Vacation and Baby J update...

First, the important things...Baby J is still in the hospital...he needs lots of prayers, his condition is the same and he will probably be in the hospital around 3 weeks...thanks so much for continued prayers!

Vacation...Both Kory and I always took summer vacations with our families. My family liked to see as many places as we could in as few days as possible...I remember asking my dad once why I couldn't sleep in on vacation...but I am thankful because I have seen lots of the country, Mexico, and Canada. Kory's family vacationed the same place every summer-Hilton Head Island. It's beautiful there but it's a very different way of vacationing than I was used to. So, we have learned to blend both of our traditions and likes together when we vacation. This year, with the adoption expenses and the trip to the Philippines, we knew we would need to vacation on a budget, so that's what we did. We traveled to Mohican State Park and kept our money in our own state...which needs it! We camped for the week and had a great time.

Day 1-After a restful night sleeping (I love sleeping in the camper, it's so peaceful), we finally motivated ourselves to get moving. We visited Malabar Farm State Park, a working farm that belonged to Louis Bromfield. He wanted his farm preserved for generations to come. I had never heard of him....he was an author, and was more well known in his day than Ernest Hemingway. He lived in Ohio, New York, Paris, and then back to Ohio to farm. His passion was farming. He was responsible for educating farmers about farming techniques. We toured the large farm house where people like Shirley Temple and Humprey Bogart frequented often. The house has been left in its original state when Bromfield died. You could still see the marks where the boxer dogs had scratched the door frames. There were a couple of Grandma Moses paintings, too. It was interesting, and I requested a few of his books from my library when I came home. We also fished at the farm which Jay-R was very excited about. Both kids really wanted to catch something but no such luck. Kory and I were happy because we did not want to remove fish off the hooks! We relaxed that night with a swim in the pool and of course, a campfire before bed. I tend to sleep lightly when we camp and was awakened to hear the ice moving around in our cooler outside the camper. I peeked through the screen window and saw a fat raccoon digging around in our cooler. Kory and I scared him off but not before he ate some of our sausage and hamburger patties! We stacked the pop cooler on top to keep him and his buddies out!

Day 2-We went hiking at Mohican State Park. Jay-R hiked the entire 2 miles to the mini waterfall which was more like a trickle. He did get completely soaked standing under the water. Ashleigh quickly ran under it. They both agreed it was cold. Jay-R's motivation to hike was that when the hike was over, he was allowed to swim in the river. We let both kids play around in the river for awhile. It was shallow, and the current was very gentle. After that, we chickened out and didn't climb the 80 foot fire tower. It felt wobbly as we climbed the steps and Jay-R was making me nervous. I hate heights. We enjoyed another evening relaxing.

Day 3-This was our canoe adventure day. Our last experience canoeing in the Mohican River a few years ago almost resulted in divorce. No, I'm kidding, but it was pretty stressful for Kory and I because we kept ping ponging from one bank to the next and missed our endpoint. I was pretty nervous about this trip especially since when the guys pushed us off, where did we go, but right to the opposite side. The rest of the trip was smooth floating, though. Kory and I did really well communicating and paddling together. Jay-R loved putting his hand in the water and Ashleigh enjoyed relaxing. It was so peaceful. For most of the ride, we saw no one. It was soo quiet. After that fun experience, we traveled to Velvet IceCream and enjoyed an interactive tour of how the ice cream is made. We enjoyed ice cream. They had 60 flavors to choose from and Jay-R chose plain old strawberry. We all enjoyed the ice cream and saw some Amish buggies on the way back to the campground. The horse barely moved....made for slow traveling! We made the most of our last night and enjoyed our hobo stew over the fire. Kory took the kids swimming and I tended the fire...made me nervous. I don't usually pay much attention to the fire, that's his job. I kept it going, though, and we had a great dinner!

Last Day-The park ranger came around to warn all of a storm system moving in approximately in one hour. We worked hard and tore down camp. We beat the rain and took advantage of the rain time to shower before leaving. We ran into the campstore to pick out some t-shirts and by the time we were done, the rain had stopped. The only downfall was the kids weren't able to ride go-carts as we had promised because the tracks were too wet.

We all had a great time. We haven't had much time lately to just enjoy being together without the distractions of daily life. We barely had a cellphone signal and we only had one phone since Kory took his into the lake...oops! We had no internet connection, either. It was just the four of us. Of course, it was Jay-R's first vacation, and he loved it. I was reminded, though, that even though we have been together for 4 months, we are continually adjusting to our new life. Ashleigh and Jay-R would get along wonderfully and then they would be fighting. (I know this is normal, I'm just still getting used to it!) Jay-R got upset once and went into his shutdown mode, something I haven't seen in a while. With reassurance, he snapped out of it fairly easily. I had forgotten how trying traveling with young children can be for both children and parents alike. We are glad we chose to do a short vacation close to home this year. Vacations completely throw every routine out the window. Jay-R did really well, though, with the change in sleep routines and eating routines. He amazes me with his flexibility and adaptability. I was also reminded of how much Ashleigh has adjusted. Being an only child for 11 years with an instant preschool age sibling had to be a shock to her no matter how much she was thought she was prepared. She did so well with him, taking him for bike rides and watching him while we cooked. She asked for bike ride time alone and we allowed her that freedom. She needs breaks, too, no matter how much she loves her brother.

It was great to feel that relaxed. We are home now, back to reality. We need to solve our light mystery in our camper. During night one, the lights in the camper quick working although the electrical plugs continued to work. Strange!

Jay-R went back to school/daycare today. He cracked me up...he ran down the stairs into his room and announced, "Hey everybody. I went camping!" What a social little guy!