A Rustic Retreat...

It may look 'rustic', (especially after I played with the image in photoshop)but our little cabin in the woods offered a full kitchen, A/C, two bedrooms plus a full loft, and the best part....

yep, a hot tub.

August 14th-16th we took a final quick family trip to Hocking Hills State Park. Rental cabins abound in the Hocking Hills region, and we were lucky to find this one which offered enough bedrooms to give everyone a good's night sleep - essential before tackling the hiking areas the next day!

There are five main hiking areas within the region and we managed to hit three of them on our weekend getaway. We spent most of Saturday at Old Man's Cave, the most visited of the areas.

It had so many trails interwoven that the kids never tired of exploring -

of walking, yes,

but climbing rocks, hopping over tree roots, playing in the ponds,

and investigating the recesses of the caves - nope!

After our exploring, we took the kids into the nearest town to pick up supplies for s'mores and to play miniature golf. The course was really cute with lots of water features filled with unnaturally blue water. The water must have looked enticing to Alexa because she decided her golf ball needed to be cleaned. Unfortunately, she takes after her mother - she leaned over the water, lost her balance, and fell into the mini pond, soaking herself from her shorts to her shoes.



After my spill on the rocks earlier in the afternoon resulting in bruises and scrapes, my husband decided to take his girls back to the cabin where there were no lurking rocks or ponds! We made homemade ice cream and s'mores that evening, as well as testing out the hot tub, which provided great relief to my bruised bones!

Sunday morning we first visited the Rock House area, which has a short trail that leads straight down (to the Rock House/cave) and then goes straight back up. The cute video following the photos was taken of Alexa once we reached the parking lot again! The kids really were great little troopers and she agreed to visit one more hiking area even after this video! (sorry you have to watch it sideways)





The last area we visited, Ash Cave, is handicap accessible, so the trail was short and sweet, and the scenery was amazing.







After exploring Ash Cave, we hit a local restaurant, the Grouse's Nest, which was a really cute place nestled in the hills and the food was fantastic!


It was exactly what we needed and we hope to visit again during our stint in Ohio!

Horse Camp

Alexa's birthday gift this year was hard to wrap, so we wrapped something she would need to enjoy her gift - a pair of riding boots. I didn't realize a love for horses could be passed down, but Alexa is somewhat obsessed and was thrilled to learn she was going to get to go to "horse camp." A 9am-3pm day camp offered at a farm not far from us, horse camp consisted of nine horse crazy girls, seven very patient equines, a small herd of greedy goats, and three great instructors.

Lyle, a large, beautiful bay was Alexa's favorite, but he was much too tall for her to ride for lessons. Instead, she typically rode either Victor, Fancy, or Billy Bob, the three ponies, although all of the girls rode Promise when they learned how to post on a trotting horse.

A typical day at horse camp included feeding the chubby little pygmy goats, grooming the horses, riding lessons, bathing/grooming the horses after lessons, a craft, and even cleaning stalls. My daughter, who doesn't enjoy cleaning her room, informed me that mucking out stalls was 'fun'! To quote her - "It's like a game! You have to shake all the hay off the shovel without letting the 'balls' hit the ground!" (the 'balls' being horse poop) Here's a few photos from her last day there - unfortunately, the lighting in an indoor arena is not that conducive for taking photos!!

Alexa riding Billy Bob (he looks so thrilled)

Alexa getting ready to ride Promise

Alexa and Fancy

On the last day, Brody and I went up and watched the riding portion - Brody loved feeding the goats and wanted to know when it would be his turn to 'ride the horsey'! (the next two photos have been adjusted in photo shop to give them a 'country' feel, courtesy of the free downloadable photoshop actions from pioneerwoman.blogspot.com)


Overall she loved it, but hated when the week was over and is already asking when she gets to go back...

Lastly, here's a video clip from the riding portion on Friday:

The Utah Trip

At last! After almost five months of waiting, we met our newest nephew - Kellen Campbell!! The kids and I arrived in Utah at a decent time after a non-eventful flight on July 29th - shocking. It almost restored my faith in airlines. We actually landed a little EARLY. If you remember any of my previous 'flying with kids alone' experiences, you'll know that this never happens to me. I'm very grateful it did on this occasion.


And that adorable little face with those cute little chubby cheeks was waiting for us when we arrived, along with my brother-in-law and mother-in-law - both of whom I was equally excited to see, despite how it might sound in this post!

Billy flew in on Friday night and we celebrated Chad, Alexa, and Sun Tok's birthdays over the weekend! We had an awesome trip spending time with family and getting to know Kellen - or at least trying to let him get to know us. At almost five months old, he's pretty straightforward - what you see is what you get - and what you get are lots and lots of smiles! (unless you point a camera at him...)

On August 1st (Chad's b-day) we went to Pineview reservoir with Chad, Linda, Kellen, and some friends of theirs and rode jet skis. Brody loved it! Alexa loved being in the water, but wasn't quite ready to hop on the jet ski. Billy had never been jet-skiing before so I was very excited to show him everything that could be done! Too excited in fact, and we got pulled over by the boat police (not sure the proper terminology) for riding too closely. Apparently you're not supposed to ride circles around other riders. In fact, you're not supposed to be within 200 feet of another rider...my lack of skill in visually determining distances must have been evident since the officer proceeded to explain that 200 feet is about as far as you can throw a baseball. (I refrained from asking if it was how far I could throw a baseball or how far BILLY could throw a baseball...it makes a difference...) Thankfully, we got off with a warning instead of a $200 fine or better yet, having him confiscate Chad's jet skiis - that wouldn't have been a very good birthday present.




We finally took family photos with Billy's side of the family - a feat that had to be accomplished this weekend since Billy will be out of the country when his family planned to visit us in November. We headed up to Snowbird to take the photos since its so beautiful in the mountains, the background would look great no matter how many people were or weren't looking at the camera!

Not sure what Brody saw in this next image that the rest of us didn't see, but whatever it was, I'm glad it chose another place to land! :)
(you can click the photo to enlarge it and see Brody's concerned expression)

We rode the tram, and Alexa had to try the big trampoline. She loved it, though was disappointed since she didn't weigh enough to go as high as the "bigger kids." Brody also wanted to try the trampoline, but didn't weigh enough, so he settled for the inflatable slide.







Since Brody is obsessed with trains, we also rode the new Front Runner commuter train from Woods Cross to Ogden and then back (about 40 minutes each way for those of you who have no idea where those cities are) and he loved it.



We also took the kids to the Treehouse Museum in Ogden - my absolute favorite children's museum since it has a literacy theme! BOOKS EVERYWHERE! In fact, if I ever get my dream house with a library, I really want to incorporate some of their design elements - like their big fake treehouse in the center and bookshelves that look like actual book ends...it would be a room you could walk into and immediately feel 20 years younger (or 30 or 40 or 50 depending on how old I am before that room ever exists). Alexa and Brody would probably love it if we could find a way to incorporate the rodeo themed room into the house now, but the landlord probably wouldn't love it...









The kids also got to explore "This is the Place Park" - we had never been before and they loved the pony rides, train ride, and the crafts!

Then Brody saw this statue on the steps of a building as we were leaving and immediately did this:

And I laughed out loud, because what I saw in my head was this:

My own little hobbit, riding on the eagles with Gandalf. Yes, I am obsessed with photoshop - this edit job was done quickly and isn't the greatest, but you get the idea...

All in all we had a great trip and can't wait to see everyone again!