Turkey Run State Park

Turkey Run State Park, Indiana
June 7-9, 2013

By reserving a spot fairly early in the year, we managed to get a campsite at Turkey Run State Park. The campground and the park were amazing, and the hiking trails were beautiful.  I will admit that some areas were a bit treacherous, only because we, as parents, were each wearing a hiking backpack containing a very heavy toddler - that can quite imbalance you - even when crossing a very shallow creek.  Luckily there were other family members and some very nice Good Sam hikers there to lend a hand.  This time of year, the weather is amazing and the park had many people, but didn't feel crowded at all.

Josephine shows off her "balancing" skills

Yes, there were moments that we stood around just trying to figure out where we were...

Then there were moments where we stood around just to take things in...

This is 'the look'

Our little spelunker

Taking selfies at lunch instead of eating lunch.

This is "The other look"

From Wikipedia:  

The Rosy Maple Moth (Dryocampa rubicunda) is a North American moth in the Saturniidae family. Males have a wingspan of 32–44 mm; females of 40–50 mm. They have reddish-to-pink legs and antennae, yellow bodies and hindwings, and pink forewings with a triangular yellow band across the middle. Males have bushier antennae than females. As the name implies, rosy maple moths mainly feed on Maples, particularly Red Maple, Silver Maple, and Sugar Maple. Sometimes the caterpillars become pests on maple trees. Adult moths do not eat.

This particular one was hanging out on our lantern.  HOW COOL!  And I love how you can see the camper in the background of that photo.

Somebody's butt... Oh my - that's MY butt.

I lens-flare-ya to look directly into that sunlight

The kids, playing in the dirt around our site.  In their defense, it was pretty exciting dirt.

More lichen while we're hiken.  Yes, it is the obligatory lichen with slightly out of focus family members in the background.  I just CAN'T EVER resist these shots.

No gold to be found, just a lot of Giardia spp.

"Look!  A treacherous path!  Let us head up there immediately while carrying young but preternaturally heavy children on our backs!"

Stayin' cool while checking on my hiking-mate.

The best posed family photo out of 15 that were taken this day.  Josephine looks fantastic.

We were tired out afterwards, but the trip was totally worth it.

For the record, the campsite was fantastic, #196.  It was an electric site (30 amp and 20 amp, I believe), no water.  It was very wooded, and it was pretty large, so even though there were campers across from and next to us, the site had a very private feel.  We ended up hauling buckets of freshwater and using a funnel to fill our tank.  This was in the early days before we had figured out that there is usually potable/freshwater to fill your freshwater tank with near the dump station of most state park campgrounds.  Oh well.  If it hadn't been for the typical day's arm workout from carrying the twins around, I might have actually been grateful for the killer arm workout...

Millbrook Jellystone Memorial Day Weekend 2013

Memorial Day Weekend, May 2013

All of the "good" campgrounds were taken, and we wanted full hookups, so for Memorial Day we went camping at the *same* Jellystone campground in Millbrook, IL where we had opened our season in April.  We also were thinking to ourselves, "Gee, what would make this trip more relaxing? MORE KIDS!!"  So, we took some cousins along with us for a total of FIVE children.  We camped with five children.

Actually, the kids had a blast and the adults survived after being transformed into servant robots for two days...

These two are hard to please

Shoes off, pouty faces ON

Our immaculate campsite

Mother-daughter bonding over mutual love of marshmallows, and an apparently unattended hot dog.

Josephine announces her intentions to go on the road as the tambourinist for *this* band.

Cousins looking out the window, plotting their escape from those pictured below...

There was a photo of all five kids sitting on the couch eating Pop Tarts in the camper, but we did not obtain permission from the Pop Tart brand to post it, so it was omitted.  Also, I think Mike did not want a visual reminder of all of the crumbs that fell that day.  Their memories will stay with us forever.

Also on this trip:  As we were headed back to the camper after listening to some live music and dancing and generally being happy and carefree (in a rare moment), somebody sheepishly asked us if all five kids were ours.  We said, "No," and she actually looked relieved on our behalf.

Holland State Park

Pretend this next blog is written in Tim Allen's voice:
This is Holland State Park, Lake Macatawa Campground.




We drove in late Friday night to meet up with Gram Bear and Poppi Pruss.
We took this photo in the dark at the ranger station because we needed a map to our campsite - number 85... The only pull thru site in the last loop on the right.





It was a little tricky getting the camper set up in the dark (mostly because Mom's brain was fried) but with the aid of an extremely bright flashlight we were able to get set up and plugged in. Then we slept.
The next day, the Pinnicks arrived.





Good thing Sarah managed to pick the lock on this baby or it would be a very different photo.
And here are the Grans in the Road Trek:




I can't say enough wonderful things about this campground. There was an incredible bath/shower building that had clearly been recently renovated and updated, and there was a water/dump station located near the main entrance of the park. I wish we had realized on our way in that we could fill our fresh tank there on our way into the park. Instead Mike and Steve hauled 5 gallon jugs from the bathroom so that we could wash the dishes.





And you aren't really an RVer until you have at least one strand of lights attached to your awning.





The girls played for hours. Many bug playgrounds were erected and demolished in this time.





Saturday afternoon, we had the twins' birthday celebration.













"Don't mess with my baby sisters or Ill come after you with my brass flower knuckles!"




When the kids are away the grown ups will play... with fire.



Thanks for the clean camper Blue Beacon!






Not pictured, but we managed a stop at everyone's favorite Panera on the way home. Apparently the twins are real tortellini lovers!
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Jellystone Park Chicago

We opened the camping season quite close to home this year! The park, Jellystone Park Chicago, was located in Millbrook, IL, just 30 minutes from home.




Despite below freezing temperatures at night, we snuggled together for warmth and had a great time.



Good thing our camper has:




We selected a spot close to home and flushed the antifreeze out of the tanks. Unfortunately, there were two casualties over the winter... Mom found them in the tub... Ewwww

After cleaning the tub, we ordered a new part for the toilet...


The RV park featured a play set for big kids and for little kids and Ada learned the word "Slide!" Corie sat on Daddy's lap feeling cranky (not a huge fan of the low temperature). Josephine played mini golf with Dad, and we took a nighttime stargazing walk as a family. Those events aren't pictured, unfortunately.

There was a very exciting tree stump:


We call it "The Giving Tree."

As always, the three larger Prusses had a marshmallow roasting campfire for S'mores.







While Mom and Dad were prepping the camper for travel and packing up, the kids engaged in some sporting events.












Though the trip was fun, we were all pretty sleepy and ready to go home on Sunday. Some of us have a harder time "hacking it."




We can't wait to get out there again!

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