{"id":1215,"date":"2014-06-23T02:13:34","date_gmt":"2014-06-23T02:13:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.devonshanorphotography.com\/?p=1215"},"modified":"2014-06-23T02:13:34","modified_gmt":"2014-06-23T02:13:34","slug":"carving-out-family-time-camping-personal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/blog\/carving-out-family-time-camping-personal\/","title":{"rendered":"Carving out Family time: Camping  | Personal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Every year my family takes a camping trip the week school lets out. \u00a0It&#8217;s a &#8220;Welcome to Summer&#8221; \u00a0&#8220;School&#8217;s out&#8221; \u00a0&#8220;Time to de-stress&#8221; \u00a0&#8220;Let&#8217;s reconnect&#8221; time that we look forward to all year! \u00a0We&#8217;ve been doing this for years, and I think we&#8217;ve found our favorite place in Pennsylvania: \u00a0The River&#8217;s Edge in Connellsville. \u00a0It has lots to do right on the campground (pool, fishing, bike riding, kayaking and tubing) but the mountains with waterfalls, hiking tails and natural waterslides are just miles away. \u00a0This year was our second time at this camp ground, but I think it&#8217;ll be &#8220;our&#8221; place from now on.<\/p>\n<p>I have so been looking forward to our trip. \u00a0With Brett finishing school, Olivia becoming a teenager, Logan finishing middle school, Messay growing up and becoming less and less my &#8220;baby&#8221;, and me working nonstop&#8230; we&#8217;ve needed this time to reconnect! \u00a0We were all a bit stressed and disconnected. \u00a0We NEEDED time to laugh with eachother, away from the TV, the computer, the e-mails and phones. \u00a0Sadly, Brett couldn&#8217;t join us for the whole trip- he still has the state boards to pass and a week of vacation just wasn&#8217;t possible. \u00a0So\u00a0my mom and my two nieces joined us and I also allowed Logan and Messay to bring a mutual friend, Nico. \u00a0(He was such a great addition to our group!!!)<\/p>\n<p>Yes, you counted right, that&#8217;s six kids and 2 adults (three when Brett arrived) which to some may sounds like a nightmare and not a vacation! But to me it was fun chaos&#8230; the three girls and three boys split well when some wanted to fish and others wanted to go swimming. \u00a0Sometimes three is a bad number&#8230; but for this group they did a pretty good\u00a0job of getting along (six kids of course means there was occasional whining and fighting, but hey, I have learned to tune it out!)<\/p>\n<p>As busy working parents, it so important to take time out to enjoy your family. \u00a0Yes, I know the tasks seem never ending (my e-mail currently has over 100 messages unread!) and you feel you CAN&#8217;T take a break. \u00a0But I have learned, if you put it on hold- yes, it means the week you get back might be a bit more hectic than normal, but it WILL GET DONE and your business won&#8217;t implode without you working it for a week! \u00a0Take your calendar and pencil in REAL family time!!<\/p>\n<p>Be prepared, you WILL feel stressed before you go&#8230; trying to get it all done. \u00a0Cleaning the house, packing everything, doing your checklists, preparing your businesses or jobs to work without y four a week&#8230; it&#8217;ll feel stressful and choatic! \u00a0But just remember you will also be creating memories that will last FOREVER! \u00a0We have some awesome &#8220;inside jokes&#8221; from our past few years of camping, that always make us crack up when we recall them around the campfire! \u00a0Memories that would never have come from the family time we carve out in between work, school, wrestling and soccer practice, dinner and environmental club! \u00a0We needed sole family time devoted just to having fun.<\/p>\n<p>I hope you have planned some time this summer to do just that! \u00a0Go camping, go stay a weekend at an inexpensive hotel with a pool, go visit family&#8230; schedule some time to do something DIFFERENT! \u00a0Honestly, your kids won&#8217;t care if it isn&#8217;t &#8220;5 star&#8221; or expensive, they&#8217;ll just care if you&#8217;re involved and present! \u00a0 Put away the phones, computers, televisions and e-mails.<\/p>\n<p>I LOVE that we had horrible reception at our campsite&#8230;. it meant even if I wanted to check my messages or e-mail, I couldn&#8217;t! \u00a0I had no choice! \u00a0Instead, I swam more, fished more, hiked more and spent MORE time with my awesome family creating memories. \u00a0Memories that hopefully will be carved into my kids brains, so that as adults, they remember them over the stressed out mom in front of the computer, yelling at them to do homework or clean their rooms!<\/p>\n<p>Here are some of my images from my trip&#8230; taken with my cheap Canon point and shoot camera. \u00a0Yep, I told you I left work at home&#8230; which means my big cameras stayed home too. \u00a0So yeah, some of the pictures aren&#8217;t that great. \u00a0I decided NOT to be a photographer on this trip.. to just be mom! \u00a0\ud83d\ude42 \u00a0 So enjoy some of my memories of our trip&#8230; and then let me know what YOU are going to do this summer to plan some &#8220;reconnection time?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><em>Nico and Logan put up our tents all by themselves! They did get frustrated at times and tried to quit, but they finally did it ALL BY THEMSELVES!!!<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_121.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"happy_121\" src=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_121.jpg\" width=\"800\" height=\"605\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Visiting &#8220;Cucumber Falls&#8221; and the natural waterslides. \u00a0This was a favorite&#8230; we went back three times! \u00a0\ud83d\ude42\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_095.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"happy_095\" src=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_095.jpg\" width=\"800\" height=\"568\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_096.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"happy_096\" src=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_096.jpg\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_097.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"happy_097\" src=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_097.jpg\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_098.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"happy_098\" src=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_098-494x1024.jpg\" width=\"494\" height=\"1024\" \/><\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_099.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"happy_099\" src=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_099.jpg\" width=\"800\" height=\"770\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>I can&#8217;t believe we didn&#8217;t take more pictures of these AH-MAY-ZING fried pickles we found in this random town called &#8220;Normalville&#8221; that was on our way to the falls. \u00a0We got 4-5 orders everytime we stopped&#8230; I think it ended up being around 18 orders!!! \u00a0We got them a few times last year and they became a &#8220;I can&#8217;t wait to find that little place again with the fried pickles!&#8221; \u00a0YUMMMM!!!! \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_100.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"happy_100\" src=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_100.jpg\" width=\"800\" height=\"605\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>While the girls swam, the boys went on a peddle cart ride. \u00a0These little bikes could MOVE! \u00a0We road on the Youghiogheny River Bike Trail for awhile (I road my bike) that runs right through our camp site.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_101.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"happy_101\" src=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_101.jpg\" width=\"800\" height=\"568\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Dive in Night!!!! \u00a0We love that there is a drive in right by the campground and we had such a great time this year seeing &#8220;How to Train Your Dragon 2&#8221; on the big screen. \u00a0And to make SURE we didn&#8217;t forget this evening, my car battery decided to die and we had to get it jumped by the attendants!! \u00a0Oh, the memories! \u00a0\ud83d\ude42\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_102.