What A Summer

What a summer it has been. Now that the heat has hit I find I am venturing outside less and sitting under the fan with a cold glass of ice tea reviewing in my mind the events of our summer. At first I was thinking we haven't done a lot this summer but oh how wrong I am! We started in spring by going to Sounds of Sumatanga. Camping in our tent with our dearest friends, having a fun filled overnight camping trip with face painting, music and moon bounces, and lets not forget the loosing my 2 year old (in the car) and the adventure of getting my keys out of my locked SUV! Love you dearest BIG GURL!
Then in just a few short weeks we were back at Sumatanga for the CHEF conference where we camped with a bunch of really AWESOME fellow homeschoolers. We even got to build a dam using rocks in the creek. It was lots of fun and educational too!
A few weeks later we were off to Empire Alabama for camping and horseback rideing! Too bad that wasn't how it turned out. We got there and set our tent up and thanks to our new homeschool buddies we removed some small baby trees so we didn't have to sleep on them. This was our first time to 'ruff it'. We had our little charcoal pan grill and we made some great tasting hotdogs (and we are not counting the 2 that fell on the ground). But it was not to last, the rains came and they weren't leaving. We woke up to a down pour! We had mud everywhere! Needless to say horse camp was canceled and I was not concerned with folding up our tent 'properly'. I rolled it up and through it into the back of the SUV and slid my way to the main road as quickly as the mud would let me. We got home to a beautiful sunny sky (of coarse) and set up the tent. We spent the next few hours rinsing it off and let it dry proper so that it would be ready to go on our next adventure of the summer!
A week went by and then off camping yet again! To Bear Creek Run, were we 'ruffed' it for the second time. No food unless you brought it and cooked it on an open fire. Wish I could say that ours turned out great but at least I brought stuff to make PB&J sandwiches :) We were so thankful when the outdoors group came the next night with enough hotdogs to feed thier group and ours! FreshAir Family Rocks! They had planned on feeding everyone and did a wonderful job! This momma was SO thankful. I was not looking forward to another dinner of PB&J. It was the first time that we realized how hot it was. We went to the creek 3 times a day! But we had a great time with our homeschool group. We went and saw bugs that glow in the dark called Dismals. We went to a place called The Natural Bridge. It was amazing to see God's work. My crew really enjoyed hiking around the grounds and doing some geocaching while we were there. We collected some rocks and Mac learned how to skip rocks in the creek.
Then back at camp we swam down the creek to find a beautiful waterfall. Then our group decided to climb it and see where it went. That was a wonderful little adventure. We eventually climbed 3 waterfalls! and me with a 2 year old! I SO appreciated the help! Cause without everyones help I don't think we would have made it. Exspecially back up the creek. Lets say Mac learned what a current was and how strong it could be not to mention how hard it is to swim against it! Thank God for rope!
You would think we were through right? Not my crew! After a few weeks off to rest we were headed back to Sumatanga! This time we didn't stay in the tents (Thank God for small favores!) we stayed in the guest house with 2 twin beds and a mattress on the floor. We did have a community bathroom but we had AC!
We stayed for a week and we had a full schedule! Mac attended Day Camp  while me and Abs helped with Elementery Camp. Then in the evening all 3 of us worked Elementery Camp. Between hiking, swimming, ropes corse and get in bed until midnight each night! My little campers were SO tired at the end of the week.
So it was back home for a very quick rest and you guessed it 1 week later back for more! This time we were camping in the tents again for 4 nights at Camp Sumatanga. We thought we were prepared but looking back I'm still not sure we were. We thought it was hot earlier WOW! heat index of 104-108 degrees those 4 days, now that was HOT in the South. The humidity was so bad that when we looked at the trees they were hazy. I have never appreciated the kitchen staff at Sumatanga so much. They made sure that when we needed ice water we had it! I still can't believe we hiked as far as we did and back! Next time we will know better :) The pool even felt like bath water so it was better to just turn on the waterhose, which we did.
A LOT!
Since that weekend I find that it is hot but I am not as miserable as those around me. Don't get me wrong hot is hot but I find I am not sweating as often as I was in the begining of the summer.
Now that our camping trips are done I find that I miss listening to all the crickets and frogs singing me and my crew to sleep. Can't say that I miss hearing 'stop it, don't touch me, I'm hot' all night. Oh but the memories of this summer my crew will have to remember thier crazy momma!