancakes and ham, fruit and hot tea and everyone could play for a while.  Once we were all fed and packed up for our hike, we headed to the trail entrance.

Me and Mikayla:

After Jim got all loaded up with Lincoln in the carrier, he realized he had forgotten his (prescription) sunglasses, and since he pretty much wouldn’t be able to see with just regular sunglasses he would be forced to go shadeless and wear this squinty look most of the hike:

After we made it down a small portion of the trail, we came across a picnic area with bathrooms and of course Yours Truly had to stop and go.  What can I say?  I do not enjoy squatting in the woods (and I’ll give you some first rate evidence as to why that’s a bad plan deep into state parks in just a few minutes).  While I was taking care of business, Mikayla took a Serious-Explorer-Face photo of Jim, Linc and Scarlett:

They really look the part of intrepid adventurers, don’t they?

We love Mikayla dearly, but she can be a big brat in this one area: taking hideous pictures of people.  She thinks it’s really funny to take pictures of people when they’re blinking while chewing, from an unflattering angle (just as an example) and then she cackles over them later when reviewing the pictures on the camera.  As such, Jim has decided to just make faces anytime she even sort of points a camera at him in an effort to ruin her fun:

Finally, we were ready for the non-potty-break-stopping portion of the hike to begin.  There were railroad ties used to prevent washouts as we descended towards the first waterfall, and we made a game out of jumping down each one.  Mostly, I was trying not to dwell on the fact that we would have to come back up all 280 wide steps.

Scarlett:

Me and Sissy (Shaun, in the background, did NOT in fact join in on the jumping):

The first fall:

We made it!

Jim and Lincoln hiked back up to the top of the fall, off the beaten path:

Mikayla, with her new hiking shoes, was finally able to go off-roading without fear of breaking herself and ventured out quite a ways:

Mikayla and Victoria, nestled under a rock outcropping:

Queen Scarlett, surveying her domain (actually just resting, but that is how she looks, isn’t it?? )

Next we began the really adventurous portion of the hike.  We headed off to find the second falls, and this is where the terrain became pretty steep:

You couldn’t really get to the falls from the path, so we all crossed a huge fallen tree that was lying over the creek and then scrambled up some slippery rocks so that we could actually be under the waterfall:

After that, we stopped for lunch and then went totally off-path for about 40 minutes.  It was strenuous but really fun and a great workout.  We also had some amazing views that made my stomach drop to realize how high up we were!

And now, the reason that it is NOT the best idea to squat near a bush in the south while out in the deep woods:

See the rattlesnake?  It’s coiled up there in the underbrush – Jenny spotted it and thankfully it was’t a big daddy one since it’s rattler was still relatively small.  Nevertheless, EW.

After our epic hike every last one of us took a 3+ hour nap back at the campsite.  That evening, Shaun and Jim took the kids (minus Linc) to explore the beach, which was sadly closed til the weekend.  Scarlett, Victoria and Clark had fun running all around anyway:

That was the last evening making dinner at the cabin, since it was not available the next night.  Here are Shaun and Jenny, relaxing in the screened-in porch, demonstrating for Jim their “We always look awkward like THIS in pictures” faces.  Good job, guys:

Once again, we had a great time visiting and catching up by the fire, roasting Peeps (who knew?? they are truly a delicacy when roasted over the campfire – thanks Jenny for introducing us to the magical wonder that is a slightly burnt Peep) that night and everyone was sleeping great until it started raining… and it got COLD.  We had seen on the weather forecast that if the rain hit on Friday it would set in for the day.  Naturally, this happened to be the day we no longer had cabin access – ugh.  Being troopers, we headed into town (45+ minutes away) and picked up a few things from WalMart, had lunch and played at a ChickFilA, and finally made the decision to see a matinee of the new kid’s movie Rio.  It was SUCH a cute movie, and all of the kids loved it – even Linc!  It was his first movie experience and he did really well.  For dinner, we grabbed pizza and salad before heading back to our waterlogged campsites (literally – one of our tents that held our extra blankets and Linc’s pack-n-play was SOAKED, all contents unsalvageable). We had a really fun day in spite of the foul weather!

HOWEVER, back at the campsite as our tents grew cold and damp and the weather forecast changed from the previously “Oh, it’ll be sunny and glorious tomorrow with a high of 85!” to “Mmm, it could be cold and rainy again, or possibly sunny,” the group decided that if the morning didn’t bring much sun we would all cut our camping trip short so that we would have great memories of our time together and not refer to the trip as “That Awful Camping Trip When it Rained for 3 Days Straight.”

Sadly, the next day did dawn cloudy and chilly and so we all began packing up.  Although I wish it would have stayed nice out for more of the trip, we loved getting together with the Morbers and decided it must happen again much sooner and next time we’re going to the beach

Before loading up – taking a last picture at the campsite with Linc: