Our Vacation- Part 1

Our vacation started out with a 7-hour drive to Southern Ohio for a camp conference. We left after church on Sunday, and drove through the afternoon. With stops for the baby to stretch & eat & all, we got there around 8:15 that Sunday night. The conference was held at Scioto Hills Camp, where hubby & I worked for a couple of years, so it was neat to see the changes they had made, and see everybody we used to work with, too. Hubby's brother & wife work at a camp in Iowa that also attends this conference, and the thoughtful S.H. staff put them in the room RIGHT next to us! So that was a lot of fun.

On Monday morning, we got up and hopped on a tour bus headed to Cincinnatti. We were nervous about how Z would act on the bus, but he did fine- slept some, played some, wasn't too fussy, and NO screaming, thankfully. After about three hours, we finally arrived at the Creation Museum. First, we all had to get our tickets (since we had a group of about 80 people there), and then take a group picture. After that, we got to enjoy the museum. It was amazing. The indoor, walk-through part is so neat. If you're a person who really enjoys informational reading, there's plenty of signs to read, and if you're not, there's lots of visual displays, life-size animals, plants, a life-size Garden of Eden, life-size dinosaur models, even a life-size model of 1 percent of the ark. It was a great experience. And then we went outside- there are fun bouncy bridges to walk on, paths & trails with flowers all around, and a petting zoo with a camel, goats, a pig, llamas, donkeys, sheep, etc. Z was a little unsure of the llama, but liked the sheep & goats.


We returned to the camp that evening, and Z slept the WHOLE way back- three hours- on the bus- thankfully! Tuesday morning, the actual camping conference began- the camp held different workshops about camping, including a workshop that Hubby & I attended on the challenges and rewards of raising children at camp. Hosted by Roger Williams, who is the director of Mount Hermon Camp in California, AND the father of Joy Williams. Heard of her? I have! :) It was really cool to hear about raising camp kids from someone who has been there & raised kids who love the Lord & serve Him. The SH staff had thought through the childcare aspect of the conference really well, so everyone with children under 2 were in the same lodge, with the childcare held in the middle room of said lodge. So Z could take a nap even if I was in a workshop, and I ended up getting to go to all the sessions & workshops, so that was very nice.


Of course, the best part of the conference is getting to see all of our friends from other camps (Hubby has been to 6 of these, and this was my 4th conference). And going back to our old 'stomping-grounds' to see how they've updated & even remodeled parts of the camp was really neat, too.


The conference was supposed to end after an early lunch on Thursday so that everyone could get on the road. But the speaker, the afore-mentioned Roger, needed a ride to Cincinnatti to catch his plane, and had to leave at 11. We were originally planning to drive down to Hubby's youngest brother's house in TN with Hubby's middle brother, and I was pretty excited about driving down together... but Hubby wanted to help the speaker out, and it was only an hour or so out of our way, so we ended up volunteering to leave early and take him to Cincinnatti. I wasn't overly thrilled about missing out on the drive with his brother & his wife, but I reluctantly agreed when I heard that no one else had offered to take him. He and Hubby ended up having good conversation the whole way there. The kicker, though, was that when we arrived at the airport, Roger said, "Thank you for allowing me to borrow your husband for these couple of hours". I was like... "uh, yeah, no problem..." with my head down in shame...I can be so selfish sometimes!!! We ended up being able to meet up with Hubby's brother & his wife a couple hours down the road anyway, and I rode with my SIL, and we had a great time talking & LAUGHING after all. :)

Alright, I'm going to close this post here...and work on another one to tell you about the rest of our trip. It may be another week before I get around to it, though, I'm warning you... :) Have a great Thanksgiving, all!