Camping on Tuesday

I am so glad we had the rock at the camp.  Baylor really loved it.  We pretended we had bears at the camp and they were stealing everything off the rock.  Baylor would tell me something disappeared from the rock because the bears must have struck again.  He loved playing knights and superheros and the rock was his castle and his home base. 

We did have a laptop and some DVDs. While he did want to watch a movie when we woke up and then right before bed time, we did not watch it any other time.  When he first found out there was not going to be a TV there he was quite worried.  I don't think he really missed it much as there was so much to do. I brought a bag of toys and stuff to keep him entertained.  One of the items was a leaf blower type bubble blower.  It did not work as well as I was hoping but we kept trying.  

Tuesday morning we took a drive to Katies Country Store.  It is a cute little shop in the middle of no where that we had been to many times before.  We used to just take a drive there for a shopping trip and go out for lunch.  

It was about 30 minutes from the park and we always have fun shopping there.  It is a gift shop with all sorts of corners filled with different items.  

And an outhouse out back.  That was fun, not even. 

I found a little stuffed rooster in the clearance section, a blown glass cabin Christmas tree ornament, a pair of  little guns that shoot foam disks, some local smoked cheddar cheese, and candle and two huge cookie cutters: an acorn and a bat.  We waited on the porch for everyone to finish their shopping with his new friend safe in his shirt.

Then we headed to Dushore for some more shopping.  Ute collects thimbles and they were a local store that carried them with a local image on it.  

Baylor spied the toy department but I bought him some strawberry ice cream instead.  He would pick a toy from every store we went to if I would let him.  I asked for a to go container and I think she gave him almost a pint of ice cream.  Grandma finished the bits that Baylor could not.  

After we went back to camp and had a proper lunch we went to the Evergreen trail that had a falls that was easy to get to. Ute was not interested so she stayed behind.  

Baylor brought his new friend Roosty along for the hike.  

The falls was a quick walk down some stone steps. Buddy and Grandma made it that far but did not go any further on the trail.  The falls were really beautiful and were full of water.  

We were standing on a huge rock practically in the middle of the creek.  

And then I decided to take Baylor, who was tired and cranky, on the hike.  Excellent Mommy choice I am sure. 

Grandma is standing on the rock and was not going any further down the rock stairs.  They were not really very easy for me either but you know me, keep moving forward.  

When we crossed the bridge we were committed to the trail and off we went leaving Buddy and Grandma to wait for our return.  

Grandma was still trying to keep her eye on us but we were out of range in a few more steps.  

And the trail was beautiful!  The bright green of spring leaves were still on show, the sky was a beautiful shade of blue and big, fluffy white clouds were floating by. 

The trail had signs around the path explaining things along the way.  This tree fell over in a storm and it was huge!  

This was a log bench that was long past being useful as a bench but was beautiful covered in moss and plants. 

This trail he was forging ahead of me most of the time.  

We, I, stopped to read out loud the signs on the trail.  This is a burl and is made rather like an oyster makes a pearl.

I am not sure what this white flowering plant is but I saw it in several places we were hiking.  I need to look it up sometime.  (Painted Trillium)

This sign said to look up at the trees.  They were over 120 feet tall.

More water, more sticks and more rocks.  Endless fun. 

The hemlocks, the PA state tree and the big, old trees in the woods we were in, are also very shallow rooted.  They tend to fall over in wet, windy weather.  We discovered that using a stick and poking the dirt between the roots was quite fun.  

Water, stick, repeat. 

Eventually we made it out of the forest and back to the falls and trail head. 

I am not sure how long we were gone but it was a nice walk in the woods with my little man.  

Our Week at Ricketts Glen

This will be an adventure with a few posts because we did a lot and I took a ton of photos.  We spent the last week at Ricketts Glen State Park  It was our second cabin camping trip and Baylor has been looking forward to it for a long time.  It is funny to me that he remembers going two years ago.  He was not much of a happy camper then because he was only 2 1/2 and it was a bit much for him.  But this year was was a super camper!  

Lori went along and was planning on staying a day or two.  She is not camping soul but Baylor had asked her to go along. So she bucked and came along.  We both drove down and about an hour into the trip I realized I left my CPAP at home.  Having sleep apnea for the last 11 years, it is usually the first item I pack.   And I remember looking at it and telling myself to pack it but I was on a mission with something else and never revisited the thought.  I have a Keep Moving Forward/Never Turn Back internal motto that tends to get me in trouble (and it did a few times this week). I don't even turn around for a good yard sale, never turn around.  I told Lori I would try it that night and if it was bad, I would drive home Monday and get it.  It was only two and a half hours away.  So we kept moving forward and arrived in the park a bit after the 3 o'clock check in.  As we were driving around the corner I saw my parents parked at the office picking up the keys so I pulled over and Lori followed.  She got out to see why I stopped and then we both waited to follow them in.  We were in cabin G and the first thing Baylor found was the water on the side of the drive way.  He was already wearing his boots so we just let him play while we unpacked.  

Mud boy had his first clothing change within an hour of arrival.  We were not able to bring our own wood (beetles and such) so we drove down to the park station and bought two bundles of wood for $6.50 each.  I  was there to camp and it was not fine with me to not have a fire the first night.  I am a pyromaniac after all, it runs in our blood.  And it runs strong in Baylor's blood too from what I saw in him this week.  

He settled himself by the fire complete with a snack.

So we had supper, played by the fire and went to bed.  Lori slept on the air mattress on the floor and Baylor and I shared the bed.  He liked being able to roll off the bed onto Lori's bed.  I had a miserable night trying to sleep without my CPAP and sometime in the middle of the night, Baylor had an accident.  I cleaned him up while Lori removed the sheets.  I had brought spare sheets and the crib pads for just such an event.  My grandma, on my dad's side, used to tell us kids that if we played in the fire, we would wet the bed. We never did and continued to play in the fire.  I guess since Baylor played with fire and got burned so to speak.  Well, it was just another reason to run home, get the CPAP and do the laundry. Originally Baylor was going to stay with Grandma and Buddy, but since he did not sleep well either, he changed his mind.  But he was good in the car for the ride down.  We parked my car about half way home and took Lori's car the rest of the way .  I washed the bedding, grabbed all the other stuff we needed, and Lori drove us back to our car.  I had to run into store to pick up a few other things we needed and then we said good bye for the week.  She did not want to stay another night anyway.  Baylor and I headed back and were there for a late dinner.  Grandma, Buddy, and Ute (our friend from Germany who is visiting for several weeks) had gone on a drive while we were gone and had a late lunch. They did not eat dinner but Ute had made my favorite German food and I had that for dinner.  It was awesome.  While I was eating Baylor was outside with Buddy playing in the fire and making space ships (sticks on fire and he was trailing the smoke behind him) 

The cabin grounds came complete with a huge rock that was a central playing place for Baylor.  Monday night was sword fighting knights.  

And Monday night was also S'mores night. 

Baylor remembers making the marshmallows and was super excited to make his own.  He really only holds them over the fire for a few minutes to soften the outside and then munches away on them.  

And then he went back to playing in the fire.  

And I played with camera settings.  

I am sure letting him play in the fire is just one of my many questionable parenting choices but I did not worry since Iron Man was there with us.  But the force must be strong with us because we made it through the entire week with only one tiny skinned knee and no burns of any sort.