Saturday

For MONTHS (actually... years - we first talked about it during our houseparent interview) we have talked about taking the guys camping. A few of the guys were always excited about the idea... but there were others that weren't sure. The semesters always seem to go by in a blur... so when we realized in January that this was the last time we could do it (with these 3)... we all sat down and put this weekend on the calendar. I think I was a little surprised by how excited they all were about the trip. We ended up not being able to leave until Saturday morning because of sporting events... but we we still got out there by lunch time.

It was raining when we left St. Louis... and pouring almost our entire drive to Mark Twain State Park. Thankfully when we booked our stay months ago... Dan was thinking ahead and reserved cabins just in case it was raining.

I could not believe how much we ended up taking with us... but Dan reminded me that you always take the same amount of stuff... whether you are going for two weeks or two days.

Here's the view from our two cabins...

Steven broke out the whiffleball and bat as soon as we got there...

Anytime we are near water... you'll always know where to find Dan.

Jeff, Steven and Fred before their trip down to the water.

We brought two of these inflatable things not thinking anyone would want to get in the water. We were wrong! Steven thought it would be fun to float across to an island in the middle of the lake.

The water was freezing... so Fred decided to stay back. This is one of my new favorite pictures... because this is SOOO Jeff and Steven... arguing about who's going to jump in first. I think I'm going to frame it!

Jeff ended up jumping in first... but got right back out because it was so cold.

Here there are... again deciding who is going first.

Steven floated out first. Here he is trying to avoid the flying rocks...

I couldn't believe it... but they actually made it to the other side!!! I took this with my long lens from the cabins up the hill. It was pretty far. They hung out on the island for a bit and then started to make the trip back...

with sticks as oars!! Not sure how well that worked... but they made it back.

Thankfully we had a few dry hours that evening. We were able to eat dinner outside and make smores. There's something about camping that is just so relaxing and fun!! I love that we were able to have this special time with these 3.