October Camping at Bull Run

There is absolutely nothing more invigorating than camping and hiking in the fall. It's cool and crisp, especially in the bath house.

I highly recommend cabin camping for the spoiled rotten--which we are. Heating and air conditioning make us wimps, but that doesn't detract from the splendor of autumn and the joy of family.

Ironically, the first thing the girls did was their homework! I guess the cabin bedroom somehow motivated them. Maybe we should go there more often, eh?

Check out the old man tree and the caterpillar!

Not all the members of our party appreciated have pictures taken. The exception was my cute nephew. He loves the camera, and it loves him. I might suggest to his mom that she put him in modeling.

Guess who read the blogs?

Wow. I have neglected this blog. I suddenly remembered it because lo and behold, I found Erika reading my blogs. She was laughing at the "quotes from the kids" section and said she wanted to add some quotes to it.

When I asked her how she found my blog, she said she went there from my website home page which happens to be the home page on her computer. I am going to have to tell her which parts are appropriate to read.

Initially, I told her not to read anything else besides the kids quotes because other parts of the blog have adult content. For sure, now, she will read it more. I know I would if my mother told me something like that. In fact, I would be looking for every bad word on that blog. But I never would have had the opportunity. My mother didn't have the Internet and never used bad language.

I'm not too bad, in general, and I hardly ever cuss in front of the kids. When I do, the most they hear from me is "crap" or very rarely, "shit." I've learned to edit myself. I want the kids to grow up with a better vocabulary than that. And I certainly don't want them blurting stuff like that out any old place!

It's hard to explain to kids that putting nasty things into fiction, poetry and even some blog postings isn't the same as saying nasty things or writing nasty things to people. There's a fine line that even adults trip over a lot. I am sure as the kids get older and study literature, they will understand this concept more, however. They already understand that when they hear bad language in movies, they shouldn't emulate it, and they don't. But it would be different reading something that Ma wrote, something that has bad language. At least, I guess it would be different. Like I said, my mother never would have given me the opportunity to read such things, even if she HAD the Internet.

So, I added a couple of things to the "quotes" section and will add more later. The quotes are a safe bet. And in general, this blog is appropriate for the kids. I would rate this blog "G." The other one? I don't know. Probably PG16. But maybe I'm a prude.

Anyway, above is a lovely pic of the new splash park, Atlantis, at Bull Run Regional. We went there a few times this summer. We also camped in a cabin for Alexandra's birthday. We'll be going back to a cabin with my sis-in-law and her son in a few weeks. Bull Run is a great park!