Starved Rock State Park, Utica, IL
May 3-4, 2014

Normal people go to dinner and a movie on date night.  Mike and I went to... camp for one night at a state park.

Falling asleep on the way to our cousin's house.  Corie was ready for action with this glove on.

Setting up a campsite without kids around is one of the most silent and efficient things I have ever been a part of.  And I've assisted with vascular surgeries...

A helfie...  Just checkin' the braid since camping= no mirrors.

Staring at Mike across the fire.  We have already run out of things to talk about.  And that is good.

Bet you can't tell that's a selfie - Rats!  I just gave it away!

We're so...

...in love.

Really colorful eroded sandstone with all sorts of gorgeous pigments.  This looked to us like clay deposited by the creek bed.  But we aren't geologists.  Although I think Mike might have majored in Geology for a semester... or was that Geography?  Oh well, same difference.

Just enjoying the silence...

Thinking about Nutty Bars...

And Geography...

Another view of this little creek

Dam.

Anyone who is wondering if they will have cellular coverage at the "Eagle Cliff Overlook:" There is your answer.

Avoid site 27 LIKE THE PLAGUE!!!*  

*Unless you like thinking that you'll have power and then realizing that you won't.  If that's the way you roll - site 27 has your name all over it.  Oh, and a picnic table.  If you expect to have a picnic table, you may want to consider other sites.  But if you like sitting in a chair and eating food with your fingers as you drip all over your jeans - this site is the yin to your yang!

Prophetstown State Park, West Lafayette, IN
April 25-27, 2014

Our season opener for 2014.  Prophetstown State Park is one of only a few state parks in Indiana with full hook-ups (at some sites, only).  The park was modern, well kept, and the bathrooms were nice.  We visited the battleground, the museum, the Indian Village, and the Farm.  All were much enjoyed by the kids.  I particularly liked the museum and thought it was worth every penny of the admission fee (which was - we think - $6 for adults and $3 for kids over 3).

Unfortunately we didn't get many pictures from the places outside of the campground that we visited, mostly because we were chasing children, cleaning up their pee, or wrangling them in some other way.  Good times were had by all.  Sarah (I) did an 8 mile run within the park's extensive network of trails, though trails 3 and 4 were only recently added and therefore mainly consisted of a swath of mowed tallgrass prairie.  When the grassy areas gave way to muddy riverbanks (where the Wabash and Tippecanoe rivers converge) ...I just followed the dog paw prints.  At the time that we visited, trails 3 and 4 were marked by vinyl signs, and didn't yet have wooden trail markers set.  Luckily I had GPS and a map.  So I only got lost twice.  Okay, fine, three times.

Our site - complete with frolicking children.

The kids, just settling in to plot out their havoc wreaking schedule.

"We were told there would be cake...?"

Mike was smart enough to shield his cake's candles from the wind.  I was...not so smart.

Candles relit and ready for blowing out.

The visitor's center

Ada auditions for the part of "Max" in How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

We even flew a kite!  The central area of the electric loop made for good kite flying grounds.

A zoomed out view to prove that we flew the kite...

Present opening

No birthday party would be complete without a big bag o' batteries.

Walking back from the playground.  That was a top-notch playground.