Camping at Coleman Lake

Coleman Lake

As many of y'all have probably caught on, I love traditions! I also enjoy adding new traditions to our already giant arsenal of regular scheduled family memory making opportunities. I love routine and order. I like knowing what's expected of me and how to plan and prepare for what's coming ahead ~ I think that's why I love traditions so much. 

Doing spur of the moment events can be really difficult with a large family. With traditions, I can plan months in advance (especially in regards to the financial aspects). Let's face it, some events just cost more because there are more people involved. It's not exactly easy making sure we have everything necessary for certain adventures, simply because the stores (even Amazon) don't always stock enough of any particular item for 11 people. 

We've tried various different forms of camping over the years. We've tried 'camping' in a borrowed motor home (back when we only had five little ones). Um, yeah that's a story for another day. We've tried camping in a pop-up camper (we made it through two nightmare trips and that baby was sold!). And we did the old fashion tent camping once, many moons ago. None of these camping trips were exactly 'fun'. They were filled with non-stop drama and complications. So we hung up our camping gear and quit trying.

Fast forward about 5 years, and I really wanted to try again to share my love of camping with my children. I grew up tent camping and have the absolute best memories of our family camping adventures. I get that camping isn't everyone's forte, but it is apart of me and something I enjoy doing. So, I began collecting upgraded camping gear for our large crew, with the intentions that we'd try tent camping again.

This is about the time I implemented our back to school backyard campout. I figured camping in our backyard was about as close as I was going to get to real camping (for the time being) and for those who didn't want to participate, they could sleep inside the house. Also this allowed me to slowly acquire new camping equipment which in turn would make future camping trips more enjoyable.

Camping in the summer in the south just isn't ideal so we have to wait until the fall and spring months. Last year I decided we were ready to embark on our first 'away from home' campout about an hour away at Coleman Lake nestled in the Talladega National Forest. Sadly, this camping trip was cut short due to an unexpected cold front that swept through the area. We did not have appropriate cold weather camping gear and with two little ones under the age of two I was worried they would freeze to death. At around midnight we broke camp and headed home to the comforts of our warm house. {{sigh}}

Now, one year later, I planned again for our Coleman Lake camping trip. This year I scheduled our trip one month earlier. Unfortunately, this year we are experiencing record breaking HIGH temperatures and instead of it being freezing cold it was extremely hot. {{ugh}} I just can't seem to win when it comes to planning camping trips! But, I am determined to keep trying and sharing my love of camping with my children. While the big kids are not a fan (YET), my youngest four love camping!! I'm going to take that as a mom win!!

The little ones love helping put up the tent. And I must say again that this CORE tent is amazing!! Super easy to set up and plenty big enough for our family. Worth every penny.

As is custom for our family adventures, drama is sure to ensue. We had a major injury within an hour of setting up camp. {{groan}} Our three year old took a terrible tumble down a hill and smacked his head on the hard concrete road. We thought we were going to have to leave to take him to get stitches, thankfully we didn't, but he was certainly down for the count for the rest of the evening. 

The 'family room' for our overnight camping escapade. 

Camping ~ campfire ~ weenie roast. Yep I'm predictable like that.

And of course s'mores!

Poor little guy. I think the sweet treat helped to pick his little spirits up even if it didn't help with the massive headache I'm sure he had. 

Since I'm not a pro at cooking over the fire, I invested in this single burner butane stove. Let me just tell y'all this little stove is a thousand times better than a propane camp stove! Unfortunately, I did forget our 'camp kitchen' bucket so we had to make do with cooking and cleanup. Thankfully my family is awesome at accepting challenges and rolling with the 'punches', lol.

Breakfast was nothing fancy. A yogurt squeeze and an egg scramble which included bacon bits, eggs, southern hash browns, and cheese. No one complained and everyone seemed to get full.

After breakfast we broke camp and headed out on a hike around the lake.

Nothing like hiking in the woods!

There was no shortage of opportunities to explore and enjoy nature.

Even though everyone in our family isn't exactly in love with the idea of being in the great outdoors, most of them do have a deep appreciation for God's creation.

I love being able to carry my babies hiking through nature. I will miss these days when they are gone. They will truly always be treasured memories that I hold close to my heart.

While I still haven't convinced the majority of my family to have the same passion for camping as I do, everyone was a good sport and tried their best. I wish we could go on multiple camping trips a year, but I don't want to push my limits. There's no sense in dragging my people to do more things they don't want to do than is absolutely necessary. 

I took plenty of notes while we were camping for items to purchase that will hopefully make next years camping trip even better. Yes folks, I am relentless, I'm not going to give up just yet on imparting my love of camping onto my kids. Even with all the challenges we faced, the memories we made were priceless. Lord willing my children will remember the highlights and one day realize how wonderful it is to experience the great outdoors through camping.

With Love & Hope,

Jennifer

Exploring the Clarkson Covered Bridge

Well, I told y'all in the last post that I was going to split our Friday the 13th 'family fun' into three separate posts, so today I'm sharing our adventures to the Clarkson Covered Bridge in Cullman, Alabama. 

