Camping at Mirror Lake

We spent Thursday through Sunday camping at Mirror Lake and had a great time again. It was just the five of us this time but we kept very busy. We arrived Thursday afternoon and set up our camp (we still use 3 tents) and made a great meal of chicken breasts and veggie/potato boat. Jenny's tent site was all sand so Olivia had her own sandbox next to the tent. It kept her occupied for long stretches when we needed to get things done. The weather was perfect all weekend, even a little chilly at night but there were a lot more mosquitoes here than at Governor Dodge a few weeks ago. We had to spray up a lot.

On Friday we hiked all the way around the park in the morning and rested after lunch while Olivia took her nap. Then we rented a fishing boat w/motor and tooled around the lake for about an hour. It is a beautiful lake, not real big, but not nearly as crowded as Devil's Lake. Olivia enjoyed riding in the boat and thought she was pretty cool with her orange life vest on. There is a nice sandy area where we usually stop and enjoy the scenery and go swimming along the way.

When we got back to the campsite we grilled a salmon along with sliced zucchini, onions and peppers and baked potatoes. We even made the campfire cake and it turned out really good!! (Yes, Lynn and Nancy, it didn't turn into a charred hockey puck this time!!) It was definitely a do-again. (what ever happened to the simple camping hamburger/hot dog menu??)

On Saturday we had the left over potatoes with eggs for breakfast and then headed into Wisconsin Dells. There we stopped at "The Deer Park" where Olivia got to feed goats, see horses, pigs and all kinds of animals. The best part is the deer, they have a fence to keep the people back but the deer can come under the fence at will and wander right in among the visitors. Of course, the park sells treats to feed them. We all enjoyed this, the big bucks even had velvet on their antlers that we could feel. I'll be including pictures in the next couple blogs, I have so many cute pictures from the whole weekend. Olivia squealed when the deer took the treats from her hands, she really had a good time there.

From there we found a g0-cart track for Kyle and Jenny to ride around and then decided to try horseback riding. Yes, another first for Olivia! She rode a real horse for the very first time and loved it. She rode with me and I wasn't sure how she would handle it but she had a great time (watch for the pictures). Our horse was called "Chief" and she would pat him and say "Good Boy Chief". A few times when he wanted to catch up to the horse ahead of him he would trot and instead of getting scared she would laugh and say "run-run!" I can't wait to get her on a pony ride at the fair. Saturday was an exhausting day and when we got back to camp we made a pork roast but the garlic bread was soggy because it thawed out. Oh well, not everything works out perfectly every time.

On Sunday we had pancakes and then packed up to head back home after a very fun weekend. It is nice to get back home to recuperate. No more camping trips planned so far and school will be starting in a few weeks.

I'll keep adding camping pictures as I can, it takes a long time to get them uploaded but I'll get them out there, they are too cute to keep to myself.

Playing in the sandbox.