I don’t feel as though this post is done, but I’m done doing it. