Devil's Lake

We had a terrific time camping with the Knobloch's at Devil's Lake State Park this past week. We set up camp while the kids rode bikes and played baseball and then we ate hot dogs, pasta salad, creamed cucumbers and fruit. The kids explored in the woods behind our site and played some more baseball down by the beach, then we had a fire and roasted marshmallows. It was a long night (almost a 10 pm bedtime) but very fun! Everyone slept well besides the slightly slanted tent. We got up, ate some cereal and then got ready to go on what we thought would be about a 2 hour hike. Needless to say after a lot of exploring, checking out caves, climbing rocks and having snack breaks we made it to our destination of Balanced Rock only to find out that it was too tough for the kids. We decided instead to hike to Devil's Doorway, which was really neat. Then we had a long hike back to camp. We all took turns giving the kids piggy-back rides and despite some whining at the end the kids really did great. Winston didn't tire at all and 3 1/2 hours later we were back at camp for sandwiches and taco dip! Then it was off to the beach for an afternoon of fun in the sun. The kids played football with Aaron and Randy and horsed around in the water, then Jenny built a really cool sand-castle with them. Aaron and I ended the afternoon with a game of 500 with the boys and it was back to camp to get ready for some dinner! We soaked sweet corn and roasted it over the fire (very yummy and quite easy)! The kids played some more baseball and rode their bikes up and down the hill by our site! We had another fire with marshmallows and smores and then the kids headed to bed a little earlier and the adults played some Euchre and Sheepshead. On Sunday we went up to the Nature Center and the kids got their Junior Ranger Badges for completing their books and activities and we enjoyed learning about all the neat animals in the nature center. Then we went our seperate ways for a bit and the Recob's went on a short hike by the water and let the kids play on the rocks and do some 'climbing'. We met up back at camp, had pudgy pies and then packed up and headed to the beach for one last swim. It was a really nice couple days. The kids got along so well and had so much fun playing with each other. I can't wait for next year!