The last time we went to the Steel Apple Orchard we had the lovely privilege of touring with a preschool class full of amazing mamas who graciously welcomed our family into their close-knit group. They so kindly invited our family to picnic with them at the Clarkson Covered Bridge (which I had never even heard of before). Since we had so much fun picnicking there during that little adventure, I knew we had to visit there again this year. We're big fans of picnicking and rarely eat out when we go on our little road trips. Feeding this crew via dining out could get quite expensive pretty fast; and to me, picnic food just tastes better in nature anyways.

There aren't any trails at the Clarkson Covered Bridge (that I know of), but there is plenty to explore; especially with the creek and large rocks blanketing the area.

I love when the children go searching through nature to see what they can find. One of my boys turned over a rock to discover this little frog. Another one is convinced he saw a snake head! {{YIKES!}}

During our last visit to the Clarkson Covered Bridge, there was plenty of water flowing, turning the giant water wheel. This year we are experiencing a major drought so the water wheel was not moving. My middle boys thought it was a prime opportunity to see if they could make the wheel move. And yes, y'all they could make the wheel move, lol!

So much to touch and feel and discover! Even though it was hot and I had cranky littles, we still had fun exploring the area. I was kind of sad to see that in the two years that have past since our last visit, the park seems to have been neglected. There was quite a bit of trash and debris littering the scenery. But, on a positive note, the bathrooms were maintained and in working order ~ a major bonus when you're in the middle of nowhere, have a bunch of littles, and are pregnant!

The last picture of my kiddos did not go as planned, especially since we had to wait for two other families to finish taking photos on the bridge. The little bitty ones were in dire need of a nap while the rest were just done taking pictures! One of these days I'll learn to take my "must-take" pictures at the start of our adventures and not at the end. (sigh)

I love this picture, even if we were being silly. My three little photo bombers in the background give y'all an idea of how long the bridge really is!

Here's a little clip showcasing the profile of the covered bridge. Quite amazing for something that was built in the early 1900s! Yes, it has been restored, but still, men originally built a similar bridge with very limited tools and resources in the exact same spot ~ I'm totally impressed!

We really didn't stay long at the Clarkson Covered Bridge, just long enough to eat and stretch our legs before we headed back home. I love traditions, and visiting the Steel Apple Orchard and Clarkson Covered Bridge is a perfect back to school tradition for our family (even if the drive is LONG). While the day didn't go exactly as planned and none of us really felt 100% well, it was absolutely worth the effort to stick to our plans and immerse ourselves in nature for a short time. Thankfully the drive home was relatively uneventful. We made it home with just an hour to spare before we kicked off our final family fun event on Friday the 13th of September; which I will share all about in my next post!

With Love & Hope,

Jennifer

Pepper Place Farmers Market

I am a huge fan of farmer's markets, craft shows, and agricultural festivals. If I had my druthers I would travel the country attending them and hiking all around the areas we visited. But, I also love having a place to call home; plus the idea of 11 people in a small home on wheels just doesn't sound appealing, lol. Even though we don't spend our days traveling full time, we do enjoy visiting many different farmer's markets, craft shows, and agricultural festivals within driving distance of where we live. This past week we visited Pepper Place Farmer's Market located in Birmingham, Alabama. 

Pepper Place Farmer's Market is nestled in an urban setting and TONS of people flock here to buy locally farmed produce and fun homemade wares. It's August in Alabama folks ~ the heat has been intense and the 100 degree day didn't seem to deter folks from coming out to enjoy the outdoor market.

Live music just seems fitting for an outdoor market. This couple were amazingly talented in their musical abilities, singing a wide range of music including several different instruments. We listened to them perform as we downed a few dozen fresh baked donut holes from a local bakery who had set up a booth peddling their amazing pastries. 

While Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks are great, sampling the brews of small-town mom and pop coffee shops is so much fun, especially when they are authentic to roasting and grinding their own coffee beans. The Red Cat Coffee House had a booth set up as well as a brick and mortar shop conveniently located along the route of the outdoor market. 

The flowers were in full bloom at Pepper Place this particular Saturday. I have never seen so many beautiful bouquets! Absolutely gorgeous flowers! And if I wasn't such a penny pincher, I would have loved to bring home a bunch of lovely flowers to decorate our dining room table. 

One of the most awesome things about visiting such venues, is the variety of creative and fun items made and sold by folks for all walks of life, including the furry little friends in our lives. These folks had set up a booth selling gourmet doggy treats that looked just as tasty as some of the human food showcased at the market. Even though we didn't purchase anything from this particular vender, I'm assuming from the long lines, that the cute pooches loved the delicacies their beloved owners were buying for them.  

While we really didn't buy anything during our adventure to the Pepper Place Farmers market, we did enjoy some fresh bake goodies and coffee which were all wonderful. Sometimes the adventure isn't really for buying things, but just for the fun of experiencing the local culture and enjoying family time. 

