Hi, Ho, Hi, Ho, It's off to camping we go!

During Dara's fall break from school, we decided to go camping as a family. This is a big deal for a couple of reasons... We've never been on any vacation just the 4 of us. We've either been going to see my (Jill's) family or with Joel's. The closest the kids have ever gotten to a tent is what Joel builds for them in the living room. Well, to keep a long story short - it was a great time. The kids didn't mind walking to the bathroom for showers or brushing their teeth outside. They were happy playing in the muddy water and fishing without getting any bites. They ate hot dog buns with ketchup and cheese - the don't care for hot dogs. :) They had a blast roasting marshmallows, but they didn't like smores (I know - it's crazy). Dade found them too messy, and I think that Dara just found that they weren't worth the trouble. It meant that I had to eat more because they both wanted to keep roasting the marshmallows without eating them.

I learned that there are things that need to be used regardless of the visible need at the time. Let me explain...to my surprise I saw no mosquitoes. Now those of you in our neck of the woods will know that this is huge since the mosquitoes have been ferocious this year. So I didn't put bug spray on any of us...who knew that chiggers would have been repelled by bug spray too?! To our dismay, Joel and I returned with probably 20 chigger bites a piece. It could have been much worse, I realize, and I hate to complain...but it's been two weeks and I still have the most of the bite marks. Thankfully, they don't itch any more, and the kids only had 10 or so between the both of them. I think sometimes I can get this way with my walk with God. Things are going pretty smooth, and I have a tendency to get a bit lazy in my quiet times only to regret later having neglected my time with Him. I also discovered that although plastic utensils are great for many things - they fall short when it comes to flipping pancakes.

The family time was irreplaceable. We had so much fun playing and hiking (except for the massive amounts of spiders - they were every where!) We plan to go again - a bit more prepared next time, and we would highly recommend it.

Busted Shins and Disobedience

Thought I would share a little story with you that many of you will probably find as funny as Jill did (although she contained her laughter). I came home from work on Friday to pick up Jill and the kids so we could go to a gospel music concert with my parents. The kids were playing nicely at the computer and Jill was out watering the plants. I decided to have a little fun with Jill and a rule she had imposed on the kids.

When we moved the trampoline, we used the pool ladders to provide easy access for the kids. They fit perfectly and the wood I had fitted into the top braces worked great as seats for the kids to sit on while waiting their turn to jump. During the week, the kids had been climbing to the wood platform and attempting to jump onto the trampoline. Jill told them it was off limits and too dangerous. While I supported her in front of the kids, I remembered days spent at different friends' houses while growing up and how we would jump off swingsets, roofs, and any other high point we could find.

So in an attempt to prove a point, I ran to the back yard and up onto the ladder to show Jill just how "safe" jumping off the wooden platform actually was. As soon as I pushed off, I heard the snapping of wood and felt myself falling. Sharp pain shot through my shins as I rolled forward onto the trampoline. Jill (trying to contain her laughter and amusement at her husband's ill attempt at disobedience) came running over to see if I was okay. As I slipped off the trampoline, each step sent shooting pain up my legs. As I limped inside to the couch, I had two little ones following me through the house asking what happened (how humbling is that!). I sat down and pulled up my jeans to find deep bruises and scarpes covering both shins and swelling beginning to start.

I won't bore you with all the pain I have felt over the last two days. If you are like Jill, you are probably thinking, I got what I deserved. Each step, each time the kids bang against my legs, each time I feel the sting as water hits the scrapes, I am reminded of my intentional act of disobedience. Isn't that the way it is with God? He gives us the ability to make choices. He gives us His rules through His Word. And yet still, we often act out in blatant disobedience and have to suffer the repercussions of our actions.

Sometimes it takes a dumb male moment to remind me of these deep spiritual truths. Next time I'll borrow Dara's shin guards!

Swimming Pool Memories Revisited - The Takedown

For those of you that took the time to read the post early in the summer about the fiasco of setting up the pool, this is a brief follow up. Last week we decided it was time to take the pool down. It was getting a little too cool for me and Jill to have a desire to get in there with the kiddos - with me always drawing the short straw. Jill took the chlorine feeder out and let it stabilize so we could drain it. She got a hose and started draining it on Friday. When I got home, it had made good progress, so we went to bed thinking we would be ready to dry it out and fold it up on Saturday.

Saturday morning we awoke to discover it was only half way done (I guess it takes a while to drain 15,000 gallons of water). We had a birthday party to go to on Saturday afternoon so we left thinking maybe it would be done by the time we got home. WRONG! It still had a ways to go. To shorten this up, it was Sunday after church before it was down enough for us to start soaking up the left overs with towels and scooping what we could with buckets. Now we had to let it dry and the forecast was calling for scattered showers on Monday!

Monday turned out to be a dry, sunny day, much to my relief. So Monday after I had picked the kids up we went home and I started the process. This time I had a little helper (Dade) grabbing the poles from me and stacking them up. It was discouraging to see that what had taken me many hours to set up was down in less than 2 minutes (and with relative ease). Dade was a happy spectator as he watched little spiders, other unknown creepy crawlies and a plethra of earthworms squirm about under the tarp as we folded everything up.

We moved the trampoline to the spot where the pool was and now I find myself wondering why we didn't just leave the pool under the tramp with a tarp over it. Besides, if you remember the post on setting it up, I have to find something to do with a $50 tarp!