Camper Fun

See her "wings"?

 We took out the '69 Lakeland camper we've been working on AKA,"The Hen House" last weekend to a music get together right down the road. There was a good chance of storms and we thought it might be nice to try the old girl out before we sold her. Earlier this year we bought two vintage campers to restore and "cuten up" to sell them. So far, we are super close to having this one completed. We are waiting on some paper work to be finalized, and then she's going up on Craigslist.

The four-of-us slept very comfortably. Well, actually, Cam didn't stop pickin' until about 2am and then drove home to milk the goats at 5:30, so he didn't sleep much at all. But, the girls and I slept great.

The music went on 'til the wee hours. The music drifted down over the hill and to our little home for the evening. It was quite a pleasant way to drift off to sleep.

A Family trip to the Forestry

Harrison County has a beautiful forestry to which we have a park pass. Cam has been utilizing it recently for hilly runs gearing up for the Derby City Mini. But, last week we took a family trip to hunt for mushrooms and enjoy being outside on a glorious day. My work cancelled last minute, leaving me with the morning free, so we jumped in the truck and took off.

 We took time to play in the creeks and looks for critters of all shapes and sizes.

The forestry also has a pioneer village with log cabins and out buildings. Maggie and I played Ma and Laura in these cabins while waiting for Daddy and Lila to collect some salamander eggs for the visitor's center. What a great way to spend a morning.

Spelunkers

The girls and their daddy recently took their first caving trip.  Mind you, they have been to Squire Boone with their Nana and Opa, but this was their first time in a non-tourist cave.  Cameron has been spelunking in this cave since he was a wee thing.  Our "family-of-choice" owns the property that the mouth of the cave resides.  This cave holds special significance to their family and, by association, ours.  It's the rule that anyone wishing to marry, must bring that special someone to the cave.  Cameron and I made sure to make the trip.

They seemed to really enjoy their first "get-dirty" cave trip.

Obviously, this wasn't the reason for the visit with the girls. We have tried really hard to expose our girls to a variety of natural experiences.  Living on a farm makes it a lot easier, of course, but we also make use of friends, family, and public land that is available to us.  They are not afraid of snakes, bats, bugs, and other things that tend to make people squirm, but instead have a healthy respect for them.  They've gotten to see them close up, touch them, and interact with them.  They've been able to see how wonderous and varied our planet is, even just our little corner of the world.  

On their way out, the telltale signs of caving were spotted

We've recently started watching a new series for Pizza and a Movie Night.  When Cameron and I were young, we watched a series called "The Living Planet" which was hosted by Sir David Attenborough.  We wanted to share that series with the girls, but read reviews that the DVD transfer was lousy.  Thankfully, Attenborough made an updated documentary series called "Planet Earth" with the BBC.  It is amazing.  The girls soak it up like sponges- especially Lila.   I was worried that they might not like it, not being geared for children.  But, not at all.  They would watch the whole series back-to-back if I let them.  I whole-heartedly recommend it if you're looking for something like that.  For us, it fills the gap when we cannot take the girls to see the exotic locations and animals in the series.  It gets us past our little corner of the world, to see the big picture.  How do you share nature with your kids?