rock collecting anyone?

so the family went camping this fine memorial day weekend at highbanks campground. as you can see clay had a grand ole time rock collecting. we brought home quite the collection! now this camping talk brings me to a few things...

FIRST- to get there we drive through leon and conewango... aka the amish towns. i just so happen to be incredibly curious about the amish and their way of life. i only knows bits and pieces about the amish... i want to know more!!! i know they do not use electricity (which baffles me!) but do they use natural gas? how do they wash their clothes or take a bath? do they have to light a fire to heat up water for such things? how do their stoves/ovens work? fire? can they use propane or some kind of gas for heat? i also have heard that they have a year or two at one point in their life where they leave and experience life outside their culture... where do they go? do they pack up, head off to the city and bar hop in skin tight clothes for a year and then decide to go back to amish life? how does this work??? does anyone know anything about the amish? i'm seriously amazed by them and want to know more!

these little peanuts (who by the way are NOT amish) are from left to right... carter (mine-20 months), grace (my niece-14 months) and annabelle (missy and boogs- 13 months)
they were quite the crew this weekend... just think what they will be like in 5 years! :)

SECOND- i have to say that the campground we stay at is so fabulous... it's great for kids and adults. there is a little store the kids can buy candy, smoke bombs, smores materials, and slushies. there is a great playground and a fabulous pool area that has a pool, kiddie pool, and spa. the campground is perfect for kids to bike ride, and there are little bike jumps all over the place (which we know my clayton took advantage of every single jump that he saw!) we stay in the cabins... 2 bedrooms, 4 beds, sink, stove/oven, fridge, a picnic table, and a really nice covered porch. now i'm certainly not trying to sell people on this place, i just had such a great weekend and i like to throw out suggestions when i can. if you're a boater or fisherman... this is THE place! the water is beautiful and you don't have to worry about catching e coli like you do in lake erie! by the way, carter LOVED the boat... i knew he would like it, but he LOVED it!

this picture is carter and grace... aka frick and frack... aka bonnie and clyde... aka trouble and bigger trouble! they are so much like brother and sister! they beat on each other daily... but i know that they will ALWAYS have each others backs!

there was a pretty good group of us camping this weekend... gerry, clay, carter and i, christiane, dave and grace, hollie, steve, seth and garrett, jen and heffay and madeja, boogs, missy, brendan and annabelle... this was our immediate group. in addition we also had our friends greg, meg, nick and julia, dave and nicky, and a few of their family members as well. there is nothing like camp fires, moon pies (ya know, the sandwiches you make in the sandwich maker in the fire... some people call them hobo pies i think), cold beverages, and lots of laughs. good gravy were there laughs!

annabelle and carter (no we did not match their outfits purposely!) who knew this wagon would be so flippin popular? between grace, annabelle and carter, i think there was a little on in that wagon at ALL times this weekend! :)

i will not bore you with any more camping details... i just really enjoyed my weekend... thank goodness the weather held up!

oh yeah, i really should have tried a little sunscreenhuh? DUH!

my mission for this week? i need to get a purse done for gerry's aunt, 2 bags made for a co- worker, and various teacher gifts for clay's school. he's not exactly a dream to have in class and since he is looping with the same teacher next year, i think i need to hook them up with something nice! any suggestions???