Motor Homes and Canoes (the canoe part)

After the trip to the water park, and two days at the beach, we headed home.  It was time to trade in the mode of transportation!

For the past three years, we have gathered the camping gear and the canoes and headed for Kinzua Reservoir.  It is one the Heathens favorite places.  Every year, we load the canoes with all the gear and paddle to a "boat only" camp ground.  It is so peaceful and quiet and we simply turn the Heathens loose into the woods and water.

We had a new member of the paddling team this year:

We took the Travelocity Gnome with us.  He was a huge hit with everyone we saw.  We had wanted to take him to Assateague with us, but he didn't arrive in time.  The Gnome spent the trip as a hood ornament on Heathen #1's kayak.

Since we were able to spend an extra day on the lake, we took a day trip with the Heathens and paddled across the state line and into New York.  We went to the Onoville Marina for ice cream (it's only 5 miles each way...)  Onoville does have a really cool feature - they have a bald eagle that makes it's nest at the marina every year.  We saw it flying, but never low enough to get a picture.  The nest area was posted around on the shore side, and there were buoys around the water side.

This year, we had a really cool neighbor named Mike.  Mike built his own house boat and lives at the lake for weeks at a time.  He goes home for breakfast and supper, and his wife comes out for the night about once a week and gathers up his dirty clothes.  He was quite a hoot!  In this photo, Mike is showing the Asst. Zookeeper his $7 map of the lake that was supposed to show him the good fishing spots.

The Heathens are already making plans for what they want to do at the lake next year.  I can't wait to see what they come up with!

Motor Homes and Canoes (the motor home part)

We made it home from vacation just over a week ago - and that week was the whirlwind of getting ready for school to start.  But many of you have asked about the trips that we took and looked at the photos.  Time to share the stories:

Water Country USA
We left on a Friday afternoon around 3pm and took "Rover" (our motor home) to Williamsburg, VA were we found a WalMart to park at for the night.  You must try it, we found the perfect WalMart.  We were one of approximately 30 campers in the back corner of the lot.  We were about 50 yards from an IHOP (where we ate breakfast) and in the same parking lot with a Starbuck's.

We finished the drive to Water Country USA.  Upon arrival, the Heathens changed into swim trunks and we smeared everyone with sun screen.  Since we are not a family that tends to burn on average, I had purchased a bottle of sunscreen to take to the park.  And since the activity was "water park," I purchased water-proof sunscreen.

The Heathens and the Asst. Zookeeper looked like I had coated them with plastic.  The sunscreen was terrible.  It was really sticky.  And then further into the day, it started to FLAKE.  But no one got burned!

The boys had a really great time.  And so did the Asst. Zookeeper.  :)

After leaving the water park, we headed further south in Virginia so that we could cross the bay into Eastern Virginia.  The Heathens thought the bridges that changed to tunnels were really cool.  On our way, we found this lady:

Make sure to read the license plate.  And I can answer the questions you have running through your minds:

1.  Yes, we passed her.

2.  Of course we looked.

3.  And YES, she was.

Assateague Island

Despite the enjoyable traffic, we made it to Assateague Island without trouble.  The Heathens have a mixed beach history.  Heathen #1 was at the beach last at age 5, loved it and remembers it clearly.  Heathen #2 was at the beach at age 1, loved it and has vague memories.  Heathen #3 had never been.

The boys loved camping on the island with the wild horses.  We saw quite a few.  The Heathens also read the handout about not getting too close because the horses can bite - and spent the rest of the time pointing out the "stupid" people and wanting to wait to see if they were bitten!

For those of you never lucky enough to meet Rover in person, here he is!  The Heathens just love him and already plotting trips for next summer.  We even have the vintage owl lights that my father-in-law unearthed from his basement!