Turkey Run

Our camping adventure this summer was a quick trip to Turkey Run State Park, just across the boarder in Indiana. We'd heard lots about the park but never had been over there ourselves, so decided to give it a try while I had some time off work.

We drove over on Monday afternoon and set up camp in a nicely wooded and relatively secluded spot.

Went for a short hike before supper. The kids stop briefly for a picture.

The park is bisected by Sugar Creek, a clear, scenic little river that winds quietly through the Indiana hill country. In the park, the river and the little streams that feed it have cut dozens of deep, rocky ravines into the native sandstone. Most of the trails follow those ravines, winding in and out and up and down over lots of stairs and cut stone steps, through secluded canyons, and under massive overhanging ledges.

Looking over Sugar Creek from Sunset Point.

Turkey Run is also Indiana's second oldest state park and features the requisite historic structures. Like this cabin sitting on the bluff overlooking Sunset Point. Check out the size of the logs!

Making our way back to camp. Yes, that really is the trail.

Anthony relaxes.

We spent most of Tuesday hiking. The majority of the trails in the park on the other side of the river from the camp ground, which usually isn't a big deal because there is a nice suspension bridge close by that spans the river and provides quick access. Unfortunately, that bridge had been damaged by spring floods, so we had to walk up the river to the next crossing and then back down again before we could see what we really wanted to see.

Little Anya is a little too big for the backpack, so she had to walk. She did really well.

The trail along the river bottom winds through some fantastic stands of tulip trees, or poplar - the same wood used to build the cabin in the picture above. The trunks of some of the trees had to be five feet across and they rose straight up into the air with very few branches until the very crown of the tree, some eighty feet above the forest floor, creating an open, airy canopy like a massive green cathedral.  Supposedly, Turkey Run was established in part to preserve some areas of old growth forest. I don't know if this was one of those areas or not, but it was amazing anyway.

You can barely see the covered bridge that will take us across the river in the background of the picture below.

Andrea had to stop and smell the flowers.

Finally, the bridge across. Also historic.

The trails were very neat. We did a lot of climbing up and down stairs and steps and even a few ladders. This was the kids favorite part of the whole hike.

Unfortunately, is was also quite hot and humid, so by the time we ate our lunch and started heading back up the trail we were all pretty worn out and looking forward to a dip in the pool. Anya especially had had enough. She gets a lift from Mom.

A swimming pool never felt so good.

After a hot night we woke Wednesday morning to some clouds. Kenrick and Anthony wanted to hit one more trail before we packed up, so we headed out from the campsite after breakfast. We almost made it back before the thunderstorm hit. We holed up under an overhang for a bit, but finally had to just make a run for it because I knew Andrea would be waiting for us. We finally got back to the parking lot and gave her a call to come pick us up (note to self: next time put your cell phone in a plastic bag), then had to get everything packed up before checkout at noon. It just kept raining. I don't think I've ever been so wet.

Anyway, we made it. Got everything dried back out again when we got home.

Now we know what Turkey Run is like. I'd recommend it, but check the weather before you go.

Summer Milestone

Guess what Paxton learned how to do this summer?

 

Forty

Remember when you used to have to wait a few weeks or maybe months to use up the roll of film in your camera before you could get the pictures developed? Then you would get that envelope from the camera shop or one-hour photo and hold your breath hoping that at least some of the prints had turned out? Most of them were blurry.

These pictures kind of remind me of that, especially the waiting-for-a-month-to-look-at-them-and-then-they're-blurry part. I dug them out of the "pile" because I realized I'd never posted pictures of my official birthday party (from May!). Unfortunately, we were so busy that we didn't think to take pictures until it was almost too late, so the ones we did get aren't really all that good.

Oh well. Andrea worked hard to get the back yard looking festive.

And we had our first bonfire on the new pad.

Hold it. What is this "film" you speak of? And developing? Prints? You had to wait how long? How old are you anyway? This old.

I'd Better Write This Down Before I Forget ...

The other day as we were finishing up supper Paxton was being his normal silly self. "Watch this noise I can make" he said, and proceeded to make some kind of motorboat sound while rubbing his knuckles across his lips. Everyone laughed.

Then Anya piped up, "Do it again Paxton, I didn't laugh yet."

Paxton has been ready to start school for about two years now, but this summer I think his mom is finally ready to let him go just to get him out of her hair. Indeed, he's turned pestering his mother into an art form. I was listening from another room a while back while he was trying to get Andrea's attention.

"Mom." "Mom."

No answer.

"MomMom." "MomMom." "MomMom."

Then, to the tune of the opening guitar solo in Ozzy Osbourne's Crazy Train:

"MomMom MOMMom MOMMom MomMom momMom mommom MOMMom MomMom"

A Big Boy Toy for the Garden

One of my goals for the summer is to get the garden whipped into shape. Since our yard is one big slope, that task involves turning a section of hillside into a series of terraces with sufficient flat space to grow some 'maters and 'taters. I flattened one section last summer and put in the first row of planter boxes, then dug about sixty feet of trench for the first retaining wall by hand this spring. That was more than enough shoveling for one summer, so to get the rest of the dirt work done I decided I could justify bringing in some heavy equipment.

