Family Camping AKA RAIN RAIN GO AWAY (just for 2 days!)

Calling Nana and Papa, daughters, son in laws and grand kids - it's time for our first annual camping trip!

 

We had decided that since Parker was now 2, that we could all handle a camping trip since there are no more babies!!  Not that you can't take a baby camping but it's a whole lot easier when they're a little older!!

 

Glenn and I had scouted out a couple of places earlier and then on the last camping trip, Brad and Glenn had found a couple more spots they liked!  Our wish list included a space large enough for a pickup with a camper and trailer with ATV, a truck with a large camping trailer, and space for 2 tents!  But the biggest thing on the wish list was a place where we could have a campfire and that wish came true because the fire ban was rescinded mid-July!!

 

The Smiths and Keppys headed over on Thursday and picked out the spot and set up - Glenn and I arrived later than night and the Savages got in around noon on Friday!

 

It was great fun having a campfire that first night!  The kids loved it and we roasted marshmallows and s'mores!!

 

I think this was lunch on Friday before Jill's got there as the guys were all out ATVing.

 

I LOVE this picture of Parker - he seems to be saying, Really Dad, you're NOT taking me fishing today?

Evan and Kylan loved the fire - let me repeat that - they LOVED the fire!!!  They would virtually stand there for hours and throw little sticks or pine cones in - an old tin can got thrown in and of course we scolded them for that - and the next thing we knew Evan came running with burnt fingers - he had tried to pick up the can out of the fire!  His fingers blistered but I never heard him complain once!

And what's this???  HAPPY HOUR???  Of course - you can't go camping without 4:00 Happy Hour!

Jill brought bubble cups that she had made - oh my gosh, they were SO CUTE and the kids loved blowing bubbles out of them!!  What a great idea!

Did I catch Robby actually dancing here?  I have no idea but Jessi and Gary sure look excited!

It's sometimes hard to catch Parker with a smile but he was sure happy here!!  I had bought each child $1 items from the Dollar Store so we had little contests and each time they did what they were supposed to do, I handed them a prize - they loved it - Parker is holding the butterfly catcher!

Jessi - did you get too close to the fire in this picture?  Nah - just a little sunburn!!  Now check out the size of these marshmallows that we're roasting!!  THEY ARE HUGE!!!  Jaime brought them and they fit perfectly in a graham cracker for a s'more! 

Yes, they were excited to eat those huge marshmallows!!  Me - I'm not fond of s'mores so I just roast the marshmallow and then eat the chocolate separately!

It was COLD at night - yes - pretty cold!!  We decided that Aleah and Kenzie needed to sleep in the camper with us so we folded down the table to make their bed - Kenzie had a full sized SLICK sleeping bag that just wouldn't stay on the cushions so we ended up putting both girls inside of it and that worked out just great!!  This is what they looked like when they woke up the next morning!

What did we do?  Sometimes we girls got to read!!  Other times we just hung out and talked, took the ATV's out for a ride, of course cooked meals but it worked out great as each family either did a breakfast or dinner and then did the clean up!  The guys did some scouting and riding the ATV's.  I guess we took a walk too!  AND showed the kids how to make their own "houses" by arranging long branches from the trees on the ground for an outline - we used to do that when we were kids!!  Brad and Rayna shot their bows - and the kids played and played!!

It was one fun time EXCEPT for the rain and the mud - let me emphasize the MUD!!  The first night it rained most of the night - lovely to sleep by but horrible to walk in the next morning - all our tennis shoes had 2 inches of caked mud on them - and of course it's pretty messy trying to get in and out of campers and tents with kids and muddy shoes!  Luckily the sun came out soon and of course dried everything out!  But what a mess!

There were a couple of quick showers the next day too but they didn't last long - unfortunately that wasn't the case on Saturday.................it started raining - hard - right after Happy Hour - all the kids went into Jaime's large trailer and played some cards for a while but that interest didn't hold long!!!  It just kept raining and it was COLD out!!  Jill was up for dinner that night so Robby grilled the hot dogs on a grill under the awning and we fed all the kids in the trailer - it worked out fine - I handed plates out to the guys and they were kind enough to sit under the awning and eat as there just wasn't room in the trailer!

And it CONTINUED to rain - no campfire Saturday night!!!  By this time the kids were getting REALLY restless and we resorted to putting in a movie in Jaime's DVD player in the trailer - they loved it of course and we could keep our sanity that way!!

Jill and Robby decided to just pack up in the rain and head home that night - we all tried to get them to stay but Robby assumed it would rain all night - and he was right - IT DID - if we thought it was muddy the day before, oh my - you should have seen it Sunday morning!!

Glenn and I were on duty for breakfast - he cooked bacon outside in the rain under our awning and I cooked French toast in the camper and fed everyone in shifts!!!  It was miserable outside!  The Keppys packed up in the rain and left along with Jaime and Kylan (she had driven a separate car over) as Kylan had a reading program to attend.  The road out was super muddy and slick but they all made it out just fine!!

So that left Brad and Rayna, Glenn and I - we all wanted to go ATVing together and to wait and pack up after the sun came out so it would all dry!  We waited for the rain to stop - and then we waited some more - and then finally at 11:00 we decided it was not going to stop so we started packing up all the wet muddy stuff!!  By the time we loaded the ATV's, the sun came out - but we were too tired to unpack them by this point so we all headed home!!

All in all, one great camping trip!!  I'll leave you with a cute picture of Rayna and also one of all the kids watching the movie in the trailer - what a lifesaver that movie was!!