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"happy_102\" src=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_102.jpg\" width=\"800\" height=\"702\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Another favorite is the zipline course. \u00a0I did it last year, but this year decided to take pictures instead! \u00a0My kids are so fearless! \ud83d\ude42\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_103.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"happy_103\" src=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_103.jpg\" width=\"800\" height=\"702\" \/><\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_104.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"happy_104\" src=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_104.jpg\" width=\"800\" height=\"832\" \/><\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_105.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"happy_105\" src=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_105-682x1024.jpg\" width=\"682\" height=\"1024\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>After all that hiking and ziplining, the kids enjoyed sifting for arrowheads and gems. \u00a0What great finds! \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\" href=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_106.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"happy_106\" src=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_106.jpg\" width=\"800\" height=\"568\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_107.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"happy_107\" src=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_107.jpg\" width=\"800\" height=\"447\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>More of the Youghiogheny River! \u00a0Someday maybe we will white water raft it!!\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_108.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"happy_108\" src=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_108.jpg\" width=\"800\" height=\"650\" \/><\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_109.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"happy_109\" src=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_109.jpg\" width=\"800\" height=\"577\" \/><\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_110.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"happy_110\" src=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_110-682x1024.jpg\" width=\"682\" height=\"1024\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>The natural waterfalls were a blast! \u00a0No man made waterfall here, this is God&#8217;s playground! \u00a0We let Logan go down the BIG one, but after he almost went over a waterfall, I nixed that idea! \u00a0(Hey, at least I had him wear a helmet!!) \u00a0They had so much fun in the river, jumping off the rocks and sliding down the\u00a0mini waterfalls. I thought after seeing a snake enjoy the waterfall with them, the kids would run screaming from the water, but they just let him pass and went back to playing!! \u00a0(They are braver than me!)\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_111.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"happy_111\" src=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_111.jpg\" width=\"800\" height=\"608\" \/><\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_112.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"happy_112\" src=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_112-682x1024.jpg\" width=\"682\" height=\"1024\" \/><\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_113.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"happy_113\" src=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_113.jpg\" width=\"800\" height=\"568\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Back to Cucumber Falls to show it to Dad!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_114.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"happy_114\" src=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_114.jpg\" width=\"800\" height=\"913\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_122.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"happy_122\" src=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_122-772x1024.jpg\" width=\"772\" height=\"1024\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_114.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"happy_119\" src=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_119.jpg\" width=\"800\" height=\"358\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_115.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"happy_115\" src=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_115.jpg\" width=\"800\" height=\"390\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Most nights I left the camera in the tent, but on our last night, we got some campfire pictures!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\" href=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_116.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"happy_116\" src=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_116.jpg\" width=\"800\" height=\"785\" \/><\/a><span style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\">\u00a0<\/span><a style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\" href=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_117.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"happy_117\" src=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_117-726x1024.jpg\" width=\"726\" height=\"1024\" \/><\/a><span style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\">\u00a0<\/span><a style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\" href=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_118.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"happy_118\" src=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_118.jpg\" width=\"800\" height=\"390\" \/><\/a><span style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\">\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><a style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\" href=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_120.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"happy_120\" src=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_120.jpg\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Brett and I celebrated 14 years of marriage this week. \u00a0We are going to go out sometimes this week to truly celebrate, but I LOVED the roses he brought me! \u00a0Even after all the heat and two thunderstorms, they still looked and smelled amazing. \u00a0Love you honey. \u00a0These pictures of our family remind me why we work so hard&#8230; at life and in our marriage. \u00a0It is so worth it to continue to make these memories with you. \u00a0I love our life and I love that I get to spend it with you! \ud83d\ude42\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_123.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"happy_123\" src=\"http:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/happy_123-682x1024.jpg\" width=\"682\" height=\"1024\" \/><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every year my family takes a camping trip the week school lets out. \u00a0It&#8217;s a &#8220;Welcome to Summer&#8221; \u00a0&#8220;School&#8217;s out&#8221; \u00a0&#8220;Time to de-stress&#8221; \u00a0&#8220;Let&#8217;s reconnect&#8221; time that we look forward to all year! \u00a0We&#8217;ve been doing this for years, and I think we&#8217;ve found our favorite place in Pennsylvania: \u00a0The River&#8217;s Edge in Connellsville. \u00a0It [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-personal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1215"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1217,"href":"https:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1215\/revisions\/1217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devonshanorphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}