McCormick's Creek State Park

The Pruss and Pinnick families joined together for a short, weekend trip to McCormick's Creek State Park in Spencer, IN from July 20-22, 2012.
McCormick's Creek was named after homesteader John McCormick, who obtained the land in 1816.  The park is known for its tranquil and restful scenery, where visitors can lose themselves (if you are Hamlet and Sarah, quite literally) on the long and beautiful hiking trails that the park has to offer.

Hiking to the falls with dogs in tow.

 We arrived late on a Friday night and were greeted by a couple of very generous park rangers and a few Pruss's and Pinnick's waving flashlights.

We did a lot of hiking.

Our campsite, #56, was terrible.  If anyone reads this blog and is considering a trip to this park, avoid that particular site like the plague, Rinderpest, Dengue fever, and Malaria carrying mosquitoes.  The entire site was inclined so severely that we needed to borrow additional blocks from a family member because the rear stabilizers couldn't touch the ground.  The power hookup was on the same side as the picnic table, and, in hindsight, we should have just faced the camper the other direction and used an extension cord to go underneath the trailer.
We brought Hamlet with us for the trip, and managed to avoid major dog-nature, dog-camper, dog on dog mishaps which was great!  He slept for 4 days straight after we got home.

These prices will probably seem hilarious in 2035

 Josephine and Anna went on a pony ride.  Charlotte opted out citing the pony's mild left forelimb lameness and a suspicious lack of girth-tightness as her reasons... (or she was just scared and I completely misinterpreted the meaning of "No horsie")

Josephine pictured on "Freckles" who would have been named "Distended Abdomen" if he had been named for his body shape instead of his coat characteristics.

 Mike and Sarah went on a 45 minute kid-free horseback ride through the park while Kate and James went for a dog-hike.  Mary and Steve were kind enough to watch ALL the kids in our trailer while the couples had some down time.  Here's something John McCormick forgot to mention:  the park is much more tranquil when there aren't any kids around.
Oh yeah, and...

Who could forget the token "Lichen on tree with family member walking, out of focus, in the background" photo?  Not me.

We may not get a chance to go back to McCormick's Creek for a long time, but I would highly recommend it to those of you who didn't realize that Indiana had trees that weren't serving as windbreaks for cattle, hogs, or cornfields.

Father's Day Weekend 2012

For Father's Day Weekend we headed to Wisconsin for our trailer's maiden voyage. 

The car ride was pretty tough on us campers, particularly those forced to sit in silence without the benefits of modern conveniences.

Are we there yet?

Our first night (Thursday night) was at Jellystone Park in Fort Atkinson, WI.

This is Josephine at the entrance to the Fort Atkinson Jellystone.

We didn't see any real bears but here is what we would have looked like if we had.

On Friday morning we arrived in Fremont, WI, ready to start making memories at Jellystone RV Resort. We were joined that morning by Nathan, one of Mike's friends from K-State, his wife Meggan, and their son Oliver, who is about Josephine's age.

Unfortunately, we lost cell service there, so the only memories we made were those which could not be instantaneously uploaded to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.  Sarah was crushed.

Here is a photo of Boo BoOliver that Sarah couldn't tweet.

Here is a photo of the kids getting ready to go swimming that never made it into Sarah's facebook feed...

Here is a photo of the exhausted duo that Sarah couldn't upload to Instagram.

Here is one of Mike and Ada involved in some type of recreational sport that involves a ball's trajectory towards a baby's head.

Josephine and Oliver coyly saying goodbye at the end of the trip. They had loads of fun.

It was finally time to head home...




We are looking forward to our next trip July 20th, 2012 in McCormick's Creek State Park (lions and tigers and no sewer hookup, oh my!) with Mike's family.


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Location:Wishing Well Ln,Fort Atkinson,United States

Our new Keystone trailer!

We are very excited to report that we have a new recreational vehicle. It is definitely an upgrade from our 8' pop up!

Here is a blurry picture taken in the dark on our first night with the trailer. We picked it up at Tom Raper RV in Richmond, IN.

On our way back to Batavia we stopped to camp at Caboose Lake Campground in Remington, IN.
We were pretty exhausted from the exciting day at the RV dealership, but we still managed to hook the right hoses up to the right places!

