June 12, 2022-Collide Week at Degray Lake

(click for today's pictures) 

Well, since we were leaving on a trip today, Robby was the one up and going early. He hooked the car to the camper and began mowing while I was still sleeping. I had set my alarm for PM so I was still sleeping when Keaton came into our room and asked when they needed to get up for their showers.

That did get me moving pretty quickly for sure. Thankfully, it was still early, and I had about an hour before we needed to go. In that hours time, I was able to folds two loads of clothes, make sure Whitman and Keaton had their showers, take my shower and wash my hair, make the kids' beds, and do some last minute packing. 

I was moving pretty quickly, but we were still just about 2 minutes late for church. That was fine though because our seats were still there. After church we headed home. The first thing we did was heat up our leftovers from last night. We finished those babies off-I guess our meals were pretty decent sized if we were able to eat from them twice.

Then there was lots of scurrying around to meet the Hobbs. We were late to that as well, but that was fine. Owen and Rylee came with us, but before we left, Robby did run into Walmart to pick up a few things-including some sun glasses, which he has already lost and found!

It took us no time at all to make it to Lake Degray. We had to dump when we arrived and unhook the car. Then we drove on over to our spot. We have always stayed in the same loop except this time, we are in a different loop. 

We thought we were in one of the spots that we really wanted, however, we don't think that we are. We now think that Robby had some numbers in mind but when it was time to book, those were all gone, so he just got what he could over here.

Our site is great-it is huge and flat and plenty of room for the kids to run around. However, we had hoped that we would be on the water-not really to get to it, but just to be able to see it. The kids wouldn't care anything about this, but we would have thought it was pretty.

Also, I know the heat index is well over 100 today, so it was HOT. When we were on a little walk this afternoon, when we did get near the water we could feel the breeze blowing. There is no breeze here-I think we are in a little valley near the lake, and it is just hot and stuffier. 

However, by 6:30 the weather did cool off and become bearable. When we arrived, we went right to work on getting things out. Robby always says that to truly camp and pull everything out, you need 3 nights to make it worth while. 

Usually, when we do pull everything out, we have some bigger kids with us. You kind of forget how much work the big boys do! We eventually got everything set up, but we didn't move too fast because we didn't want to get too sweaty. This was impossible-Robby's shirt was eventually drenched in sweat.

Last year we camped at Lake Degray during Collide, but it rained every single day. This year they are calling for no rain so we do have it all out. The kids are loving it-we have out all of the hammocks and the baggo plus bikes.

This afternoon was spent riding bikes, playing baggo, swinging in the hammocks and even having playdoh design competitions. When it was finally time for supper, Robby grilled up some hamburgers and hot dogs. Those along with fries made a perfect meal for us.

Then it wasn't too long before we headed to the lodge to meet a ranger. There we went on a night time hike. We were the only ones on the hike-Robby, Traci, me and 8 kids-most people would probably not want to go on a hike with us either! 

The hike was really cool-there were thousands of lightening bugs. It was super impressive for sure. They weren't all blinking together like at the Smokys but they were twinkling making it look like an enchanted forest. The moon was shining so brightly that we probably didn't even need flashlights at some times.

The ranger talked about lightening bugs, found a millipede for us to look at, showed us the different color of animals eyes when a light hits them, and even had a raccoon game to play (feeling things behind our back to guess what it was). It was really good, and I think that most of the kids enjoyed it. 

By the time that we got back it was 10. So I took all of the girls (5) to the bathhouse to run them through the showers super quickly. Whitman had a shower in the camper and neglected to tell us that the water was cold (we had forgotten to turn the water heaters on.)

The boys had popsicles and even cut open some glow sticks which must have shot all across the camper. When we turned off the lights, we saw specks of the glow stick juice shining all over this camper. The boys loved it-Robby, not so much!

It is 11:30, and I am planning on taking my shower next and possibly reading a bit of my book before I go to bed. 

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