We finally went camping! A few weeks ago, our friends Tom & Nikki (pictured somewhere below) went with us to their great location pick: Red River Gorge. It was only one night and one day, but still well worth it. Unfortunately due to a few unpreferred circumstances, we ended up at the place after dark. The Macleans, not having been camping in a very long time and with the new addition of a large beast of a puppy, were not sporting their best packing display. The 5 of us (Bode included) started trucking it up the side of a hill in the dark, and finally landed on a decent spot to pitch the tents. Most unfortunately, despite the fact that we've been in a drought, this particular area was very wet, which made keeping a fire a full time job that the men valiantly maintained long enough for us to heat some hot dogs and get set up. Bode slept in our tent, which was a good time.

In the morning, we were well rested:


Bode did some growling and barking at passer-bys, we had some breakfast courtesy of the Thiessens, put our junk in the trunk and headed to a great hiking spot Tom picked for us. The hike was beautiful, and pictures don't do it justice, but here are a couple:




Somehow Nikki forgot to send me any photos including them, hhhmmm.....

Not long after the camping escapade, we finally got rain! But at first it came in the form of a sudden downpour complete with tornado warnings, and apparently even one that touched down near school (see Randolph blog for more details). Juan made the right executive decision that we high-tail it to the cellar when the sirens went off. So we grabbed a couple essentials like flashlights, made sure our upstairs neighbors weren't home, and booked it. Rain came suddenly like a waterfall. Poor Bode had never been in the cellar and he was not happy being rushed into something like that! The stairs are too narrow for his long body to walk down very comfortably and he can see through the stairs. But just short of Juan carrying him down he finally went. Good news: Bode is no longer afraid the steps. He walks right up and down them without a problem! What a brave pup. We only had to stay down there for a couple minutes before the sirens stopped and Juan double checked the news to see that it had passed. Our first storm in the cellar at our new place! Very exciting. Sorry no pictures of the event.

Stay tuned...in the next week we hope to have pictures and the winners of the 3rd Annual Maclean Family Pumpkin Carving Contest! The entries were amazing. "Hey! Hey! You don't want to miss this!" (that quote is to be read in your best Southern accent, and is for all our LU friends)