I rented the smallest excavator Caterpillar makes and spent the day making holes and pushing dirt around. It was great fun.

There's something about towing a piece of yellow equipment that makes a good pickup truck proud to be alive.

The 301.8 that I rented is only 39" wide, fitting nicely in the space between the existing planters and where the next retaining wall will go. Kenrick helped me move some of the dirt around the yard with the lawn tractor and trailer and kept an eye on the trench depth. Paxton looked for worms and interesting dirt clods.

 

The result of all my fun.

 

I decided to flatten out a space for little garden patio on the northern end, but didn't realize that my drain field extended along the hillside as far as it did. Fortunately I didn't damage anything and I'll still be able to put in a patio, but I may have to raise it up a little higher than I originally intended.

Anyway, the bulk of the digging is done so now I can spend the rest of the summer hauling gravel and building walls. Ugh.

More Paxtonisms

Today Paxton said, "I hate being five! I want to be twelve, like Kenrick."

Then after a pause, "It should go 12, 64, then five!"

Add a few more years in between, Paxton, and you've got a deal.

The number 64 seems to be a recurring theme. This evening at supper Paxton said, completely out of the blue, "I wonder if I'll have my own phone by the time I'm 64!"

Hurricane Andrea

Just discovered on the National Weather Service site: "The first tropical storm of the Atlantic tropical season is named Andrea."

Hope it doesn't become Hurricane Andrea.

Birthday Surprise

Andrea orchestrated a fantastic surprise for me this year for my 40th birthday.

She started a few months ago by announcing that we were going to take a surprise trip to celebrate both of our birthdays. But mainly mine. Then she didn't tell us anything else.

So I penciled in some vacation time for Thursday afternoon and Friday and I didn't ask any more questions. The kids asked lots of questions, but they didn't get any answers.

She said she would pick me up at work on Thursday, so I figured she was planning a short road trip and that we were heading in the general direction of South. Also, she did ask if I could find the little kid life vests, so I was thinking maybe a lake house. Probably not camping, because that would require finding more than just life jackets, and probably not flying to Tahiti because, well... just because.

A few days before we left she kicked us all out of the house and packed our suitcases, then on Thursday she had me go pick up Kenrick and Anthony from school while she loaded the van. When we got home the van was full, but there were still three coolers of food left to load. I put the luggage basket on the top of the van and strapped it all down. Hmm, that's a lot of food for the weekend. Also, why do we need the jump seat in the van?

I was in a rush to get on the road by what I thought was our scheduled time, but Andrea didn't seem to be  in any hurry. And she was driving, so I just sat back and enjoyed the ride. We stopped in Decatur for lunch. Then we stopped at an antique mall somewhere south of Springfield that she claimed to be curious about. And got ice cream. We got caught in traffic outside of St. Louis. Then stopped for a potty break. Still no hurry.

Finally, she announced that we were heading for the airport.

So we were going to pick someone up, but who could it be? I'd just talked to Mom and Dad earlier in the week and had commented about how fun it would be to have them here for the big birthday party that we were planning for the next weekend, but... SURPRISE!, here they are, standing on the sidewalk outside of the airport terminal looking for a ride! Wow.

So I'm trying to wrap my head around how my folks are all of the sudden in the van with us and I still don't know where we are headed. We go a ways further west, then south off the freeway into the rolling hills of Missouri and turn right into the little community of Lake Sherwood. Then DOWN and back UP a few times and through the woods and around a little lake that suddenly appears out of nowhere, nestled into steep little ravines and surrounded by some very nice looking houses, then SLOWLY down, down a steep drive to a really nice looking lake house. Wow.

This is really cool. So we all hop out and Andrea starts working on unlocking the front door to the house and dad pokes his head into the garage ("Huh, there's a car parked in here, must be the owner's.") and I start untying things from the top of the van and taking some pictures of the place ("Rob, come inside! Get in here!" "Okay, okay, I'm coming.") and I about fall over because, SURPRISE!, my brother and his family are standing in the living room. Oh wow.

The kids are instantly buzzing around looking at every nook and cranny on all three floors of this place and Mia declares that we just have to see the lake, so we wind our way down flights of stairs clinging to the steep hillside, past hammocks and a little bath house and a fire pit and down some more steps to the dock. The lake is quiet except for one canoe. The canoe has a girl in it, fishing. That's cool, must be the neighbor.

Dad says, "Who do you think that girl is out there?"

How should I know? Wait. Long blonde hair. It looks like. No. Sally? "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!!?" SURPRISE!

I'm speechless.

I really don't know how to say what it meant to have all my family together for my birthday. Sally's husband Matt came in on a later flight, so everyone was together for the first time in two and a half years. We spent the weekend relaxing, eating, and catching up. And fishing and swimming and canoeing. And playing pool. And eating, did I mention that one already?

