Welcome to Camp Funk

feeling defeated....but God is good

Just got back from a long camping trip at one of our favorite state parks, Devil's Lake in Baraboo, WI. We love the state parks. So beautiful and so cheap to camp too. We all love it. Unfortunatelyy this trip turned out to be expensive. More than we ever imagined! We started out by needing 4 new tires on one car. Got a flat and found some bad rot on the other 3 so all 4 needed to be replaced. Then on the way hauling the camper our bigger SUV was leaking fluid. We stopped at a dealership and had it checked on the way and they said it was good to go. No problems or anything to worry about so we carried on. Hour and a half later we finally got to our campsite and the Chevy started to shoot steam from the hood. It was spewing anti-freeze all over. We were able to get the car into a dealership Baraboo. The service guy was great. My parents so kindly dropped their SUV for us to use while the Chevy was getting fixed. It was a lifesaver for us for sure.
That was all on the first day! That started it all for us as almost every day we had "something" happen. They boys tent camp next to the camper and they broke a tent pole and the zipper tore then. Abe took a nasty fall. Livy wiped out too and cut her legs. Lots of little break downs with zippers breaking, buttons falling off, and velcro tearing off. Firewood that looked dry but had water deep inside. Nothing makes Dave crabby like wet firewood. Raccoons came for visits a few nights and even though we had all our food put away and garbage hidden they tore up the outside knocking things over looking for food.

It was our brakes, water pump and the front alignment(1700). Seriously, you can never prepare yourselves for car troubles. It's always a lot unless your getting an oil change!

Started our routine of swimming, hiking, hanging out, talking, and walking. Next up our tent broke that we got as a gift. So we headed out to the store to get ourselves a new tent. We did lots of fun hiking for miles on their beautiful trails. Devil's Lake is our favorite for hiking. It's not something the 2 littles can do but the 4 other bigs love it. We had nice sunny days except for a storm when we had to seek shelter because there were 70 mph winds and some serious raining going on.

Headed to the water again before we had to leave in a few days and I decided to go in the water fully and enjoy myself with the kiddos. I haven't been submerged in the water laughing and playing in like 20 years. Huge deal for me. It was a lot of fun and I loved having a good time with the kiddos.

When the day was over I happen to look at my hands and noticed my wedding ring was gone. Took a double take and my heart sank. I loved my wedding ring that was custom made with a special inherited diamond in.

Really how could this trip getting any worse in the money and loss department.

Everyone stayed healthy so that was huge for our family! We usually go to the ER at least once on a camping trip.

East Bluff at Devil's Lake! Amazing views. Dave and kids did a 6 mile hike one morning. Good exercise for them all.

Hiking up the east bluff to Elephant Rock

We have been trying to pay off a huge dental bill and the rest of Abrahams adoption that we have left then something else rolls in. For us it's never something little, it always pours on us. It's like a vicious cycle that never ends.

On the way home we stopped at my aunt's funeral. Wonderful lady who was a nurse her whole life in Madison always helping people. She was only 55 and died of a massive heart attack. So young.

Playground at the park has recycled tire chips instead of wood chips. Kiddos thought it would be fun to bury each other in it. Everyone got really dirty and nasty but it was a lot of fun!