A huge reason I enjoy attending places such is this, is that they're full of family-run business whether it be from farming, baking, handmade items, or the like ~ it's products made or grown by good old fashion American hands. It's such a blessing to find such items not in a major chain store, which seems to have taken over our country. I truly wish we'd have a back-to-basic revolution in our purchasing power, but I know it's highly unlikely. And hey, even I'm forced to buy from the local box chains since we don't even have many family-run stores where we live. But, like many of you I'm sure you'd be more apt to buy from local farms and artisans if it was more readily available (and affordable). Until then, I suppose our family will do the best we can to live simply and support American made products and wares when we can.

If you're ever in the Birmingham, Alabama area I highly recommend a visit to the Pepper Place Farmer's Market. I can assure you, if you're a fan of homemade and homegrown products, you'll not be disappointed. 

With Love & Hope,

Jennifer

Adventures at Turkey Creek Nature Preserve

This week we had to take our three year old for his bimonthly craniopathic chiropractic adjustment. Since it's on the other side of the big city (typically over an hour away) I always try to plan an outing with the kiddos. We've explored much of the greater Birmingham, Alabama area in the realm of free nature explorations and even some that were not so free; so I've had to broaden our circle of travel destinations. It doesn't help that a huge chunk of downtown Birmingham is under major road reconstruction including massive detours, which means some major navigating finessing for this non-geographically inclined ol' girl, lol.

While searching for a new place to explore, I came across Turkey Creek Nature Preserve which is about 30 minutes outside of Birmingham via the interstate. Unfortunately, that part of the interstate is closed so to get there you have to travel highways and backroads, doubling how long it takes to reach the preserve. I had planned to go the last time we went to my sons appointment, but then realized (at his appointment) it was closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, argh. So I went ahead and scheduled his next appointment for a Wednesday so we could finally head out to explore Turkey Creek Nature Preserve despite it being further away than I would prefer.

Well, folks we finally made it to Turkey Creek Nature Preserve and it did not disappoint! It was a super neat, donation only, outdoor place to explore. There was some amazing watering holes to swim in and there were even folks tubing. We ended up hiking along the creek which to me was more of a river, but hey if they want to call it a creek so be it. The trail was not really maintained well, but I did see plenty of trails that appeared to be better maintained when we were driving through the preserve.

I was quite impressed with my children's ability to scramble over the rocky terrain. There was only a couple incidents where my kiddos slipped and fell. Which I found to be a miracle because the rocks along the creek were covered in slippery algae. Thankfully, they were all good sports and even disappointed when we had to turn around on the trail due to a fallen tree.

I prefer exploring nature spots that aren't so heavily populated; that was not the case with Turkey Creek Nature Preserve. There were people everywhere! We passed a good many folks on the trail as well as dozens swimming/tubing in the creek. It's not that I'm anti-people, but it takes a lot for my children to decompress and actually immerse themselves in God's creation. I love to see them truly become one with nature and be intentional with their time 'outside the box'.  I'm not saying they didn't enjoy themselves, but all the people around were definitely a distraction.

Several of my children were severely crushed that we didn't bring our swimsuits and floats. I must admit it would have been nice to cool off from the intense heat and humidity, but with the long drive I just didn't think it would be wise to add 'exploring the watering hole' to our itinerary. Perhaps I should have planned differently, but now we just have all the more reason to go back.

Part of the adventure for me is getting to take dozens of pictures ~ my kids typically know this is just part of the trip, but I didn't get too many pictures during this outing. Sadly, even one of my pictures was accidentally deleted, which happened to be the only one I captured of my 16 year old {{sigh}} Sometimes that's just the way things happen, unfortunately. I know life isn't about the pictures, but it helps me to remember those special little memories that mean so much to me. Much of life is hard and not so pretty so when we're in the beauty of God's creation I want to savor it for everything it's worth and my pictures help me do that in a long term fashion.

Yes men can (and do) wear babies 😍

Yes, we're the crazy parents who take eight children into the woods for an adventure, because you know 'every-day life' isn't adventure enough, lol!!

Hiking with children is not an easy feat especially when you've got a large family with lots of little ones, but I never regret the effort when we go exploring nature. I spent many years making excuses why not to go hiking, boy am I glad I quit making excuses. Hiking is one of my most loved past times as a child and while many of my children are not big fans of hiking, they usually admit to having a good time once I drag them out there.

Sometimes doing the not-so-easy thing doesn't reap massive rewards but the subtle ones do exist ~ even if you have to look a tad bit harder to see them. Besides, we all know a little change of scenery is good for regrouping and refocusing. Our midweek adventure certainly helped to break up our rough start back to homeschooling. I'm beyond grateful we had the much needed distraction and that the Lord brought us to visit Turkey Creek Nature Preserve. It was definitely worth the extra drive and energy to experience it with my family.

With Love & Hope,
Jennifer