1.  God has a sense of humor.  After a week of beautiful fall weather, it turned cold and rainy and I do NOT like to be cold OR wet.  However knowing  that my husband wouldn't let me freeze to death and that I would be labeled a complete and total Party Pooper if I backed out, I  went.  I purchased some of those wonderful Cuddl Duds long underwear, packed my fleece jacket and robe, warm sleeping bags, extra fleece blankets and the best footwarmer ever - Faith, our Jack Russell Terrier.

2.  It takes every inch of our SUV to pack for a 24 hour camping trip.    We had bags piled to the roof in the back, under the boys feet in the floorboard, Bibles in the dashboard and other books in the door side panels.  We kind of felt like the Clampetts, but we did have everything we needed.  Well almost everything we needed.  (We forgot utensils.)

3.  Camping with experienced camper friends is nice, VERY nice!  They knew that we would want to be close by them so they reserved a spot for us. Our friends recently upgraded to a pull behind camper so they even set the tent up and loaned us their air mattresses and portable heater too. 

4.  You can rent camping spaces with electric and water hook ups.  I didn't realize that.  Having that little portable heater made such a difference.  I'm willing to go camping again as long as we camp with electricity!  With lots of warm blankets, 5 bodies, a heater and dog it was really very nice. 

5.  Six homeschool families adds up to a LOT of children.  I did the math.  It was too hard to try and count them all in person.  One family had 8 children, 2 had 5, 1 had 4 and then 2 more had 3, so we had 28 children and 12 parents! 

6.  Watching all those kids playing tag, riding bikes and walking together, playing on the playground and exploring the campground together was wonderful  We did learn that a couple of the children are part monkey and can shimmy up trees without branches.

7. Toasting the perfect marshmallow over a campfire is an art.  Some people have the talent (Heidi's husband) and some people don't (my husband).  But even a burnt marshmallow is pretty romantic when my husband cooks it for me over the campfire.

8.  Those 28 children can eat a lot of food.  I'm pretty certain that some of our *We don't eat white sugar* friends' children had sugar.... in mass quantities.  It was probably a good thing that they couldn't get their hands on us the next day.  We're figure some of them were bouncing around late, late into the night and probably had sugar hangovers the next day.

9.  Hillman Ferry Campground in Land Between the Lakes National Park is beautiful.  We heard that it's one of the nicest campgrounds in Kentucky.  They do run a tight ship though and are sticklers for the rules.  But... that's probably why it is so nice.

10.  God is an amazing Creator, Artist, Savior and Friend. He gives us such wonderful gifts.  The beautiful landscape, wonderful fall sounds of leaves rustling and nuts falling from the trees all show His handiwork.  I love the smells of the campfire, the taste of food prepared with love, and the warmth of being with friends around a fire. 

I've got a secret.    Don't tell anyone.  I'm not ready to sign up for Survivor or anything, but I had a wonderful time.  Thanks for organizing the trip Heidi!