Kentuckee Kamping

This week was Easter Break so we took advantage of some time off and went camping for the first time since being here. We had a great time! It was wonderful to be in the outdoors for an extended amount of time. We all miss the country and so we really enjoyed being out of the city for a couple of days.

We camped out at Taylorsville Lake, which is just under an hour away. It is a nice campground and it is a great place to camp with children. The campground is well maintained and there are a lot of trails for hiking. There were quite a few people out there, but it was pretty quiet.

The first day we had a thunderstorm in the afternoon, which was fun. We had some strong rain, lightning, and thunder. They even issued a tornado warning, which is always comforting when your shelter is a tent! However, it made for a beautiful evening and beautiful sunset. I got to have a fire!!!!! I haven't been able to have a fire since July! It was great to burn stuff again! Oh how I miss the smell of smoke and the dance of firelight! We let the girls stay up late and had fun around the campfire. The girls got some glow sticks and ran all around our campsite pretending they were lost and couldn't find their way back to the campsite.

That night a lot of wind came in. We had to get up a couple of times to re-stake the tent. It was loud and flappy, but we did get some sleep! The morning was beautiful and after a great breakfast we went for a hike. There we encountered an unwanted trail obstacle (see below photo) and the girls freaked out! We were hiking single file down the trail and it actually went right between us as if we were not even there! I had been looking for snakes because there are quite a few different kinds of poisonous ones out here, but I missed this one. Kate was behind me and the snake went between Rose and Kate. It added a good memory to the trip! Rose and Kate were screaming and clinging to us. I think they were sure they were going to die!

This time of year is beautiful to be outdoors. There are so many flowers, most of them flowering trees! The woods are full of color. There is a purple tree here that is spectacular! They are scattered all throughout the woods. Everything is turning green now also. The streets are lined with yellow, purple, pink, and white trees. Very beautiful!

Well, that is all for now!
Blessings!
Shane

Ever Seen a Hippo Ice Skate?

Ever seen a hippo ice skate? A whale surf? An elephant tango? A Boeing 747 doing spirals and 360s? A walrus sing opera?

Well....those are similar descriptions of my new endeavor to........roller blade. Yep, that's right; the redneck is trying to be a sophisticated, coordinated, somewhat graceful city recreationist. It is probably like Larry the Cable Guy deciding to try and be the PR director for the Queen of England!

Right now, my main focus is trying to stay alive. This is now my third week and I have yet to make a trip to the hospital. I count this a blessing, as well as evidence that God still moves in supernatural ways. I must say the safety equipment I purchased may not make me look cool, but it does significantly reduce the scarring process. The first two weeks I think I probably resembled a wind sock in a tornado as I swirled around, desperately trying to keep from slamming into the ground. Lets just say I regularly experienced whiplash like being rear ended in a car by another car doing 65......several times over within a short period of time.

Jess and I started rollerblading together because we wanted something we could do together outdoors when we had only an hour or so. We also wanted something that would serve as exercise. Because my legs feel like Jello when I am done and I walk like Gumby, I think it works. So far though, it has been fun! There is a very large parking lot next to our apartment that is usually empty. So, we go out there and rollerblade while the girls run around and play. It allows all of us to be outside and get some physical activity.

Well, that is our new activity to debrief after a long day of classes and studying! So far it works great to take my mind off of things. This is because the only thing I can think of is keeping from seriously injuring myself. At first, my thoughts were "I'm gonna die; I'm gonna die; I gonna die; I'm going to crash really hard and then I'm gonna die." Once I get better, I am sure I can figure out a way to use this as a resource for huntin and shootin. I know there is an olympic sport of skiing and shooting. Maybe I can figure something out related to that!

Enjoy the pictures and blessings!


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