The End!

So Thursday was the day that Jen had to leave.  They had to drive to South Carolina.  They left around noon.  We were not in the mood to sit around or to go out on some big adventure.  So we went to the fish hatchery.  Joshua really enjoyed it.  There were these long cement pools were they put the fish.  After they grow they release them into the river that runs along the hatchery.  It was again about 105 degrees.  Josh made Matt walk all the way down one side and up the other.  It was about the lenght of a football field.  We then went down by the river.  The temperature dropped a good 25 degrees and the water was cold.  Later that night we went to dinner were Josh told a group of young girls they were all "beautiful ladies."  It was an eventful day.

On Friday we went to the spring and the guys swam.  It was fun.  They had a rope tied and they could swing out and jump.  Of course my dare devils did it!  Adam didn't want to try but enjoyed the swimming.  Here's a picture of Ben swinging. 



This was a county park and you didn't have to pay anything to go.   The kids had a great time and I think Matt really enjoyed swinging from the rope also!  Wonder if Grandpa could hang one of these babys up for the pool!   

This was our last day in Arkasas.  We decide to take two days to go home.  Smart idea, maybe I will give better directions if we are well rested on our drive home. 

We leave at about 9:00am on Saturday.  We  plan to only drive for 5 or 6 hours.  We make it to Illinois and stop at the rest area.  Maybe all rest areas are like this but we loved this one.  We went in and there were two ladies working at the desk.  I don't really go to rest areas, so I was surprised that they were there. One of the ladies asked Matt if she could help him find information on anything.  He asked if she had any on campgrounds.  She showed him the info, called the campground and booked us a site.  We got a discount at the campground because we booked from the rest area.  Holy cow talk about service!  I was releaved that we were not going to be looking for signs for campgrounds along the road.  So this is a big shout out to the Illinois rest area people...THANKS FOR SAVING MY SANITY!!!

Now with a map to the campground we head out to Effingham.  Ok so that is a pretty funny name for a city.  We still laugh about our stay in Effingham.  The campground was very easy to find.  They had a great little playground area for the kids.  I was pretty happy with the showers.  Other than being at our Aunt and Uncle's I've been taking a shower in the camper and it's not that big.  I was happy to have a good shower after a long day on the road.

We make it home the next day and I tell you I was so happy to see the Pure Michigan sign on 23!  The best part of the last 10 miles was the boys doing the aaahhhhh thing over the bumpy part on 23.  Matt and I now do it every time we travel that part of the road.

We had an amazing time on our trip.  I think I said thank you to my husband just about every day over those 18 days, with the exception of the few travel days.  We were so blessed that everything worked out and God made it possable for us to do this vacation.  I have an Uncle who often says there is no greater artist that God and I was so very happy that my children got to see what a beautiful land He gave us.  Thanks for reading this story of our first big National Parks camping trip.  I hope that you enjoyed reading it.  I'll leave you with one more picture of the trip.

Ben took this one when we were on our over priced train ride.  Not a bad picture for an 8 year old.  We look kind of worn out but we're still smiling.