Lake of the Ozarks

October is turning out to be a fun month. 

We had a four day weekend for Columbus Day so we took the kids camping at Ft. Leonard Wood's LORA (Lake of the Ozark's Recreation Area).  The weather was absolutely perfect, highs in the 80s, lows in the 50s.  I know most people camp in the summer, but we are spring and fall campers.   

Someone told me there are 300 miles of coastline.  It's an odd looking lake, isn't it? 

We set up our camp and finished dinner just in time to walk to the water and watch the sun set Friday night. 

With tent camping, we normally have a "rustic site" which means we have running water.  It was only $5 more a night and they weren't booked up so we got an RV site which had running water AND...ELECTRICITY.  Pure awesomeness - especially since my dear husband has sleep apnea and sleeps with a c-pap machine.  Without it, he snores like a sick walrus.  We LIKED electricity.

There will be no marshmallow pilfering before it's time!

My mini- me.  Jaelyn loves her camera as much as I love mine.

Caden scored on driftwood.  He had a gun, a crutch and a staff.  And the best part, driftwood is hard so it doesn't break as easily.

Jaelyn and her frog.  They were everywhere hopping on the rocks.

The worst part of camping to me is bedtime (and the 2 a.m. bathroom runs with Jaelyn).  The last camping trip was horrible with crying and fighting.  This time, we brought our 3 cots.  They take up a lot of room, but the kids went to sleep nicely each night playing DSs or listening to Ipods because they each had their own space.

 Saturday, we decided to drive up to Osage Beach to see A Dolphin Tail.  If you haven't seen that movie, GO!  It was wonderful.  I want to go see it again.  While we were there, we also got to do some shopping...Yea!

Sunday, we rented a pontoon to take the kids on the water.  Apparently our kids have been deprived as this was their first boat ride.  It was so much fun.  Dan let the kids take turns driving.  We had about 8 miles of lake we were allowed to explore. 

Jaelyn liked going the fastest. She laughed and laughed when she figured out how to cross another boat's wake to make us bounce in the water.

It is a really pretty lake.  The leaves are starting to change.  It's going to be beautiful in a few weeks.  I wouldn't want to be out here in the summer though because I bet it's filled with boats flying around.  It would be kind of scary to me.  I like rules, lanes and traffic lights!

Around the camp, we rode bikes, played in the hammock, threw horse shoes and just basically hung out together.

Dan, Jaelyn and I played frisbee with 3 frisbees.  That was fun. 

And no campout would be complete without a fire, marshmallows and s'mores.

We have a weekend off this weekend and then we are getting visitors the following weekend. I learned this morning that there might be a tag-along.  But shhhhh, don't tell the kids.  It's a surprise.  We are excited!