What a neat weekend for us camping at Cove Lake Park in Caryville, Tennessee about 45 minutes from Knoxville (big trip, I know).  We took our camper for the first time and met up with a family from church who has three children (Sarah, Abby and baby Caleb) and are experienced campers.  The weather was beautiful, crisp in the mornings, fall warming temperatures in the afternoon and cool evenings cozied by the fire.  I did not bring warm enough clothing so we did have some chilly moments...oh well, live and learn. 

However, with all the beauty and calmness of nature and being away from the distractions of home, camping with a 17 month-old poses challenges.  Poor Sarah, being out of her element and being a toddler didn't enjoy her camping experience as much as the rest of us.   Between bug bites, physical fatigue, lack of sleep and mom busy with cooking, etc. we had many "Sarah" moments.  She did pretty well all things considered, but relaxing and toddler do not go in the same sentence...no matter how beatiful the scenery.  :)

The older kids had a blast...camp ground complete with playground, lake and pleny of trees for climbing.

Noah and Anna liked to compete to see who could climb the highest.  We stopped Anna here as we didn't think an ER visit would be a good way to end the trip.

Cove Lake is considered one of the nicest in this area.  Very clean and the camping slots had plenty of space between RV's.

Cautious Lilly, not much of a tree climber yet, but hey...WATCH OUT CLIMBING WALL!

A little break enjoying the lake.  We did not bring the boat this time.

Scenery was fantastic.

"Daddy, rub my hair"...Lilly always wanting daddy to play with her red curls.

Course Noah was the one catching ALL the Blue Gill...Anna giving it a try though.

Noah met a friend camping near us, also eight years old.  They had a blast running around and doing boy stuff.

Joe and Phil taking some time for Bible discussions.  We all actually left camp on Saturday and went to church (only 30 minutes away), but other times the guys were in deep contemplations.

Lilly and friend Abby.

Sarah (age 15) is the children's Sabbath school teacher at church...kid's love her and I enjoyed her supervion while camping.

All and all we had a great time.  We plan to coordinate another venture with extended family this fall, as camping with others makes it even more memorable.