On Friday we took little trip into St. Louis and crawled around in the City Museum (you have to go), tracked down a little barbecue joint called Pappy's Smokehouse that rated five stars in everyone's book, and visited the iconic St. Louis Arch.

On Saturday we had family pictures taken and relaxed some more (see the list above).

On Sunday we celebrated Mother's day, ate another excellent meal, and parted ways, still proud to be a part of such a wonderful family.

Andrea, thank you so much for a fantastic surprise.

The story of all the finagling that Andrea had to do to plan everything, coordinate everyone's travel, and keep it all a secret could fill another few pages, so I won't tell it here. You'll just have to ask her about it sometime.

Instead, I'll post a few pictures.

The house, before discovering the surprise inside.

The view off the back deck.

Our little fishergirl.

Her grandpa taught her everything she knows.

Lots of paddling about. Me, Kenrick, Anthony, and Anya race Cooper in the kayak.

Auntie Sally supervises the Pandemonium Crew in the paddle boat. Yes, that is an oar in the water.

Kenrick got quite proficient in the kayak

Uncle Matt is always willing to give a hand. Um, is that the recommended launch procedure?

We couldn't take the boat out, but made good use of it anyway.

The City Museum from the outside.

And from the inside. It's really hard to describe the mazes and ramps and slides and displays that fill this building - again, you just have to go.

Paxton was a bit tentative about climbing too high but we got around all right anyway.

Our meal at Pappy's Smokehouse was an experience to remember. Pappy (the owner) came out to shake our hands and thank us for coming while we stood in line waiting to get in, then took a liking to Paxton and presented him with a shirt. The ribs were excellent.

The whole family fits under the arch.

Mom cleans up at the billiards table.

The girl who made it all happen, serving cake and still smiling! Thanks again honey!

Wisdom

The other day we were all in the van on the way to town and one of the kids asked if they could have some ice cream when we got home.
"No" Andrea replied, "I've already told you guys that about ten times today. No ice cream."
Of course this prompted a chorus of complaints and indignation from all four corners, including; "Come on mom, you never let us have anything we want!"
"That's not true!" Andrea shot back, "We give you lots of things that you ask for. I'll bet you get about 75 percent of the things you ask for."
More howling from the back rows; "Ha," Kenrick retorts, "it's probably more like three percent!"
Then, in the relative quite between waves of protest, Paxton pipes up from the back:
"But mom, you'll get more cash back!"

Can't Take It Any Longer

The other day the boys finally ran out of patience with their little sister. At least they used pink tape.

 

Water, Water, Everywhere

We got rained on in April. A lot.

Our little river swelled to impressive width - impressive because it hardly flows in the summer - but we didn't really have too many problems in our area. Other parts of central Illinois got hit pretty hard. I think Peoria had record flooding, and I heard that the Mississippi river by Quincy rose ten feet in 36 hours. Amazing that so much water can drop out of the sky.

Here's a couple of pictures from just down the road:

 The rive usually meanders through the trees in the background. Today it's in the cornfields.

Anya checks out the big muddy.

A Decade of Anthony

Anthony turned ten in April.

It was a pretty low-key affair, just a party of six and a double chocolate cake with malt balls and chocolate things on top.

Anthony got a Lego set and some Bears gear...

...and a new camera! Happy snapping, Anthony.

He probably should have gotten a haircut for his birthday. He and Paxton show off some wild 'do's after bath time.

Happy birthday buddy!

Out Like a Lion

I thought March was supposed to go out like a lamb? Not this year.

We got our biggest snow storm of the winter on March 24th. I know it's old news by now, but I  just came across some pictures and wanted to share.

It started snowing on Sunday afternoon. By evening we had 7 1/2 inches. Kenrick measures.

Doesn't that look cozy?

By morning we were living in a winter wonderland. Twelve inches total. Snow day!

Everyone stayed home and started digging.

It was pretty warm - perfect for packing and stacking and sledding and tunneling and frolicking. The kids had a ball. Dad helped. Building snow forts in March did seem a bit surreal, though.

Anya doesn't care if it's March or Septober- snow is fun to munch any time!

Aren't Mommies Great!

Lately Paxton has taken a great interest in spelling and he's getting pretty good at sounding words out and trying to come up with letters that fit.

This morning as the older boys were getting on the bus Andrea spotted a crayfish in our yard. A big one. This generated much excitement (I'll try to post some pictures later) and the kids enjoyed watching her set up a temporary home for the ugly crustacean to keep it safe until we could toss it back into the creek.

Later, as Paxton was finishing his breakfast and talking about the events of the morning, his curiosity about this new creature got finally prompted the logical question.

"Mommy?" He said; "How does a crayfish spell?"

Andrea sounded it out for him and he thought that over for a while. Then exclaimed,

"Wow, Mommies can spell anything!"