Our New Campsite.....Timber Ridge Campground

It's MOVING DAY!!! Ok....so, not quite today, but it WAS moving day! And No! Not to Idaho....YET! May is upon us so that means all the campgrounds have officially opened up which means we can get quotes for temporarily or semi-permanently living at one. Most places charge nightly rates or seasonal rates (which is all summer) BUT we just wanted something in between. We aren't 100% sure how long we will be here in Ohio but we KNOW it won't be after summer. So, anyway, looking around we found Timber Ridge Campgrounds in Amherst, Ohio which is actually closer to Vermillion, Ohio but whatever. We have mixed feelings towards the campground. Some of the positives include:
*Very family friendly....every weekend (Starting Friday night with a group dinner) there are meals and scheduled activities (i.e. games, ice cream socials, dress-up contests, etc.). There is also an Olympic sized indoor swimming pool, as well as a few scattered playgrounds throughout the campground.
*The cheapest we have seen so far for pricing for a month's rent. Half of what we were paying at Findley!
*Very close to everywhere that Luke has been working which saves us time which is a huge factor for us!
*They have full hook-ups!
*They don't charge for extra kids or running your A/C!
*Owners seem to be very reasonable and do not have a ridiculous amount of Rules like a lot of the other campgrounds (i.e. if we can fit it on our site we can have it there-like friends coming over and pitching tents alongside the trailer or like running power tools or our generator, etc)
*There is a lot of improvements going on currently...which means they are actually taking care of/upkeeping their campground. There is actually a sign up sheet for gravel...if you want something graveled on your site or more added for whatever reason, they will bring it right to you! I don't know how many campgrounds we've seen so far that LOOK like they are just barely making it financially but we are wondering now if thats because they just aren't putting it back INTO the Campground. Either way, its nice seeing a campground taken care of!

On the negative side of things:
*The playground that is there is very old and not maintained....we are hoping that they have that in the budget to upgrade! ;)
*The sites are VERY SMALL! (although we've seen smaller!) It's definitely not Findley State Park...which has been by far our most favorite campsite experience in terms of "feel".

So, we figured all in all T.R.C is a great fit for us for the rest of our stay here in Ohio! Here is our new home....for the moment!

This is from the "front" of our site. 

This is on the Right side....a ravine that has a creek down at the bottom...pretty but a little nerve wrecking at first with littles running around!!! 

Ephraim blowing dandelions down into the ravine.

We are site #116...this is at the back of our site looking into the site behind ours which is currently empty.

I'm on the left side of our site looking towards the front...we have a picnic table and fire ring.

This is from the "road" (still just a gravel loop) ...the back of our site and our neighbors who have yet to come down to their trailer this year.

Behind our trailer...I hope no one rents the spot behind us till we are gone. It's been nice having a LITTLE more space! 

The kids LOVE being outside! They set up their little chairs and chill.

The playground is a very short walk from our trailer BUT regardless of how close it is the kids are not allowed to go by themselves. So, we like to all head over there to play....even if its super soggy (like it has been since we've been here!)

Havi LOVES to swing and giggles and squeals!

Jireh honestly is NOT impressed with the playground and theres not really too much she can do.

Ephraim hasn't been loving the playground as soggy as it is either....the water under teh swings goes all the way past his ankles! Good thing the kids have rain boots! Or as we have been calling them, "Mud boots"!

Trying to get onto the swing without getting too much mud everywhere. He likes to play in mud, but with laundry NOT being a "convenience" we have to limit our mud playing to one time a day. So, he's being very careful!

Jireh trying to push Havi but not really getting the hang of it! A second after this picture was taken Jireh walked right in front of the swing and was knocked down by Havilah...silly girl!

More dandelion picking and blowing...

Havi enjoying being out in the sunshine!

Look at those hazel eyes! Just like Daddy's!

I've been glad that the kids have enjoyed playing outside in our small "yard" rather then feeling the need to be at the playground every minute of the day!

So, How Cool Is This????

While we were in Wal-Mart in Idaho we came across an entire section filled with Christian (I use the word loosely because of the heavily Mormon population) books and movies! Not just one or two shelves....but anyway, the cool thing:

"Ephraim" is NOT a common name....most people don't have a clue what we just said and ask us to repeat the name or just smile and nod. Sometimes we get asked if that was in the Bible (Yes, yes it is.) I've never actually met anyone with the name nor have we come across anyone who has known someone with the name. I do however recall the T.V. show "Everwood" to have the main boy character named Ephraim...I think its cool that Hollywood used it! Anyway, we ran across this movie, "Ephraim's Rescue" and of course it is a Mormon story BUT it is really cute too. When we dropped off Ephraim at the Church Sunday School then I was asked to write down his name, but they never actually asked me WHAT his name was. So, I just wanted to make sure that they knew his name. I told the lady there that his name is kind of different and its pronounced "F-rum"...she looked at me and smiled and said, oh, we are very familiar with old testament names! How cool is that???? 

Pretty cool I think!

Randomness.....

So we saw a couple of these houses while we were in Idaho.......completely underground or something??? Not sure WHAT the deal is but it would be fun to find out!!! Anybody out there know what the reasoning is behind this??? It looks like it is just a basement with a roof slapped on it.

Blast From The Past....

 There were 2 very special places that we went to while passing through Minnesota on our way back from Idaho. The first place (and where we stayed while in MN) was with dear friends....they might as well just be family. The Baerenwalds were just one of those families where it was love at first sight and it was like you were always friends....you just clicked. They were and are a huge blessing to our family and will always have a special place in our hearts.

Grandma Lovey snuggling and watching a movie with Ephraim and Jireh. Just soaking up the love.

Olivia (aka Livvy) is hanging out with Havi teaching/inspiring her how to crawl!

(Sad that most of Havilah's pictures are blurry....but man, you can still see how adorable she is!)

 

I can't stand her cuteness! Ahhh! How did we end up with the cutest kids ever??? LOVE THEM!!!!

 

Our second favorite place in the world is at Michael and Kim DeVries' "farm".  Michael is the type of guy that if you need ANYTHING he is there for ya...he might not actually be able to help, but hes there. If he can't help he probably knows who can and will "pull some strings" to make whatever it is, happen! If he can help he will work on fixing the problem/need till its done. Great kind of friends to have! We drove 4hrs (one way and through 2 other states) once to go pick them up (their truck broke down) so when we got to where they were, they treated us to dinner and then we all drove back.....I remember Luke saying that he didnt even have to think twice about driving out to get them, cause he knew if the situation was reversed Michael would have done the same.

Ephraim loves being here....he can run around and play on the "toys"!

 Is he not one cool dude or what!?!?!?

He knows hes cool and he also knows hes the center of attention....

 Gettin ready to go for a ride with Michael!

 Posing for the picture......and then they were off.

 Meanwhile, Jireh made a new best friend. She liked hanging with Kim too....lol

 Michael's shop....lots of work has been done here. We needed a box to put our generator for the trailer in and Michael and his brother came over and they helped work on it as well as supplying the materials. It took ALL DAY and then some, but they didn't stop till it was finished! (We will get a picture of the box soon!) P.S. the reason they aren't working now is because this was just a visit for fun and catching up...all the work happened 2 days later!

 Riding the 4 wheeler some more....

 Havilah was getting tired but didnt want to fall asleep in such a different place....she didn't want to miss a thing.

 Jireh was waaaay past her nap time too....but there was too much to do and see.

Hopefully we get to see our dear friends in MN again (we plan on driving through at least once more on our way back to ID) We also pray to find friends just as awesome when we get to Idaho.