Thursday, September 22, 2011

Back to School Time!

Last week after we returned from camping, Nicole started 1st grade at Barnstead Elementary school. We bathe her in prayer daily as she gets on the big yellow bus and heads off to school. So far it's gone really well! She'd love to be home schooled and that just may happen next month if all goes well at the final hearing. We'll keep praying and see what God has in store. In the meantime....enjoy these back to school photos!










We started our homeschooling this past Monday the 19th. Things are going great here, too! No photos yet...sigh...but I'll take a few this week and get them up.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Camping Fun at Pawtuckaway State Park---2011



What a wonderful time we had this past week camping. We were able to camp for 8 days. Although we had a few days of loads of rain from tropical storm Lee, everyone had a blast! Glenn and I were blessed to celebrate our 23rd anniversary during our trip, too!

Pawtuckaway is Glenn's favorite camping place. It's for good reason. It's a splendor of the beauty of God's creation. Our site was amazing. It was right on the water, and we had our own private beach, too!

Take a peek and see for yourself!



Lots of fun boating and fishing, too!

Look at this beautiful site....right on the water!



Nicole had a lot of firsts this trip....first time camping for one week, first time swimming over her head in a lake and many more we'll share later!


One of Grace's favorite parts of the trip was taking apart our under the cabinet cd player that wouldn't work anymore, and fixing it! She was sooo proud of  herself!

We enjoyed many a meal together! We tried tons of new recipes, too...Like:  tacos in a bag, one pot bubble and squeak, apple crisp in the dutch oven, mountain man breakfast, banana boats, and gingerbread oranges. That was so much fun!


The kids loved climbing on the big rocks across from our site.





We were joined mid week by our favorite camping buddies...the Lowman family. They camped right next door to us!







Nicole and Kiara had a blast in the water together!


Okay....it's time for bed now....so I'll add some more later! Maybe tomorrow!
Well...I know it's been more than a week...but here are the next installment of photos!

One evening Glenn took all the kids out in two trips for some night fishing. They caught no fish, but had a wonderful time and came back with many stories to tell!



Nothin' like camping for some family bonding time!


On the day of their checkout, the Lowmans came and had lunch at our site and enjoyed one last trip on the water!








The Lowmans were very generous with their kayaks and allowed us to try them out! Now...on our wish list are kayaks for the family!


Early one morning, I took the boys in our pajamas out for a boat ride to an island. It was wonderful!



On our anniversary, we went out to a great Mexican restaurant called Gordos. Everyone had a great time!





We also attended an international blacksmith competition! That was really cool!

One of our favorite things to cook in the Dutch oven are biscuits! We made them for our pot luck brunch buffet!


One of the boys favorite pot luck dishes I made was tacos in a bag. You take an individual sized bag of Doritos and crush them and then add to the bag all of our favorite taco stuff and eat them right out of the bag! No dishes to clean up, and very, very yummy!



We totally loved that we could have our boat right at our site and head out for some fishing fun at any time!
Presenting Elisha...the winner of the 2011 Winslow Family fishing derby with this 1.5lb 15 inch long bass. She caught it in her pajamas. She just decided to cast out her line one night before bed and there you have it!












Everyone was excited to wear their new bathing suits!










As I'm sure you can tell...we had a great time, and can't wait until the beginning of next month so we can book it again for next year! We LOVED it!