Here is Mike explaining that there is a pressure regulator on the end of this hose...
Unfortunately we were to busy eating and sleeping for the rest of the night to remember to take pics of the interior! But hopefully this will soon be remedied as We have plans to go camping with the Bilotte family in Wisconsin later this month!!
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Our new camp grill

Here is our new grill:

Yes I admit this post is lame but I'm testing Blogpress!Camp grill
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my iPhone

Outdoor Adventures

This is where we went camping from May 18, 2012 to May 20, 2012. The campground is Outdoor Adventures Lake Shore in Davison, MI
We also made a stop at the Michigan Maritime Museumin South Haven, MI. There, we learned about the War of 1812, and a little bit about what the life of a fisherman was like in the 1940's.
We were joined by Steve Pruss for part of the trip and camped in our 2007 Viking epic 1706 trailer!
Here are the photos from the trip.

I feel that no caption is really neccesary here.

Peekaboo, Sailor man!

This is a lot like what Fort Detroit looked like in the 1800s.

It's...my ship in a box!

Three armpits.

Ada, left.  Josephine, right.

Looking down on the Coast Gaurd exhibit.

Josephine at our campsite.

Our campsite.  Notice pack n play and Steve Pruss's head on the left side of the photo.

She even signed herself in!

Move to Aurora, IL from Burbank, CA

On June 20, 2011, Mike, Sarah, Josephine, and the two-month-old twins embarked on a Journey across the western United States.  This was a permanent move from Los Angeles to Chicago.  The dogs were shipped ahead earlier via air cargo.
The trip was such a blur, I couldn't even say where we stayed each night.  It was such a battle to get sleep at night and stay awake during the day...we didn't have much time for sight seeing.  All we have are these few photos taken in the camper - possibly all from the same campground.

Where did I put my lost neurons again?  Guess I'll never get those back...

We wake up every two hours!  Yay!

But we are so cute!  Yay!

Shampoo...soap...what are these foreign things?

The babies' camping beds...

The Great Outdoors.

And Mike's butt

"I don't wake up every 2 hours but I'm tired too..."

Sequoia National Park

In August, 2010, Mike, Sarah, and Josephine drove to Sequoia National Park East of Visalia, CA in the southern Sierra Nevada Mountain Range.  The park was beautiful, scenic, and had historical significance.  The sites were large, well-kept, and had great bear lockers.  Really I have only great things to say about this amazing park.  Put it on your bucket list.
We took so many photos, I think it's best to tell this story in pictures.
Upon our arrival to the park, we decided to get out, stretch our legs, and make a beeline for the nearest photo op.

This looks like something a responsible parent would do.

Stretching legs, as promised.

Mike is tall, but this tree makes him look less tall.

We're really thrilled to be here.

Believe it or not, Josephine and I are actually at the base of the tree in this photo...

"Rock"ing this pose.  Get it.  Ha.  Ha.

Peek-a-boo!

We came, we saw, we bought the overpriced sweatshirt when it got colder than we expected.

A candid camper photo.

Me trying not to smile because we set the camera up on a timer, and then tried to make this look like a candid photo of the three of us.

This whole photo was just a mistake...

The happy campers.

Don't ever, ever, ever, ever...!  Leave your bear locker open unattended.

Tired hikers.

The obligatory looking up through the trees while the sun shines down photo.  Can anyone say "Thank God this camera has a built in light meter?"

The General Sherman tree is the largest tree by volume, though not height or width in the whole world.

The innards of a Sequoia.

Are you guys coming?

Lichen, meet Miken, while he's hikin'

We look like we like each other.

So big!  Mommy's shoes are So ugly!

Reading about Schist and Quartzite on the way to the cave.

Which cave did we go to?

Arrr!  Mateys!  Ready to go into the cave.

The happy couple while we were still young and...happy.

Sometimes I can't remember if I'm camping, spelunking, or posing for an Abercrombie catalog.

Caves, water...I think they have something to do with each other.

Bear in the road!  Bear in the road!

Don't drive through this unless you are in a compact car manufactured before 1991.

Obligatory looking up into branches of tree from below photo.

A Sequoia pine cone.  They sure are tiny.

A Sequoia seed.  I already feel like the Once-ler.

Our last hike, just beautiful.  I don't even have anything snarky to say.

Deer butt sighting!

Someday we will go to Yosemite and also Redwood National Park, home of the tall, skinny trees.  This was a truly unforgettable park and a great camping/hiking experience.