Camping at Cove Lake

July 7th-8th
Olivia had been wanting to go tent camping since last year. We promised her that we would go this year since Luke would be older and potty trained. So off we went to Cove Lake State Park. Greg and his family used to come camping here during the summer when he was little. It is north of Knoxville. The park has a small campground and a great bike trail. I also like how it is just a few minutes from a little town so we can do Walmart runs for things forgotten.

The kids brought their Pillow Pets and a special toy. Olivia brought the baby doll she has had since she was 2. Nathan and Luke both brought their "Big Eyes" animals. We also bought the kids new crayons and markers to color in their coloring books.

 

Baby Doll

Camping tradition? Drinking Capri Suns and eating junk food like Poptarts for breakfast.

 We had a little field right behind our campsite. Perfect for the kids. They had a blast playing tag. It was so much fun to watch them catch fireflies when it got dark. I'll have to remember to bring some mason jars when we go camping again.

Big sister showing the boys a firefly.

Mr. Adventure was not one bit afraid to catch the fireflies. He even watched as the fireflies crawled on his arm after he caught them!

 Greg bought the kids new flashlights. Talk about cheap fun! The flashlights were a dollar and came with the batteries. I think Nathan was the most excited about the flashlights. He could not wait for it to be dark so he could use his flashlight.

As with every kind of "tool", Luke put it in his pants and pretended to be a "worker" and went to work.

 
 

Playing "Hide and Seek".

Greg brought 2 tents, but we all slept in the bigger tent.

 I love having three kids. Although sometimes it can get loud, it is such a blessing to see how well they play with each other. They are really such great friends. I hope and pray they will continue to be there for one another as they grow.

Making a train to wait for me to get the night-time things ready.

They were so funny in the camp shower. We used the handicap shower stall so I could bathe all three kids comfortably. Olivia could have taken a shower by herself, but I'm glad she didn't. Nathan and Luke squealed with excitement the whole time we were in the shower. It was hilarious!
The next day we woke up early and went bike riding. Olivia has forgotten how to ride her bike so we tried to help her remember. She is a trooper. It isn't coming back as easily as we thought. Olivia has been blessed with having most things come to her so easy. She was reading at four and a half. She understands math concepts the first time. She has a great memory. So she was ready to give up when the bike riding didn't come back to her. We had her practice when Mami Elia was here. There were tears. As there were tears today. There was even some blood as well. She kept on jumping off the bike when she got scared and really wanted to give up.  Olivia needs major encouragement it comes to things that don't come as easy to her.  So we kept on encouraging her and she's almost got it!
I am so proud of her.  She went from being discouraged, scared, and wanting to give up to being determined to ride that bike! Regrettably I don't have any pictures from our bike ride because the camera battery was out of juice.