Outdoor cooking is a major part of the camping experience.  I prefer to cook over an open fire as opposed to camp stoves and such.

Matthew prepares to light a fire.

Success!

Preparing the meal.

The cooking begins. 

Inspecting for doneness.

Contemplation on the preparation experience.  Perhaps we should have cooked burgers?

Nah, this will do.

And of course, no camp dinner is complete without the s’more.

The ingredients are assembled (graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate).

Roasting the perfect marshmallow.

Enjoying the fruit of much labor.

The rest of the evening was spent enjoying the warm fire in the cool, night air.

Every camping trip needs to have a hike (at least I think so).  This one was no exception.

The trail begins here.  It looks rather domesticated, but that changes quickly.

A little more brush and trees.

The forest was beautiful.

We spotted a large rock with an ammonite fossil.

The trail wound around a peninsula overlooking the lake.  Matthew poses for a picture.

This particular spot was about 100 feet above the lake on a rocky bluff.  We spotted some fishermen while exploring.

On the other side of the peninsula we saw what looked like some small, cave-like openings in the rock.  Of course they required investigation.

Matthew spelunked his way in.

Above the “caves” you can see the layering of the rocks.  It’s a great place for fossil hunting.

And that concluded our hike on this camping trip.  I love these reminders of the creative hand of the Lord.

Lake Texoma is the largest lake in Texas, shared by both Texas and Oklahoma.  The section we were at is noted for rocky bluffs, lots of limestone deposits, and deep, blue water.  Here are a few pictures.

While in the midst of exploring one morning, I happened upon some curious looking creatures.

This one is not as big as she looks in the picture.

There were several pockets of these clustered together.

Recently Matthew and I took off for Eisenhower State Park for a camping trip.  This park is located on Lake Texoma, which is part of the Red River, the northern border of the state of Texas.

One thing in particular that I like about these kinds of overnight trips is that once away from the city lights, the stars are bright and beautiful. 

Here’s what I saw early one morning.  Normally it is easy to spot the two constellations, Orion and Sirius, but with so many stars visible, they are a little harder to pick out.

A new recipe from Kathy’s Kakes.  It tastes as good as it looks.

At a recent trip to our public library we had an opportunity to inspect a fire truck.  They are amazing pieces of equipment.

Group discussion afterwards.

Early one morning we all tumbled out of the house for some exercise.  This consisted of walking our street a few times and visiting the neighborhood horses.

Here’s a picture of the street on which we bike, walk, and exercise.

The fog had just lifted when we embarked.

There were several flocks of grackles feeding on the lawns of several homes.

Off we go!

We took a break to feed some of the neighbor’s horses.

Kimmy was elected to perform the feeding.

Checking out the limitations of my telephoto lense.  This was taken at 16X normal.

Here is a picture of our house at the beginning of autumn.  The leaves are just beginning to change.  It was good to be out in God’s wonderful creation on this cool morning.  As we have just moved from the season of summer to autumn, I am reminded of these words from one of our hymnwriters:

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love.

On a beautiful, autumn evening this past week we ventured out for a visit to a local Baskin Robbins ice cream store.

Tough decisions had to be made.

Much counsel was needed to make those decisions.

Comparing results and reconsidering those decisions.

Satisifaction.

Let’s see just how big of a bite can be made on this ice cream cone.