Little gems

When I asked Sarah what she's most excited about this summer her response was "camping." When I asked Jenna the same thing she said "being a 3rd grader and camping". Matthew, who has become a chatty cathy lately would probably say "lights." The kids love camping! This weekend we went to the Shelby/Mansfield KOA. The place was fantastic, the weather did not cooperate though. 

Last year this same weekend we contemplated swimming. This year we were wearing sweaters and coats. And our carbon monoxide detector broke in the camper so we couldn't use our propane heater (really carbon monoxide doesn't seem like a bad way to go). Erik went to walmart and bought boards and electric heaters. Matthew again escaped from the camper crib and was up until 11:30pm on Friday night!  So Erik fashioned a stockade to keep him in the crib. 

Matthew in the tunnel at the campground

Mothers day card crafts

 The most exciting part about the campground is their gem mine. We bought two bags of dirt, one that may contain emeralds and rubies and another that may contain other gemstones. The kids sifted through the dirt to discover treasures. Both girls have rock collections (I confess I have a rock collection too) and they had a great time searching for treasures. They found several really nice gems also. Matthew just dumped the leftover rocks.

Gem mining

We had a fabulous time at the campground and to top it off we got ice cream. You can see the kids (one scoop!) bowls of ice cream below. This is on the order of Nelsons in Minnesota.  I shared mine with Matthew but Jenna ate her whole bowl of ice cream! We had to throw away half of Sarah's - she just couldn't finish it :).

Just a little ice cream

A beautiful butterfly in our backyard! 

 Our first camping trip of the season was a blast. A chilly blast, but still a blast. I'm looking forward to camping this summer too.

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