1st Annual Turner Camping Trip

Boy have I got some pics for you!! I have been neglecting the camera as of late so you are in for a treat today...
First off, our camping trip was AWESOME! Couldn't have been better! We had absolutely gorgeous weather - which I'm pretty sure is unheard of in July in Kansas! No humidity - what?? Anyway, we all had a blast and the kids are still asking when we get to go back. A big thanks to Ed and Norma for watching Gabriella for us - we thought it was best if she didn't camp this year as she would have eaten way too much of the wilderness and most likely would have fallen in the lake before we could catch her. Austin and Ashlyn did awesome - not once were they bored and Shawn and I even relaxed quite a bit on the trip. I'll explain more about the trip with the following pics. We camped at Melvern, which is about an hour south of here on I35. Beautiful campgrounds, so clean - even the port-a-potty was spotless.

Here we are swimming at the "beach". Austin loved swimming - more than I knew he did! He swam forever and did not want to get out when it was time to move on. He loved it!

Seriously, how many floating devices does one kid need?????

And here's the best part of camping (besides a cold beer which I couldn't partake in this year) Smores!! The kids loved roasting marshmallows - they were a bit black at times and had a bit of gravel stuck to them - mmmmm yummmy...
Here we are...Roughing it?? Is that a cell phone??

And it wouldn't be camping if we didn't go fishing!! Our campsite was about 10 feet from the lake so we could fish right there - it was so nice. The kids also spent hours just throwing rocks in the water - what fun!
Can't say I have ever played "hungry hungry hippos" by the fire, but here we are!
Here's cousin Colin doing some marshmallow cookin'. Colin and Craig (my brother) joined us for camping Friday night.
And here's the set up - Our tent is the red one in the middle - can't really tell how huge it is from this shot - the kids have their own room though in there - very nice accommodations.
Sunset - beautiful.
Is that really a picture of me??? Who knew?!?!
Reading stories by the campfire with Uncle Craig - Ashlyn looks a bit tired in this one!
Ummmm...Shawn....where are all the kids????
Ashlyn - gettin' messy in the sand - I think it's safe to take the life jacket off now.
My little pumpkin is growing up - fishing and pondering life - how cute!
The little bit of time Gabriella was at the campsite was spent putting rocks in her diaper - what a fun game!
That's mom in the distance - "roughing it"...yes, that's another cell phone.
Austin doing some more fishing.
That's Shawn overseeing our little fishermen.
Ahlsyn swimming at the beach - interesting...in the water she has no life jacket, but on the sand she does....maybe I didn't explain how those work very well.

At any rate, we had a fabulous time and the kids loved every second of it. Great campsite if you are looking for somewhere to go. Shawn also made an amazing breakfast on Friday morning - yum! We got to try out our new grill - very nice! Mom and Dad camped with us too - I think they thoroghly enjoyed their first camping trip in years. I have a feeling they are going to be doing some camping quite often!
Hope you are having the time of your life!
ST