June 25-27, 2010
Ionia State Park

The more we progressed into the summer, we were starting to lose hope of camping with the Peters's until fall. However, when we returned from camping last weekend, Paul said to me that he really would like to go again the next weekend. We just seem to be having a really hard time staying home this year, we are having so much fun. After having decided that we would probably head out again, and a quick chat on facebook it was a pleasant surprise to find out that we could actually sneak in a quick weekend with the Peters. Then the search for a campsite began. Fortunately, we were able to get 2 sites across the street from each other at Ionia State Park. The weather forecast was questionable for rain 40-60% chance of rain and thunderstorms all weekend, but in the words of Kevin Peters "when has the weather ever stopped us?"
We are so glad that we didn't let the weather forecast scare us away - it was a beautiful weekend, warm and sunny. We didn't have any rain until Sunday morning after we were already awake. It stopped and dried up a little while we packed up, rained a bit on the drive home, and then conveniently stopped in time for our unpacking.

Lightsaber wielding witches - you've heard of them before right?

We took a short drive to the other end of Ionia State Recreation Area to check out the oldest standing cobblestone schoolhouse in Michigan. Lyn read the information they had posted and shared it with us - so I hope I am getting this right. My understanding is that the man who built the schoolhouse was from the east side of the country. He didn't understand that cobblestone was not the appropriate choice for building in Michigan due to the freeze/thaw conditions we experience.

Because the cobblestone didn't hold up as expected, the school was later moved across the street to this brick building which is now owned by the Ionia County Sheriff. The short hill directly behind this building is covered in tires - which we are assuming is for target practice.

The big hit of the weekend was 2 trips down to the lake. One Friday night and one on Saturday. The water was wonderful and the kids had a great time playing in the water together.

Nicholas - still hestitant on learning to swim got brave enough to let Uncle Kevin throw him with his tube on. Saturday afternoon, Nicholas put his tube away and headed out with just his "water wings". He made it all the way out to the swim buoys by himself and was so proud. I predict he will be swimming by the end of the summer, if not sooner.

Gabrielle, on the other hand, became a full fledged water rat last year - teaching herself how to swim underwater in our small pool in the backyard. She started off with water wings and a swim ring for Uncle Kevin's wonderful launches into the air. But by the end of the weekend, she was free of all floatation devices and only armed with a pair of goggles and a hand to plug her nose. She absolutely loved it and is swimming very well. Being thrown in the water by Uncle Kevin was her self-proclaimed favorite part of the weekend.

Sam decided to lay around in a shallow puddle of water and get filthy dirty.

Leaning tower of swim rings.

You should have heard all the giggles while the two girls gave themselves mud baths. They would cover each other with mud, run into the water to clean themselves off, and then return to their puddle to start the mud all over again.

Knowing how much Aunt Lyn loves horses, a trip to Ionia would not be complete without a walk through the Equestrian Campground. We saw several horses, but were blessed to come across this elementary teacher from Indiana who was more than eager to let the kids touch and talk to her horse.