We arrived Tuesday afternoon and it took all afternoon to set up camp, cook hot dogs on the fire, and then go to sleep in the tents. Wednesday, we had alot of fun! In the morning, we took a hike (a short one) after a pancake breakfast. Then, we went down to Big River and the kids played in the water for 2 hours. We got ice cream afterwards at the camp store. My dad made a camp special-- potatoes, eggs and cheese on the campfire.
Wednesday night, we thought we'd take the girls to see the stars, and some Northern constellations. Our family and Ben waited until it finally got dark at 9:30 PM (We are used to 6am sunrise and 6pm sunset year round in Arusha!!).... we drove around the park trying to find a good spot to see the stars. Finally, we pulled into an empty parking lot, only to see two vans, and several people... and a HUGE telescope!! Seriously, at first glance I thought it was a cannon! We got out and started looking up at the sky, and he just came over and invited us to look into his telescope... um, YEAH! We were all so excited to be able to look through such a big telescope. We got to see Saturn, including the rings and moons! Wow! That was a once in a life time experience. The girls were so thrilled, but Jonathan was asleep in the car through the whole thing. Oh, well.
Thursday morning, we torn down camp. The kids, my mom and I took a short walk along a paved road when... Jonathan stepped on a COPPERHEAD SNAKE!! I screamed and pulled him back before my mom even saw what was wrong. Unbelievably, the snake just lifted its head and that was all. Perhaps it was too cold to move yet, or there was an angel holding his mouth shut. Either way, my head was raising for hours thinking of what that snake could have done to Jonathan. We quickly left the snake. Later, Bill and Ben weren't able to find it again, so he must have moved on. PRAISE GOD that nothing happened to sweet Jonathan. Not many people can claim they stepped on a Copperhead and not gotten bitten.
