Girls Camp

All the girls slept in the biggest bedroom. There were 4 bunk beds in the room and there were 13 girls, so some people had to sleep on the floor. I slept on the floor next to Haylie, KK, Olivia, and Kelby. We stayed up really late both nights. Most of the girls would be really hungry before we went to bed, so we would all go downstairs and get a midnight snack. All of the leaders taught us something. We learned about first aid, germs, and starting fires. We also went on two little walks that went to the stream next to the cabin. We also did crafts like painting rocks, painting nails, doing hair wraps, and making bracelets. There was also lots of animals there. The neighbor's dog kept on coming over and playing with us. His name was Sam. We also found a hollow tree with kittens. We eventually got to pet them. They were the cutest little fur balls! The mom cat ended up moving the kittens. The neighbors also had some horses and one of the horses had a baby horse.  The last night we stayed there dad came over because we were having a testimony meeting with the bishopric. The next day we left. I was so tired the couple days after, because of all the late nights, it was nice to be able to take a nap.

Day 13: The End

It was an early morning. We had to be up by 4:30 so that we could get to the airport on time. Before we left the hotel we had to take one more picture. It seems like everywhere we go we find one of those fun painted rocks. You are supposed to take a picture and say where you found it. Harvey found it at scripture rock but we forgot to take a picture until we were leaving it at the hotel.

The airport  was crazy! We had to wait in a huge line to check bags and then another even longer line for security. As we were waiting in security, Harvey was done and asked to be held. One of the TSA agents saw me and said that I was not going to wait holding him and took us right to the front, so nice!  Getting through security was almost slick. Addie's snow globe collection caused issues. We had read online that nothing bigger than a tennis ball could go through so we were careful to pack her bigger one in the checked bag. We just didn't realize we should remove her other ones before putting them in the scanner. They had to unpack her whole bag to check it. It was all fine. They warned us that had we tried to bring anything bigger they would have confiscated it. But, just a short time later we were flying. Harvey was less nervous this time and the kids were all excited because Captain Marvel was available to watch. Then we were home.

This was really such an amazing trip! We are so grateful for the time we were able to spend together and seeing grandpa and grandma's mission. Overall we had such great experiences. I will say this, everyone we met was so so nice! I have never met so many friendly people as we did on this trip. 

Day 12: Dr Doolittle's Depot

This was our last official day of vacation. The morning was spend packing up and cleaning so we could leave the rental. The kids spent their last little bit finding shells down at the dock. Then we headed to grandma and grandpa's house. 

 Before separating from grandma and grandpa they took us to Dr Doolittle's Depot. They had a fun mini golf with dinosaurs. We also found a little dinosaur museum with fun dinosaur displays, fossil digging and some dinosaur rides that each of the kids could do (Harvey did not love the rides and looked completely terrified the whole time).

After the dinosaur displays we went to Dr Doolittle's Cafe. We ate lunch, followed by delicious ice cream. Then it was time to say good bye. It was a sad good bye but nice to know that this one will be so much shorter.

We broke from grandma and grandpa and then made the three hour drive back to Cleveland. We had an early flight the next morning so we got settled into our last hotel of the trip. We stayed in our nicest hotel by far this time. It had two rooms, one with two queens and the other with a couch pullout bed.

Day 11: Scripture Rock

This was Sunday so we started out by eating our Amish t rings and then heading to church. It happened to be stake conference, again. It was being broadcast from the stake center and the sound quality was not the best. You can tell that everyone is getting tired at this point. Liam fell asleep on the way to church and the second the lights went out in church I thought I might need a nap too.

After church we went to scripture rock. Grandma and grandpa had packed a delicious lunch of sandwiches, salads, chips and watermelon. After eating we walked around checked out the rocks. The rock carvings were pretty cool. I didn't expect when they had said scriptures on rocks that they were carved in. They were carved in the early 1900s by a preacher. 

Afterwards we went to grandma and grandpa's and hung out. They made us dinner. The kids went out and played and the adults stayed in. The kids loved to be at grandma's. Each of the took a turn sleeping there throughout the course of the trip. Grandma has a lot of animal friends that visit her every morning. The squirrels are; chubby, slice, blacky, and flat tail. The chipmunks were chippy and chippy jr. They also got to see some cool birds; cardinals, bluejays and woodpeckers. 

Then we headed back to the rental for our final night there.

Day 10 Part 2: Punxatawney

After Smicksburg we headed to Punxatawney. We got there just in time before the library closed so that we could go see Phil the groundhog. He was actually out and moving around a lot more than is typical for him. We also walked around and saw the fun groundhog statues that they have out everywhere.

Then we headed to Gobblers Knob. This is where the groundhog's day ceremony is held every year. They had a door where they keep the groundhogs before letting them out to look for their shadow. The kids loved the hill here. They were having tons of fun running down it and seeing how fast they got. I'm amazed that no one ate it and got really hurt.

We had such a late lunch that for dinner we had ice cream, it was pretty amazing!

Then it was back to the rental, showers and getting ready for bed and then the kids watched a movie while the adults were able to visit before bed.