Aren't campfires wonderful? So much enjoyment can come from a bunch of logs burning up in flames. The warmth it provided was essential. This fire roasted up our hot dogs to a delicious semi-blackness and our marshmallows became globs of gooey sticky goodness. Perfect for smushing between two graham crackers with a few squares of a Hershey's chocolate bar of course! We all enjoyed the way Mrs. "K" called them "shmores." Why are they called s'mores anyway? Maybe I should Google that. :)
The kids were all so excited to be going camping. As we packed up and got ready to go, Jav had a little pre-camp fun with the kids and put them on the roof of the van. They loved it! (About a year ago, Javi cried in sheer terror when his dad put him up there. At least that experience left no lasting damage. He seems to have fully recovered, judging by the cheesy grin and all!)
"Pssst....Manny! Guess what?! We're going camping!!!"
We got to our "campground", which was really Mr. and Mrs. "T's" house, around 5pm. We began to set everything up right away, taking advantage of the sunlight we had left. We have only used our tent once before and that was in our own backyard. Some friends of ours had borrowed it a couple of times, but we were glad to finally be camping after all these years of owning a tent.
Manny frequently spotted planes flying overhead.
Running around and playing in the wide open field was so much fun for the kids.
Amera finally gets the camping experience with the family!
We were so thankful for the indoor plumbing that was available to us. One of the many benefits of camping out in a backyard. We also greatly benefited from the electrical outlets on this deck.
A walk into the woods to find some firewood. Manny loved it in here.
Did you notice my husband off in the distance in the above picture? I think that he is the "bear"
that Manny spotted in this video! Manny cracks me up, he can be so dramatic!
Tents are so much fun!
The roasted hot dogs were delicious. Jav used his knife to
shape a sharp tip on our "skewers" and we were ready to go!
A table was set up by Mrs "F" with hot apple cider. She also made hot chocolate and coffee for us. I am so glad she thought of these things. Our camp out wouldn't have been the same without them. The warm drinks were delicious and helped to take the chill out of our bones.
The following morning...
We did bring an air mattress for the kids to sleep on, but Jav and Amera slept on the cold, hard ground of the tent. They were quite cold, and did not get a very good nights sleep. Jav woke up somewhere around 4am and began to build a fire in order to get some warmth. I guess he didn't want to disturb me and the little ones in the warm habitation of a sun room that we were sleeping in!
Let's just say that, being pregnant, I was very glad to have the option of sleeping in there. I slept rather comfortably on a cushy leather couch. It was a good thing that I got such a good nights rest, because there was so much clean up to do when we got home!
It was so fun flipping pancakes in the "great outdoors." I propped up my skillet on a small metal table, added water to my pancake mix and poured 'em on! Thankfully the other ladies remembered cooking spray. I completely forgot about this very necessary item! It would not have been pretty folks!
The other ladies flipped pancakes on another skillet and we had many children helping to transport pancakes over to the campfire area. Everyone was fed delicious syrupy goodness in no time!
This picture just makes me laugh :)
Love the furry hood!
Enjoying the sunshine!
Still freezing though. Grrrrr! :)
Clara's little acorn collection.
This was such a neat experience for our family. I confess, I was feeling a little reluctance to go at first. All the planning and packing at the end of an already busy week. The prospect of not sleeping well and being cold did not sound appealing. Most of my family "roughed it" more than I did, but I know we'd all do it all over again in a heartbeat.
Shortly before we headed for home on Saturday, I was in the wooded area taking a few last minute shots of the leaves. I ended up stepping in a yellow jacket nest and got stung twice. I have never been stung before! This is the very same area that our kids were playing in the day before. I just thank God that it was me and not them. I was fine by the time we finished the thirty minute drive home. As soon as we got home I set to work. I cleaned out our van, I did load after load of laundry (we used many blankets and they all smelled like smoke), we made sure the house was clean and orderly and one by one people fell asleep. The poor dears. They were all exhausted. The house was quiet. I took the opportunity to sit down with my Bible for a while...
With everything clean again, we settled in for a relaxing evening together. We ordered pizza for dinner...who wants to cook after all is said and done? We enjoyed a slide show of all our camping pictures and remembered all the fun we had. The next camping experience will be the "Father/son camp out." Too bad I won't be there to take pictures. ..."Honey, don't forget the camera!"
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