Paynes Prairie with the Grands

Beth called a while ago and said she and Kevin were going to take their long overdue honeymoon (nearly 10 years) and wondered if we could take care of Charley and Lizzie for a week. Obviously, we said yes, even though Rich couldn't get time off. In trying to figure out how I could be sure to keep the kids busy and not watching TV or cooped up in the house, I came up with the brilliant (maybe not so brilliant... ok, totally nuts...) idea of camping at Paynes Prairie for the duration.

Rich and I went down on Saturday and set up the camper and had a pizza at Blue Highway (GREAT food!), just outside the park. Sunday we spent the morning finishing up setting up, then wandered down to the boardwalk that afternoon. Didn't see much - certainly nothing like we saw at Christmas, but it was fun none-the-less.

On Monday, Rich got up bright and early (5:30 AM) and went to work while I built a small fire, fixed a cup of tea, and read for a while. I know, I'm wicked ;) The kids got to camp around 10, and my relaxing time was over. Once we got all their stuff into the camper and saw Beth and Kevin on their way, I packed a lunch, got the kids on their scooters, got Dickens and set off for the playground. We had lunch and played until it was about time for Rich to get back from work, then we went back to camp. Charley and Lizzie helped Rich put up the lights around camp. That night, Josh and Jenny came down and brought Darby. Darby and Dickens got along pretty well - Darby is so well behaved! We had another pizza from Blue Highway (had to see if the earlier one was really as good as we thought. It was.)

Tuesday saw the kids playing "construction" in the screen room. By lunch time, they had the tent pad full of dikes and canals and were filthy but happy. They spent the rest of the day playing - Lizzie in construction mode and Charley explored the forest behind the campsite. He had one walkie-talkie and I had the other, so he was able to call me anytime. The kids also helped me walk Dickens. We had 2 leashes on him, so if he took off, I could be in control and nobody would be hurt.

Wednesday was supposed to be nasty - rainy with possible hail and tornado watches. Since we had an appointment for a tour at the Santa Fe Teaching Zoo that afternoon, and that meant I had to drive Rich in to work, I decided that we'd just stay in Gainesville rather than go back to camp. Betsy came up from Inverness and brought the kids a cool toy - we've all had fun with it - and they played with that until it was time to go to the zoo. We got about half-way through the tour before the bottom dropped out and by the time we got back to the zoo office, we were all soaked, but we had a good time anyway.

Thursday was more of Monday and Tuesday. Lizzie got to be very friendly with Dickens and he let her do about anything she wanted.

Friday we had to come back to Gainesville to go with Rick to get his beautiful new truck. It's an '09 Ford F150 Lariat 4x4 in a greenish color with all the bells and whistles anyone could ever want. The owners manual is a tome! After we picked up the truck and had lunch, I took the kids back to camp and we climbed the observation tower and took a short hike before going back to camp. Rick brought Rich down on his dinner hour, then went back to work.

The kids built one last fire and we got all their gear together by the time Beth and Kevin made it to camp to pick them up. It was awfully quiet once they left :( We came home on Saturday and spent Sunday doing laundry and putting everything away and before you knew it, my week of vacation was history!

It was really great having the kids for the week and (I think) they had a lot of fun - I know I did.

Now we're just waiting for the next trip and hopefully, cool weather when we do it! Unfortunately, we have our hot, humid summer to get through before that happens.