Camping

Where we live, this is the best time of the year. Late October through April. The rest of the year, we survive. And during those months of unbearably hot weather, I remind myself that while so many people we know are buried in snow and ice, we....WON'T. It's what gets me through. (And for the record-I hate snow! Worse than heat I hate it. Yes, it makes beautiful post cards...but other than that? No redeeming qualities when you're over 12 in my not-so-humble-but-oh-so-honest opinion.)
So, in November we like to camp.
Our weekend went something like this:
Thursday:
We arrive at 5:20pm (just after the park closed so that we had to wing it on choosing a campsite-no biggie though) and while my hubby sets up with the help of the two older kids and Nathan I head to the nearest little grocery store to find the rest of our food supplies (I only get some of it before we leave because they have a nice little version of our same grocery store and it's easier than trying to fit everything in our limited space for traveling). Oh, and firewood. Yeah. I almost panicked because it looked as if we were not going to find it. And it was chilly! And we didn't get a site with electricity, so we were dependent on fire for cooking! But (because I'm not afraid to chat with the checker at the grocery) I found out where I could buy some. phew!

Thursday night was PRET-TY chilly! Thankfully I slept with a little heater-Nathan. And after some middle of the night sleep rearranging, all was well (we moved Haley to sleep with her daddy so she'd be warmer and happier). And the animal sounds were really neat to listen to-because the park was so empty at this point they were out in full force! Owls, coyotes and some I'm not sure about (I promise that when Lindsay needed to make a trip to the ahem-powder room-in the wee (still dark) morning hours we took the van! I didn't want to meet any of those animals.

Friday was awesome. Most of the day we had the campgrounds pretty much to ourselves since most people were still at school and work. And the weather was gorgeous! And when you start your day with eggs, bacon and pancakes cooked over fire...what can go wrong?

(Ok, something could go wrong, but it was little, and nothing a band-aid lovingly applied by her daddy couldn't fix)

OpieJared (cue whistling)

Friday night we had a campfire and s'mores (of course). Only bummer was that at this point a ROWDY band of boy scouts (I use the title loosely) showed up at the site just behind us. Thankfully, we were separated by some brush-but not enough. These boys had to have been trained in the same scout pack as the Osbornes. As in Ozzy. Obnoxiously loud. Kept coming into our campsite-even when told not to-and messing with our stuff! But, they didn't ruin our camping trip. Just something to deal with.

Saturday we had more of the same. Pretty weather. Walks around the grounds. And loud, in-your-space boyscouts. Oh well, you can't win 'em all, right? Some friends joined us for the day and we had a nice time with them. Walking around, playing some games and just enjoying life.

(The girls, enjoying a little Ladder Ball-after we untangled the balls that the BOY SCOUTS, ummm aren't they supposed to do good deeds?, tied in knots!)

Good times with a great friend...never mind the no make-up Jaba the Hut (sp?) look I'm sporting....it's camping for goodness' sake!

All tuckered out. But so cozy in his stroller with the blanket the kids and I made for him!

Don't bother them now, they're playin' bocce ball!

Saturday night something funny and cool happened. We were out of lighter fluid, so my hubby went to get more (thankfully the store is very close-so it's no big deal) so we could start our evening campfire as well as cook our dinner. While he was gone, Jared was messing around in the campfire ring with the ashes and stuff from our morning fire. I wasn't too concerned-although I prob'ly should have been since we've experienced burns on 2/4 of our kids-from campfires!-because he had no matches, lighter fluid or active fire, right? Next thing I know he is calling me to look! He got a fire going! Just from an ember. He blew on that little ember and poked at it and blew on it-sooo patiently!-until he got a little flame. Then, he added some fuel (ie wood) and blew a little more.

And then Sunday....we had to pack up and leave. Right about the time the un-scoutly scouts did....booo. We'd have LOVED to have had a little more time where the park was all quiet and peaceful (well, except for us!)

P.S. There are so many more pictures I'd like to post of this camping trip...just not sure if everyone wants to see that many. ;)