24-Hour Excurion Part 2 (and Finale)

Oh dear...did I let almost a week go by? Am I behind in almost all of your blogs, as well?
I guess it's all due to the end of summertime...
Trying to both enjoy these last days and at the same time, get ready for the coming school year.
Well, and also the fact that I've been glued to the Olympics every night that we've been home!
But I can't just leave you hanging!
So....On to the rest of the story!
(And I'll try to visit most of you as I can through the week...promise!)

(*Edited to include one picture I forgot!)

While my family slept peacefully, the wind whipped the tops of the trees, making them look like part of a wheat field, bending in the breeze. But what was eerie was the sound. The loud, rushing wind seeming so much like an ocean's crashing waves.
I found myself feeling tense...just hovering on the line of fear.

But then I remembered what I was just telling my girls earlier, when the thunderstorm was near.
I reminded them of how Jesus was in the boat with the disciples when a storm came up. Even though they were grown men, the disciples were still very much afraid. But Jesus was able to calm the storm... and I told them that when Jesus is with us we don't have to be afraid.
They had listened again to this familiar Bible truth and believed it. But here I was watching the tree tops sway with trepidation.

So I prayed and did feel much better putting the storm into God's hands.
I lay down and prepared to sleep, and as I drifted off, I couldn't help but notice that the winds actually did indeed die down within minutes. Of course, it might not have been a direct answer to my prayer...but then, why couldn't it have been?

The next day there was no wind...but the thunderclouds had rolled back in and I awoke to the loud clap of thunder and bright flashes.
My early riser husband had already taken a shower and had been chopping wood and I could hear him hastily throw it together to get a fire going.
Yes, he is too manly, I guess, to let a thunderstorm send him running for cover. (He assumed he was safe because of all the tall trees...)
And soon the downpour started. The girls were awake now and they looked out the flap of the tent to see him sitting faithfully under the large umbrella, stoking the fire. And how the fire kept going with all that rain, I'm still not sure!

After a few hours, though, the rain stopped and we went off to find what I had read about-
The Bat Barn.

But before I get to that, as we parked our car in the equestian section to go hiking over to this barn, we saw some folks with their horses at their trailer.
Knowing how much our girls love horses but rarely have access to them, we walked over and my husband asked if it was OK if they pet them.
It was a lady with her grown daughter and grandson, and they smiled and told us yes.


The older lady turned out to be so friendly and generous...telling the girls they could feed the gentlest horse, Buck, some apples after showing them how...

and then even offering to have each of the girls sit on him.

It was a totally unexpected treat for us all and we felt so grateful to happen upon this nice lady and her family! And then she mentioned that it was her birthday...and here she was spreading joy to youngsters in honor of her special day.

Now, look closely and you may see that my oldest is holding her beloved stuffed horse! My youngest, too, had brought her toy horse, as well...not even expecting to come near any real horses! Was that not just perfect!?

From there, we were off down the trail to see the bat barn. This is a barn that use to be used for horses, but when it was discovered that it was a rare nesting sight for mother bats and their babies, they allowed the bats to have it.

That is the barn in the very first photo above, as we began our walk.
Finally we came to it...


As you can see, it is all boarded up and surrounded by sticker bushes...with little round holes that you can't see here, where the bats fly in and out.
They had some signs with information on them right in front...

and we learned that sometimes mama bats fly out at night for food with their one baby clinging to them. They only have one baby at a time and the bond is strong.

So, needless to say, we couldn't actually see any bats.
But it was kind of interesting knowing they were all in there!

Soon, it was back on the trail to go back to the campsite to pack up everything.



Yep...hubby and I agreed that one night was long enough this time.
The girls, however, were not at first happy with this decision since they apparently like camping in storms. But with a promise of a Happy Meal on the way home as consolation prize, all was well.

That, and a little rest...with dreams of galloping over the trails...