first summer road trip of 2012

This summer has been so full already and it's only close to the end of May! I'm absolutely loving it though because taking advantage of great weather and opportunities to explore & spend time with people are some of my favorite things to do:)
This last week, Ellyn & I went camping with our friends Mary & Faith {a.k.a. Roz} for a few days in Southern Indiana. We chose a state park none of us had ever been to but when we got there, it was a beautiful little spot. We even got a campsite right on the lake which wasn't expected!
Campfires were the biggest struggle but we managed to eat pretty well none the less:) We even tried a new idea I had run across the day we left-- cooking cinnamon rolls in orange rinds over the fire. They turned out quite yummy:)
Spending a few days soaking up God's glorious creation, hiking, sunning, exploring Louisville {separate post to come}, and chatting together was beautiful. I did bring my Mac with me in case we needed to look up directions or things to do in Lville, but ended up never opening it once! I loved being disconnected-- and taking a break from work & technology in general was so refreshing! Now I'm excited to be back into editing and business stuff:)

School's out for many of my siblings & most of the kids/college students I know.... which means SUMMER.IS.HERE! What are your summer plans? I'd love to know:)

On our first day- we got to the camp ground in the early afternoon. After unloading & setting up the tent, we went & explored the park a bit. There was a bit of a rain threat so we started cooking dinner a bit early just to make sure it was done in time. Our first fire was pitiful and barely cooked those poor brats but we made it through. A random guy came around and said there was supposed to be a huge thunderstorm  {and the sky wasn't looking to pretty} so we cleaned up pretty quickly & then Faith whipped out her watermelon:) We decided that while waiting for the rain to come, we might as well spend our time outside the tent... playing cards & eating watermelon & then reading.  Well of course after rushing through the meal & clean-up, it never ended up raining! And I'm pretty sure that's a first because it has never failed to rain when the Gluntz's go camping!

our campsite was right by the water! 

 reading around our fire...er- smoke.

The next morning was beautiful and Mary captured the sunrise while I did battle with the fire. not much puts me in a mood but as the girls now know- fires that won't start sure do! if anyone has the secret, I'd love to know!

morning quiet times

Faith & I washing our faces from the spigot cause we didn't want to walk all the way to the bathrooms {the ones near us were closed so we had to walk quite a ways} hahaha

 Then we went on a 2 hour hike:)

 I spy a tiny little toad!

 THE smallest toad I have *ever* seen! and there were bunches of them!! all hopping around this little area!

 Ellyn, Faith & Mary

 crazy girls:) trying to steal the show from the awesome looking tree;) haha

 Deam Lake

2nd Morning. 3rd Fire. this one almost did me in. I even called Daddy-- & he confirmed I was doing everything right {Brent, if you're reading this, don't even start rubbing that one in!}... the fire just wouldn't start, dagummit! But Mary got it going just as I got off the phone with him {maybe she should have been the one to do it all along?!} and we had a good enough fire to bake cinnamon rolls in oranges!! yummy!

 then we had a little beach time before packing up & heading home. 

 wonderful few days with the girls:)

mind you, I'm bringing a personal fire builder/starter with me next time! haha