Devil's Lake State Park

We wasted no time after everyone left our house following Christian's birthday party, because we had lots of packing to do for another long camping weekend. We have had reservations at Devil's Lake State Park for almost a year. This was the first weekend that we were able to reserve 2 sites next to each other. Who knew a state park could be so busy!!! We left Thursday afternoon and arrived around dinner time. Its a good thing we left earlier because it took us a bit longer than expected ( our truck had a hard time pulling our camper for a long distance, we missed our turn, thought we had a flat tire, our wee one had to go potty...etc.) 

Once we arrived, I realized the reason that so many people visit the park each year...it is amazingly beautiful! The first day that we were there was the hottest it was all weekend. Even though it was not warm enough for swimming, there was plenty of exploring to do...

Grandma and Grandpa took the kids each day to climb the rocks and hike the lower trails while Bryan, Lindsey, and I hiked the bluffs.  I definitely had a work out each day and my legs were quite sore by the end of the weekend.

Playing Army Men! 

On Saturday, we hike the length of the lake so that we could see Standing Rock...

The park had many different activities going on throughout the weekend including butterfly catching!  What I wasn't aware of was the Dances with Dirt Run that was going on Saturday morning. Had I known, I definitely would have participated in at least a 5K.

Seeing my babies on these big rocks makes me glad that my inlaw's took the kids hiking because I think my stomach would have been in knots with me saying a lot of, "Don't go that high," "Please come down!"

And what is a fun camping weekend without one of us getting sick! Ha. Bryleigh started acting sick right when we arrived on Thursday. She was tired, had a fever,  and complained of a sore throat.  The last time Bryleigh became ill so quickly, she had strep throat so I had a nagging feeling that this was the same situation. Rather than waiting until Monday, we decided to take her in to urgent care on Friday morning.  As sure as the doctor was that it was just a virus, he was wrong...mother's intuition was right... it was strep throat.  After a short wait and a trip to the vending machine for antibiotics (Yes, you read that correctly...it was a medicine vending machine! How cool is that?!?), we were headed back to the park to enjoy the weekend. Thankfully, Bryleigh was feeling much better by Friday evening! 

Our weekend was a bit rainy and muggy, but that didn't stop us from having a fun time!

I can't wait to go back next year hopefully!