We went away with our church for a mini getaway the other weekend. It couldn’t have come at a better time when we really needed the fellowship with friends, and members of our church. We packed up the car and headed up to Manning Park. I got to drive the two and a half hour trip there. Evie did great, she had her snacks and milk, and of course her “in flight movie”. We didn’t get up there til late in the evening, but that was okay as we were told we couldn’t check in until after 5.
It was really nice to arrive to so many smiling faces, and many hugs. It was bed time though for Evie, past her bedtime actually. We got settled into our room, I claimed the top bunk, and we got the pack-n-play all set up. She fell asleep right away but decided it was party time from midnight to 3:30am. Always hard when in a new place. At least for a little bit of time before we came to bed we got to enjoy a camp fire outside, and cups of hot chocolate. Soon enough it was bed time for everyone.
We got to enjoy one full day there, and we crammed as much in as we possibly could. Many went off for hikes around the area. We decided to go to the pool at the resort across the street. Evie had been asking again to get to go swimming so this worked out great. The pool was a bit cold, but the hot tub was the perfect temperature to keep us all warm. I wasn’t feeling that great after though, so Jason offered to take Evie for a walk so that I could relax. I ended up having a nap at the same time as Evie after lunch.
Oh my… I think this trip was a huge help in getting Evie to eat. Seeing her friend’s that are close to her age, 2 boys, (they are all months apart) and how they eat and pack away the food I think lit a fire in her to also eat more. She was not a picky eater during this trip! My favorite moment was her eating two slices of water melon and still asking for more.
In the evening we got Evie to bed early after dinner because she was so tired. We had another camp fire where we got to enjoy more snacks and some singing. There is just something so incredible about sitting around the camp fire and getting to see all the stars in the sky. God’s creation really is incredible.
On Sunday morning we had our church meeting. None of our kiddos wanted to sit, so we took them upstairs in the cabin to one of the rooms and pulled out the toys we had brought so they could play. We also kept them happy with snacks. This was a great trip for all our kids to get to play together. There were 3 toddlers, one preschool, and a new born. Our church is tiny, but we have a great group of kids.
We had to hit the road early, while many of the others stayed for lunch, we packed up and headed back home to meet my family. We had plans to go to the pumpkin patch. Honestly, we wish the trip could have been longer with two full days up there.
This little bit of time away was exactly what we needed to recharge after a rough week. We had gone back and forth with whether or not we were going to go. It amazes me how God really does know everything because He knew what we would be going through, and He knew we would need this time with everyone from our church to help us heal. We loved it up there so much too that we really want to go back to Manning Park some time and go camping or stay at the resort. (Have any of you camped or stayed up here… suggestions?) We are also really hoping that our church will do a weekend away like this again next year. There is rumors of a guy’s weekend away, which Jason is really hoping happens too.
Bocce was very popular a lot of us played it, and even the little ones got in on trying to play.
Our trio of toddlers. I love that we have kiddos so close in age.
Chowing down on watermelon and much more food. I couldn’t believe how much she ate.
Party animal not wanting to sleep.
There was this old, abandoned cabin next door and many of us went over to take photo by it.
Got a few cute photo of Evie. I want to frame one of them.
