So last year our camping experience was... interesting. Ok, ok, bedtime was a nightmare and we were questioning if camping was really something we wanted to continue. Of course memorial day came along and we were yearning for a re-do. We called up a classmate of Justins who lives in Mississippi and they agreed to come enjoy a last minute camping trip. We like to go to different sites and this time we found an old civil war campsite called Fort Pillow.
It was great except for the BUGS! We had called a bunch of campgrounds and all of them were saying the same thing. The mosquitoes weren't the problem, it was the gnats! I thought, "Aw, how bad could they be?" Let me assure you, they were BAD! They swarm your face and it is so annoying... We tried to take this picture and I look like a squinting freak because they were all over us.
The kids had a ton of fun. It was especially nice this time for Jackson because he had a friend there to play with. Him and Kinsley were so cute together! Here are the kids hanging out in the tent and playing around the campground. Also, we just let the kids stay up and play until we all went to bed, so they did much better than last year.
The next morning we went on a little walk around the campground and then went to the little museum they had there and made homemade ice cream. We also tried to watch a movie about the history of the battle, but I had to look up the info online because lets be honest, the kids didn't really sit through a movie.
The Confederate victory at the Battle of Fort Pillow (April 1864) ended in the killing of 229 black and white Union soldiers out of 262 engaged in the battle. This slaughter by the Southern troops under Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest has been labeled a massacre; confederate apologists still debate how much "slaughter" actually took place, and some believe the reports were exaggerated. While the Union casualty count for the battle does not indicate that the Confederate forces took many prisoners, Confederate records show about 200 prisoners were shipped south. In any case, "Remember Fort Pillow!" became a battle cry among Black soldiers for the remainder of the Civil War.
Here are the Pierces. They were great camping partners and we were glad we convinced them to come! :)
5 comments:
I haven't been camping in YEARS! But it sounds like you had fun! I wouldn't have been a fan of the gnats either... YUCK!!!! You have two darn cute boys there!
That looks like so much fun! I learned about that battle in my history class at BYU-I! I'm always so jealous of people who get to see where those kind of things happened!
I'm so glad you are blogging again. i never realized how many cute pictures I was missing. Love the one with them in the tent.
Yes ... Haylee is back on board! Much has happened in the Johnson family life since the 15 inch haircut! She's not done though ... a Reunion coming up! Good to see the cute photos and learn more about Jonah's hospital ventures. Sweet little boys and this Great grandma love 'em:)
That looks like a lot of fun. I haven't been camping in forever. I wouldn't mind going if it wasn't so hot where we live. ;-)
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