The Great Vacation Pt II: Lincoln State Park

I know Pt I of our vacation was very detailed so if that's your expectation for Pt II, throw it out immediately. Lincoln State Park is the kind of place where you can really unplug and relax so the days kind of ran together. I only had phone service like twice, everybody did whatever they wanted, we ate when we got hungry, we snacked the rest of the time, it's the kind of summer experience everyone dreams of. So I'll try to cover everything I remember!

Hiking is something that happens at LSP and for us Watkins (yes, that includes you Susi!), that means hiking to the fire tower at night with glow sticks. There was also swimming and volley ball and bike races and late night games and we even had a movie night or two. On the last day when everyone had done everything on their to do lists, I put together a scavenger hunt which went over very well! I'm making notes for next year's. ;)

To be honest, I didn't participate in lots of these activities. I did hike to the fire tower in the dark and I did play lots of games, but other than that, I spent a lot of time in our cabin reading. That's what happens when you bring a favorite book on vacation!

We did visit Lincoln's boyhood home though! That was quite fun, but history is always a highlight for me. ;) It had beed several years since I was there last so it was nice to go back. We were able to tour (aka, walk inside and turn around) a cabin that was built to resemble where Abe would have lived and walked around the property to see chickens and cows and crops and flowers. I enjoyed it quite a lot... which is probably a homeschooler thing...

We actually got to spend time with my parents-in-law too. Alone time with them is rare... like seeing-a-unicorn rare. They went with us to see the boyhood home and we tripped to the store once or twice together. It was lovely to have them to ourselves for a bit!

When it comes to taking the annual LSP family picture, it's always an interesting experience. This year we had almost all the Watkins there (minus the Chicago people) and it was raining the day we took the picture so we all had to cram together inside to fit. I promise you, this picture was the best one of the four I have on my camera and Kurt still looks funny. See? Interesting.

Well there you have it! Two weeks later I was more than ready to get home to my kitty and my bed. But in those two weeks, we definitely made some wonderful memories and I think we can officially tag Summer 2015 as the best summer yet.