Camping at Turkey Run State Park in Indiana

No, I have not given up on the blog.  We moved to our new house in mid-June, and I have been so busy with prepping for the move, moving, and unpacking that I haven't posted in a long time.  So here is a quick update.  David completed his Chief year and is now starting his Hematology/Oncology fellowship at OSU.  Currently he is working 6 days a week for about 13+ hours a day (not counting work done at home studying and working on his research project).  Plus the rotation he is in right now has him on call 24 hours a day - so any time at night he could be paged to come into the hospital to see a new critically sick admission.  He has been extremely busy, to say the least.  William celebrated his 2nd birthday with a small party of family and cake.  He celebrated again at camping this past weekend.  Eliana finished her 2nd year of preschool with a spring concert.  So far this summer she has had one week of swimming lessons and one week of VBS, which she loved!  We listen to the VBS songs on CD all the time, and Eliana still does all of the motions.  Each day had a different theme which Eliana really seemed to pick up on - God gives us Hope, God gives us Direction, God give us Love... She is excited for when her brother can go in a couple of years too.  Eliana has also been riding her bike a lot!  That seems to be her favorite thing this summer.  She has ridden it to the park several times and even over to a friend's house about 3/4th of a mile from our house.  I pushed William in the stroller.  We have met several of our new neighbors, and across the street is a family with three kids.  One of their daughters is 5 years old, and she loves to ride her bike too, so the girls have been playing together.  I am currently 31 weeks pregnant and feel HOT all the time.  A summer pregnancy is rough.  We have gone to the pool several times, which always feels nice.  And no, we still haven't picked out a name yet.  David and I just don't talk about it because we tend to not agree on names.
So skipping over all of the things I missed posting about in the last two months, here are some pictures of a family camping trip to Turkey Run State Park in Indiana.  Many of my mom's side of the family joined - we had 11 campsites total! I slept in a tent with the kids for the first time.  They were both so excited.  David could not make it because he had to work.  However, I had plenty of help from lots of family on the trip, so it really wasn't that hard to go camping with a 4 year old and a two year old.  We hiked, biked, and swam all weekend, with plenty of eating and little sleeping in between.

Our accommodations for the weekend - I slept on a cot, Will was in his pack n play, and Eliana slept in a sleeping bag on a toddler mattress.  I was a little worried about the sleeping situation, but it wasn't that bad.  In the tent with Eliana is cousin Nolan - these two were inseparable for most of the weekend.  They played some game where they were puppies in  the tent a lot.

The tent - our home away from home.

Our first hike started by crossing the suspension bridge.  Aunt Abby with William.

William and cousin Daphne throwing rocks in the creek.

Eliana fell on the steps at the beginning of the hike and refused to go further.  However after discovering the mud pit next to the creek, she was happy again. 

She even took off her boots to let the mud squish between her toes.

Mud pies

Eliana and Nolan.  Eliana wore her helmet a lot on the trip because she got on and off her bike all weekend long.  She doesn't actually know how to put her helmet on or off herself, so she just left it on all the time.

William wasn't so sure about this camping thing.

Bubbles with Grandma cheered him up though.

My parents brought their little picnic table for the kids.  Eliana is coloring with Daphne and cousin Claire.

William has taken a new interest in babies.  He really wanted to hold his cousin Hannah.  They each thought this was pretty funny.

Aunt Melissa holding Hannah.  Melissa was quite the trooper - camping even with a broken ankle.  She didn't however join us for any hikes, which Eliana was a little disappointed about.

Making S'mores with cousins Sarah and Joseph.

Mmmm s'more

This was William's birthday celebration (along with several other cousins)- Aunt Abby gave him a helmet.

Riding his "moto" - that's what William calls his Big Wheels.  He can't actually reach the pedals, so he just pushes himself along with his feet.

Another hike, another day, this time with lots more family.  We were quite a parade.

Will wasn't so into hiking.  But he really didn't want to ride in the hiking backpack on Uncle Mike's back.  Tough luck buddy.  This pregnant momma was not going to carry him the entire 2 mile hike.

Luckily he passed out and slept for over half of the hike. Mike was a great sport about the whole thing.

Eliana wanted to walk though this mud puddle in her boots, but it got a little deep and sticky.  Luckily Grandpa was there to pull her out.  Side note, my dad said he wore this tie dye shirt so that he would be easy to spot by the park rangers when he got lost.

31 weeks

I asked Eliana to be in the previous picture with me, but she refused, and sat over by the bushes instead.

Someone's ready to ride her bike first thing when she wakes up!

Sibling love.

One last ride before we head home.

In general, I would say camping was a great success.  We had a blast even if we didn't get a ton of sleep.  My family was so helpful with the kids and bringing supplies, so I wouldn't go without them.  But as long as there is a herd of us, I would totally do it again.