Saturday is a special day....

So, this Saturday I did a HUGE thing for me. I let Ryanne go off for the day with out Mom or Dad to a girlscouts campout. Since she is a Daisy she could not stay the night so it was only day camp for her but it was almost 3 hrs away!! Oh my.

All ready to go at the meeting location.

I took her to the place to meet for the carpooling. She was so excited. I drove away and cried the entire way home and then some. I have decided that my children can never go to a brick and mortar school. I will miss them too much. I think I drove Paul crazy with my pitiful mommy comments throughout the day. I just missed this girl.

I wanted to do something special with Collin since he didn't get to go and he and I haven't done anything together for a while so it became an 'all about Collin' day. We decided to call up the cousins and go hiking at the local state park followed by a picnic. :) So, we went....

Here are the kids at the beginning of the hike. Collin and his cousins. :)

Every time they found a log they sat and said, "Take my picture!" haha! I took lots of pictures of them on logs but, don't worry, I didn't include them ALL on here but I did include quite a few. 

Just Collin with his walking stick. 

The only boys. hehe!

Poor girl. There are several boardwalks on this 3 mile hike. On one of them she was reaching for a stick and flipped over into the water. She was not happy to be walking around in wet clothes. He mom wore layers though so she did get a dry shirt. My sister is always prepared and had and extra set of clothes for her in their car. They were summer clothes but at least they were dry. She was able to eat comfortably. ;)

My nephew's arms are outstretched because he had lost his balance. LOL! Silly boy!

My super cute sister and her youngest!!! Are they both adorable?

The bathroom area was swarming with ladybugs. It was crazy. I got really close so you could see them. Now, picture this many EVERYWHERE. I was trying to read the bulletins posted by the bathrooms and had to protect my eyes. When I stepped away I had to remove the ladybugs from my clothing. At least they were ladybugs and not bees or snakes or something like that. I can handle a few ladybugs.

We ate by the pond and then of course played by the pond.

Oh! Did I mention my mom joined us too? That's her in the pink shirt with the water bottle. :)

I am aware this picture makes no sense but let me explain because the situation was funny. There was this BIG bug! It was kind of flat, dark, shaped like a pointed rain drop with cricket like legs and about 1.5-2" long. My sister's second oldest (the one who fell in the water) had walked to the cars to get something and saw it on my sister's white vehicle (pictured). I thought, ooh, let's get a picture. So, she and I got really close and I had the phone ready taking it's picture. I hit the button and in the time it took me to hit the button and for it to take the picture, the bug jumped at my face, my niece and both screamed and leaped backwards. Thus, this picture. It was meant to be a super close up of the bug but I jumped back several feet and no idea where the bug went so my fingers, the keys, my nieces legs, and a shot of the side of my sis's vehicle. LOL!

walking around the pond

The porch of the ranger's office. My sis and I decided we want one like this outside our homes.

The kids sitting on the steps of the porch of the ranger's office. I also like those chairs in the background... super comfy!

After the hike and picnic Collin and I picked up Sonic and headed home for a game of Munchkin with Paul. It's one of Collin's favorite games. Paul and I enjoy it too but Ryanne doesn't so it was the perfect game to play while she was gone. So fun!
If you are curious about Munchkin then here is a review for it. :)

 So, meanwhile... Ryanne was still at camp.

Ryanne and her girlscout troop who went to camp. This isn't all the girls in the troop but all the girls from the troop who went.

Ryanne at camp! :)

On the way back home! :)

 After she got home she had to show me what she made and tell me what she did. Here she is showing off her sit-upon and birdfeeder pinecone for a picture.

So happy but absolutely exhausted! She slept until 8am!!!

So glad she is back home but also glad she had an opportunity to go off and have fun with the girlscouts. :)