Friday after work, Pops and I tossed a few last things together and put them in his car and off we went toward Bennett Springs. Bean ate some chicken tenders for most of the drive but we got hungry for dinner and stopped for some burgers. She was too full for dinner but enjoyed a sundae.
We got the Sand Springs resort and checked in. We had just enough time to hit up the pool before it closed so got on our suits and went.
The water felt pretty cold at first but we alternated between pool and hot tub and it was pretty nice. We got out just as they were closing up for the night. Our room had 2 double beds and a little twin couch thing. Pops and I had a few beers, Bean laid down for bed and we watched TV and read a bit. In the morning we all got up kinda early. Pops was first and went out to walk, I read until Bean got up then we went to find him and get breakfast. We ended up playing at the playground a bit.
The restaurant was closed so we just had a breakfast bar and headed to the spring and fish hatchery.
Bean was super excited about all the fish and feeding them.
It was kids fish free weekend at the spring and there were kids with fish all over the place and Bean really liked checking out the fish they had.
Then we headed back to the room and got ready for a canoe trip.
They drove us 4 miles upstream and dropped us off.
We paddled a bit and fished a bit and right away started catching some little guys.
Bean loved tossing them back. We stopped a few times to fish from the bank and to eat lunch.
After lunch we paddled on some more and caught a few more little fish. The trip only took 3 hours and we didn’t swim but spent a good amount of time coasting and fishing.
The end was at the resort so we just went to the room and changed then had a snack. Bean got ice cream and we got a pitcher. Then we were all tired so took a little nap.
Then Pops dropped Bean and I off at a big trail and we took off backpacking.
It was really hot and humid and the gnats were thick. We took lots of little breaks.
At one of the breaks I found ticks all over Bean’s legs so we got them off and then put on her tights. The ticks, gnats and heat were kinda rough plus it was really hard to find spot that was not really overgrown. After about 2 miles I almost turned us around but we came across a dry creek bed.
The bugs were not nearly so bad and there were lots of cool things to explore. So we put down the pack and did some exploring.
And posing for pictures
This place was great so we started setting up camp.
and making ourselves at home
It turned into quite the little sanctuary from the bugs and brush.
We spent the rest of the early evening exploring and climbing.
and building curins to help us find our way out.
Then we got out the cooking gear and food.
Bean wanted to help with all the cooking and did a great job. She had even picked out what we would make before we left.
Finally it started cooling off and getting dark. We each had seconds of dinner and then started the fire and had some warm tea.
Around 9 it was actually dark and we climbed in our hammoks. Bean had on feety pajamas and climbed in a warm weather kids sleeping bag on top of the ground pad.
I put on warm socks and a warm shirt and climbed in a thin summer bag, right in my hammock.
I was a bit cold early in the morning and my bag was so slick I kept sliding to the bottom too much. I also stayed up too late reading but I had taken a nap. I woke up really early but got back to sleep a few times. At 7 I started packing some stuff up and at 7:30 or so Bean opened her eyes and watched me until 7:45 when she was ready to climb out and I was happy to have a warm fuzzy kid in my lap.
The night before she had asked sevearl times to climb into a cave but it looked too scary of a climb for her. I finally decided to let her do it and so we started the day climbing in. 
She mostly wanted to look for bats and didn’t see any but was so proud of herself for climbing in she didn’t mind. We ate some granola bars as we hiked and headed out. She was full of energy and wanted to run some so we made it back in no time with only 1 break.
After dropping us at the trail pops had gotten in the spring and fished until dusk. Then he got up early and had fished all morning. He was fishing near the top of the spring where the trail came out and we found him easy enough and checked out his stringer.
We were sweaty buggy messes and had just enough time to get in another swim.
Then we showered and packed up and headed home. It didn’t take Bean long to pass out.
We did some cleaning up and sharing stories at home then took Heath out for mothers day.
Everyone was pretty worn out from their weekends so we had an early dinner and headed to bed early.