Turkey hunting/Family camping trip... it was as fun as it sounds!

Well we've been back from vacation for a whole week now and I still haven't updated about our trip!  I was so busy all week trying to play catch up that I just couldn't get to my blogging duties :P  I have a whole other post I'm working on too with all the things we did this week... and a ton more flower pictures too! 

Anyway... The night before we left for our annual turkey hunting vacation I randomly decided to switch Katy to the toddler bed!  It's pretty funny because I was JUST telling Christy how I was NOT going to switch her for a while, because there really was no reason to and she slept just fine in the pack and play. Well, I changed my mind :P ... and she sleeps great in the toddler bed! 

and looks pretty cute doing it!  She did have a blanket on but it ended up on the floor by morning.

You know you wish you had a frog's butt for a pillow, don't deny it.

So anyway... Ricky drove up super early Monday morning to go hunting and I woke up at normal time with the kids, packed up the whole house and drove up in the afternoon, in the minivan with Ricky's parents following me.  We stayed at Ricketts Glen State Park this time in one of their modern cabins. I seriously felt spoiled, we had running water and electricity and plumbing and heat... it was nice :P
Katy was a fan:

The first couple days it just rained and rained so we were pretty much stuck inside.

Tuesday, it poured all day so Ricky skipped out on the hunting thing and we went to a children's museum that wasn't too far away (I forget what town it was).  The kids had a blast though, it was a really interesting place!

(digging for dinosaurs)
a mummy!

Katy loved everything

In a little hut, listening to stories...

There was a little toddler play area

That evening I got to read to the kids for a while before they went to bed.  This was a very momentous occasion (as you can tell by the extra wide grin on my face).  Katy hasn't been letting us read books for a while now but she finally sat for one this night!  She's been doing a lot better with it lately and I'm so excited to be able to read to them again :)

Wednesday morning, Ricky and his dad went out hunting first thing in the morning and got back around 9am.  Ricky ate a quick breakfast and then he and I were able to go out until lunch time.  We didn't see of hear anything though :(
Ricky's parents left on Wednesday after lunch.  We went fishing some in the afternoon.

Ricky caught a little fish but other then that, no luck.

I made some dandelion headbands though :)

Thursday morning Ricky took Chase out hunting with him!  Chase got up at 5am and got all camo-ed up... face paint and all :)
He was so excited.

They came home for breakfast and had had a wonderful time together.  They heard a turkey gobble in the morning and found a bear track and coyote poop so it was a successful hunt in Chase's book :)
Ricky went back out after breakfast and the kids and I rode the bikes to the ranger station to turn in the key for Ricky's parent's cabin.  Chase rode his bike the whole mile and a half there!  Katy and Joanna were in the bike trailer attached to my bike, I forgot how hard that was to pull two kids around.
After we turned the key in we walked around the ranger station a little and went into the educational center right as a bird watching program was about to start.  Chase has been really into birds lately so it was perfect.  He sat and listened to this lady talk about birds for an hour!  The rest of the vacation he was pretending he was a warbler and a goldfinch :P
After lunch and naps on Thursday we decided it was time to go on some hikes!  There are so many hiking trails at Ricketts, and lots of waterfalls too, so we decided to hunt them down.
It was a beautiful day but still kind of chilly. 

(there's Chase being a Warbler)

I was so proud of how well my kids hiked, they do so well with it now and hardly ever complain.  It warms my heart :)

Tree hugger:

Ricky thought he'd show us all how to walk a log:

and Chase had to try one too...

He found this hiking stick and carried it every where with him the rest of the trip.

My attempt at a family photo in front of the waterfall :P

This was a pretty big waterfall that we didn't feel like hiking down to see from the bottom (to just hike back up again) so we stood at the top and peered over.

There's that baby on my back again, lol.

Messing around:

I found this pretty forest flower and had to take a picture of course.... at the ranger station I found out it's called Trillium, and then I got a PA gardener's magazine recently with an article that was talking about this plant!  Apparently it is a native PA species and almost endangered.  Made me want to get some for my gardens :P

We saw on the map that there was a 94 foot waterfall down this one trail so we HAD to go see that.  We drove to a different parking lot and only had to hike a little ways before we found it.

I wasn't really able to get a picture of it because it was a gradual 94' waterfall, but it was still neat.  The hike back up was pretty tough and we were pretty much done hiking after that.

on the way back to the cabin we saw some deer.

and stopped at the beach.  I bet this would be really nice and fun in the summer.

It was pretty cold and windy this day though.

But still beautiful.

Friday morning Ricky went out hunting again while I started getting the cabin packed up and the kids fed.  He got back around 8 and helped me load up the rest of the stuff for our move to World's End State Park campground.  It was about a 30 minute drive and we got there around 11, set up our tent and things, ate lunch, played at the park, fished a little and then drove around enjoying the scenery the rest of the afternoon.

World's End has an awesome playground.

We slept in the tent over night on Friday/Saturday and it got pretty cold!  Katy didn't sleep very well at all :(
Saturday morning Ricky went hunting for the last time and came back fairly early to help me pack up and go with Katy to my sister's to get my dog Penny who had had her puppies while we were away.
I ended up getting home around 4pm and then Ricky and the two monkeys got home around 6pm.  We had a really good time and can't wait for our trip again next year.
oh and look what we saw at the neighbor's feeder when we got home!

It's good to be home again :)