fall creek falls 2012

another fall creek falls trip has come and gone. (my fifth year? time flies!) we left on friday after brett took the naplex (!!) and got back on wednesday night. bill and katie and the kids came this year too! first time we've been camping with them! we were all a little apprehensive but even katie said it went well with the kids! a little exhausting? yes. but worth it? also yes. of course i had four cameras with me but i was too lazy and forgetful to take many pictures (although i'm sure you'd disagree since this is a picture packed post). i completely forgot to bring one with me on the cable trail, still kicking myself for that one. there's always next year. and you can see the shots i got from last year here and here.
so to start this long ol post, here's a wide shot of the camp site to give you a feel of what it's like...

a. bathroom one hundred yards that way // b. papa bear's tent // c. the big top. fully equipped with pvc poles to make sure it's stronger than any rainstorm // d. an entire table just for condiments // e. camp chairs clustered for relaxing and chatting // f. our pop up (who knows how we got so lucky to get to use the pop up?!) and bill and katie's tent (full to clown car capacity) that way // g. dinner table/card table // h. lots of box fans // i. lots of coolers // j. new addition this year, a white board for tournament brackets // k. the overflowing food/snack table // l. the "kitchen" two stoves and a hose 

jp drove up from alabama on saturday after he took the law exam. it was great they got to unwind a bit from all their studying, and of course they got to play some golf. they both found out on tuesday that they passed their tests! woo hoo! such a huge weight lifted off our (mostly his, poor studier) shoulders! haven't seen brett in such a good mood in a long time! he was back at the books on the drive home though. :( this time next week we'll be free!

we caught some fireflies in a cheerwine bottle. unfortunately they didn't respond well to captivity and stopped lighting up... and then they died. i'm an innocent bug murderer. apparently my price for murder is making emme think i'm cool. 

we went swimming at the cascades twice. there wasn't much cascading going on though since it's been so dry up there. (old post here will show you how much water there used to be.) we didn't have any rain the whole week we were there, which neverrrr happens! brett and i both got new rain coats for this year and we didn't even get to use them! apparently if we'd been home we could have tested them in tropical storm weather.

looks like brett's standing on the water, but really he's catching a frisbee to jump into the chilly water.

the funny story about that rock was that my wet foot slipped as i was climbing up it and i was stuck laid out in a spread eagle position until i could get a finger hold and push up. that slip up was definitely out where everyone could see so unfortunately the peanut gallery (brett's dad and jp) got a good tease out of it.

juancho came along this year. poor guy couldn't catch a break. he picked up some ticks, got shut in the camper to bark while we were gone (and spread them to us! eek!), got burned while we tried to burn a tick off him, drank some used oil (although he suspiciously never got sick from it?), forgot to be fed dinner, lost a toenail, and unsuccessfully tried to chase other dogs. but overall i'd say he definitely enjoyed camping. especially once the astrazeneca laser pointers came out.

we did smores with the kids one night. at first emme was hesitant and didn't want to eat one.... 

...then she realized it was delicious sugar and got a little goofy.

will didn't want to eat one either. he was just interested in the fire.

cute little bug.

as usual we played lots of cards, especially rook. bill was on the champion euchre and rook teams. we're trying to make sure he comes back next year. emme loves her some juju! she was definitely her shadow while she was there. usually she's not one to just sit still but she was loving just sitting on juju's lap while they played cards.

brian sent brett this awesome rook shirt. brett always steals astrazeneca armbands too for rook tournament games. 

we didn't do much hiking this year, but i did make the boys go to the suspension bridge.

always a tender moment between those two.

just love this bridge.

"does it look like i'm doing something cool?"

so beautiful here!

we guilt tripped jp into staying the last night, then regretted it cause he won the washers tournament. and i thought i had a chance this year! brett knocked me out then jp beat brett.

well i guess that's the gist of it! chad and liz and her parents also came for the first night, julie's sister susan came too for a night, we went to the pool with the kids (the first time the guys golfed), i went running (juancho tried to come with me), we hiked up from fall creek falls with bill and katie & co (including a stroller), we celebrated the boys' test results and keith's birthday at the hotel buffet, brett's dad tried to get us to cook some naxty smelling chicken until we all vetoed him cause that cooler definitely wasn't cold enough, it got nice and chilly the last two nights, we read books, we sat around and talked while the kids played, emme swatted bugs, we made butterfly crafts at the rec center, and we played at the playground. 

video to come! brett needs to stop studying all hours on that computer of his so i can make the video on it!