Clean Camping

Alright everyone. Blogger and I have reached an agreement. They will let me put up four, but not five pictures at a time. Maybe it's my half-hearted status that has come between us; I'm not sure, but I'll take it for now.

We had our "big" spring break event--a camping trip to Miracle Hot Springs. The pool was fun, but didn't have a kid-section, so it was a little difficult. Not even Madeline could touch the bottom, so Kevin and I both had to have a couple of kids to keep a close eye on. Madeline and Natalia loved this swing. Madeline was daring enough to jump off and land in the water (over and over and over!), but Natalia decided to wait a few years to take the plunge.

Because of a scheduling error on their part, we were able to camp in the 1000+ square foot event center rather than the 6 person camping dome we had reserved. That was okay by us! We had room for running, playing, sleeping, eating, arguing, the whole bit. The great thing about these is the hot water running underneath them. If you get cold, lay down and you warm right up!

We probably wouldn't have fit the pack & play in the smaller dome, but Natalia didn't fall asleep any faster than she would have laying on the floor. She thought it was great that she had all of her sisters, plus Mom and Dad to share pillow talk with until the wee hours. She eventually had to be secluded to her own little corner of the dome. She just shouted louder!

I told Eliza to smile for the picture (which she is usually happy to do), but she said she wanted a picture of her frown instead. Why not? Why should the smiles get all the pictures? Equal representation here!

Upon Madeline's request, we had biscuits and gravy for breakfast---and hot chocolate upon my request. We had 4 or 5 banquet tables, plenty of chairs, plus 2 picnic tables outside at our disposal. Carpet, grass instead of dirt, and no campfire made it a rather clean campout!

This is me. Hope you enjoy the photo. No, actually, I included this to show you what our camping dome looked like on the outside. The dome I am referring to is in the background, not on my stomach. That dome is for the baby only.

Miracle Hot Springs has 3 alligators in a cage. They are fun to watch, but they don't move a lot. They really are comparable to a floating log. We got a few views of their teeth--don't want to get too close to those!

This is an alligator at another alligator farm we went to--they had a lot; probably 7 or 8 alligators. I would like to see them eat something, but we weren't that lucky. Or maybe we were lucky. They didn't eat us.

We visited a fish hatchery sort of place and saw some giant sturgeon--larger than Kevin, but you can't see them in the picture.

Doesn't this picture just shout SPRING!!! We've got the sunshine, daffodils, green grass, coats, gloves, and wind. That pretty much sums up the season!

After our camping trip we stopped at Chili's to eat on the way home. All the girls got a kids meal (which they ate probably 6 bites combined), unlimited refills on the chocolate milk (which they took advantage of, hence, no eating), and (since we were paying with a gift card) an animal shaped balloon from the poor sap who makes a living going around selling his balloon-shaping talents at local malls and restaurants.

We've had a great spring break so far and hope you do too!!