a weekend to recharge

Ryan and I were late getting to Tims Ford State Park to meet his parents, Ryan, Jaclyn, and Stephanie for our weekend camping getaway. Thank you Google Maps. =( We got there after dark and quickly threw the tent up and joined the rest of the group around the fire.

We had a great weekend with beautiful weather. It feels like I had a home leave, which is just what I was wishing for as I left school/work on Friday.

Jaclyn and Ryan walking across the bridge early Sabbath morning.













Since we were up and already wanted to walk across the bridge, we hunted down some good firewood to take back to our campground.

Ryan carried most of a dead tree and Jaclyn dragged some other ones behind her. I set mine down after running ahead for this picture.

Randy's bow saw proved easier (& quieter) for cutting the wood into smaller pieces than Ryan K.'s hatchet. Most of the time we just threw them across the fire and let it do the work of cutting through.







Stephanie insisted that staying put was the way to ride out the smoky times caused by a shift in the wind. She hunkered down in her shirt and waited for a different breeze.









Ryan and I by the fire Sabbath morning. His air mattress went flat in the night and he ended up inhabiting his parents' other bed in their new camper. We both moved in there for Saturday night.

Our hike to Weaver Point. The name is more exciting than the view, I have to say. Most of the time we walked around fingers of the lake through really dense trees.

Finally found a break in the trees along the way. It will be really gorgeous here when the trees are at their peak color. The water was really calm and very green. We had fun playing on the shore for a few minutes before moving on.

The fallen tree's roots were really gnarled and neat looking. It had shelf mush- rooms growing out of the bottom that looked like pancakes.

After the hike, we tried to get a picture of the whole group on the bridge. I leaned out onto one of the concrete supports and set the camera on top, set the timer, then jumped and ran to get in the picture!

Ryan and I on the bridge. It really was a pretty lake. I can see why most of the people who came had boats.


Jaclyn and I snapped a silly self-portrait before we all headed back up the hill.

We decided to wind down the day by taking some "reenactment" pictures on the playground behind the bathrooms.

See this link for the pictures from Cumberland Falls S.P. (KY) two years ago.

Even more fun with Stephanie added to the pile.

We had too much fun while the boys played frisbee. MJ and Randy took pictures for us.

Tims Ford has a Bear Trace golf course on the grounds that I'm sure gives really pretty views of the lake. We decided to use the last of available light to check it out.

Like every- where else, there were deer on the golf course. I saw six total and each group of three was made up of a small, medium, and large deer.

The campfire was stirred back to life around sundown for the long- awaited s'mores. You'll have to check out Jaclyn's blog for those pictures. We skipped the planned hot dog supper due to a late lunch and snacked while the daylight disappeared.

After sending Ryan to bed with some Tylenol PM for his fever, headache, and sore throat, we played a game of Thump-Thump (7 up, whatever . . .) by the light of Randy's shop light. In the hands with only one card with which to make your bid, you're not allowed to see it! You have to look at your opponents' cards and then make a bid based on what they have. Stephanie beat us handily.

Stephanie slept the nights away in a hammock. Aside from the mosquitoes and the dual-temperature she dealt with, I think it went pretty well for her.

Ryan came and cleaned up the pancakes and saucettes that were left. He tried to sit at the table while avoiding the ever-changing smoky breeze.










Ryan leaves his mark (temporary) on the campsite while playing with his fire stick. We seemed to have just the right amount of firewood for the weekend and gathering it wasn't too bad -- just a walk across the bridge.







Ryan and Jaclyn stayed in a borrowed tent from MJ and Randy. Putting it away was pretty much the last of the clean-up. Then we loaded up and headed our separate ways with promises not to wait two more years before the next trip.

members of boys' club - for a day

The guys headed to Mammoth Cave State Park for Sabbath. The girls are all gone this weekend - either home, Young Women's Retreat, S.U. Leadership Retreat, or elsewhere. The dorm is closed and it's a very quiet weekend for our supervision team.

John Watkins gave a mini- sermon and then we ate subs with every imaginable topping (even for Ryan), baked beans, cookies, soda, and chips. A hike was definitely in order after that lunch.

How many guys do you think can fit on a picnic table? Most piled on to listen to John's talk while the rest sat on the ground. When we started eating, this table was covered by honey bees hoping for a taste of the guys' sodas. Then the game became "lets see how many bees we can anger."

Nikie, Chadd, and Carson getting ready to listen to worship. Carson had fun sitting on the sheet with Anita and playing with the leaves and sticks. Poor Chadd's been sick this week and we ended up dragging him down and up some pretty big hills during the afternoon. He and his dad are wishing they could go watch some of the Ryder Cup while it's being played in Kentucky.

We left the picnic area on a trail that led us to the trail Ryan and I hiked a couple of summers ago. We caught up with Corey, Wes, Nathanael, Michael, and Kyle on the trail. Kyle was taking lots of pictures of things with his new D-SLR.

We had a view of the Green river (longest river in KY) from above, but most of what we could see is a little spur that was pretty dry. At least there was some water in there this time. Two years ago, it was lots of dirt and rocks with very little water.


I told everyone to look like they're seeing birds in the trees. Since it's not "birding season" or a migration time, we didn't really see anything. They played along pretty well though.

Carson and I had fun walking up the big hill from the river. He was quite the little jockey, making clicking noises and patting my head. I told Nikie he's very encouraging. He also flopped forward a few times and just held my entire head while we walked.

The cave entrance is felt before it's seen because of the cold air. Sometime I want to come up and actually take the tour of the cave. I've been to the entrance twice now.

I'm convinced that having the cool, cool air blowing toward you as you finish a marathon uphill climb is the best way to end the hike.

shenanigans

Nikie asked me to watch Carson during their softball game tonight at rec. The girls came over to "help" too. I pulled the camera out to catch some of Carson's crawling along with Gabby and Olivia's overflowing infatuation with him. "Can I hold him??? Pleeeeeaassseee????"

the house of tennis

Ryan noted tonight that we've played tennis every day since Friday. (And on Friday we bought new racquets. Does that count?)

I met Ryan and Aaron Seaman, our assistant boys' dean at the court yesterday at 4:30p. We played some with the three of us until Aaron left.

Ryan and I stayed later and played a set that I won 6-3!

The view from the tennis courts makes it look like we have a huge front yard because you can't see the road. Thank goodness we don't have this much grass to mow!

a wedding on campus

You may remember from last fall that Jeff's daughter Tiffany was proposed to at our Fall Festival. (Jeff does grounds/vehicles at Highland). Mike and Tiffany's wedding was scheduled for Sunday on front campus. They were forced indoors for the ceremony due to heavy wind gusts and intermittent morning rain. By 5:00p, Jeff had re-created the look of the Prayer Garden in the gym for the ceremony.

Jeff's indoor creation

Jeff designed Tiffany's dress and her mom, Becky, made it. Becky also made the rest of the girls' dresses.

See Tiffany's toes? There's wisdom in that.

Becky and their son Ethan (sophomore) walking out at the end of the wedding.

Our favors were tiny bags of yellow and blue personalized M&Ms.