Fort Robinson State Park

We decided to go camping multiple times this summer to introduce the kids to a fun time! We chose a state park that was an army base in the late 1800's and early 1900's. It was pretty cool.

We decided to go on a Thursday night because they had a rodeo.

Jared and Carmen watched from the fence. Nadia desperately wanted to join them but this nervous Mom wouldn't let her. Eventually when Lilli went and joined them Nadia went as well.

It was a beautiful night.

Friday morning Eric had some business in town so he got up early and left so the kids and I hung around until he got back at lunchtime. We decided to take a walk to an area where only tents were allowed and found a creek and a lot of trees.

Here is the nice "bridge" for crossing.  Each of the kids got a turn to pose....

The kids asked if they could go wading...they underestimated how swift the water was and Carmen and Lilli promptly lost their shoes. Luckily they were able to retrieve them...(I may or may not have been laughing when I snapped this picture) By the time they got them back Nadia and Carmen were soaked.

On the other side of the creek was the original fort cemetery that had been recreated for our viewing pleasure. (we snapped a picture because Lillian LOVES cemeteries)

Well we made it through the first night in our tent (with only three trips to the outhouse between 10 and 10:15) The next day we decided to start taking a longer walk to the regular bathrooms... We even had showers....except that Lilli and Carmen's had a beetle in it and they were scared...(evil laugh)

Lillian had a lot of fun watching a robin hang out...

Here's the kids in their swimming suits (we let them go swimming in the creek) and our pile of stuff as we were getting ready to leave.

That's me...very proud of myself for sleeping on the ground for two nights....however I am currently shopping for something soft to sleep on!

The Nebraska Passport

We found out about a fun idea that the state is doing called "The Nebraska Passport." The idea is that you go around the state visiting some cool sites and while you are there you get a stamp on your passport. There are 60 potential stamps to obtain so this should keep us pretty busy this summer. The first weekend after school let out we took our first trip to collect some stamps. We visited a place called Ash Hollow State Park (that's where these pictures were taken) then we went on to Ogalalla to a restaurant that has a cool old west museum, complete with a jail, a barbershop, and a "funeral wagon" as the kids called it.(As well as really creepy mannequins!)