Pipestem Park

Well, after some minor car trouble in the downtown Hinton gas station this morning (that took about 2 hours total, but luckily Jeff figured it out and praise the Lord it only cost $8 to fix and the local auto shop had the part we needed 🙌🏼), we finally made our way to Pipestem State Park.

It’s a beautiful state park with a lodge on the property, and tons of other activities like horseback riding, zip lining, and disc golf. But we were there for the water park out on the beautiful mountain lake! They have about 10 of these giant inflatables out on the lake, and lots of lounge chairs on the beach. Emmie and the boys did all the “things” with Jeff, while Addie and I stayed close to shore for her to play in the sand and a few inches of the lake.

You can’t really tell, but that’s Emmie way out in the middle of this obstacle course inflatable, and she did so well on it.

And again, it’s hard to tell, but that’s Gabe flying off the end of the blob, and Ryan back in the back  who had jumped down on it.

Emmie did this big giant slide, twice!

But this sweet little munchkin just wanted to stay right here and play. I did get a few chances to swim out myself just to cool off, but I spent most of the time sitting on my lifejacket next to this happy girl.

Once everyone had their fun on the lake, we spent a little time up at the splash pad too, which was also super cold water, but a super fun time.

After another gorgeous ride through a one-lane canopy mountain road, we went up to Aunt Elaine’s house for dinner and family time. She made chicken enchiladas and nachos, and we were all starving after only a sandwich for lunch, and so much time in the sun and water.

They have tons of beautiful plants, and a nice big beautiful wooded property to explore as well.

And, we all took turns shooting this little BB gun. Ryan picked it up first (which makes perfect sense because he was on the sharp-shooting, nationally competitive rifle team in high school) and started messing around with it, and it wasn’t long before we all wanted to try. He even took special care of Emerson and let her pull the trigger a few times, and she was very proud of herself when she hit the giant trash can 😉

Gabe went next and eventually got the hang of it, and then I also took a turn, and actually hit the water bottle target, after only 3 tries! I was pretty proud of myself for that 😉

Absolutely adore this precious little spice village of Aunt Elaine’s. These are actually super popular and can sell for hundreds of dollars, and I see videos of people freaking out when they spot them at their local thrift shop. She said she found them at the flea market a few years ago, and got the whole set for only $17!

We all took showers and baths there at her house, because the house we’re staying at (Uncle Alfred’s) is on well-water, so we’re trying to conserve when possible, with 8 extra people in the house this week! But even after baths and jammies, the girls still wanted to go for one more adventure-walk around the property.

And even though we had already had angel food cake with strawberries and whipped cream, and watermelon for dessert. They both needed one more slice of that watermelon before we hit the road.

It was 9pm before we even left, with a 45-minute drive back “home,” so of course Addison fell asleep in the car. All things considered, she did great today, running on no nap time, and lots of activities. Emerson however stayed awake to chit-chat with Mommy and nana the whole way, and be in on the grown-up conversations. Both girls went to bed immediately when we got home. Addie actually walked herself to our room, laid down, mumbled and gestured for me to cover her up, and then she was completely out. Emmie just needed some hugs, and a quick verse of Jesus Loves Me, and then she was out too! I’m also exhausted, and it’s just past 11pm now, so I’m gonna go to sleep now too…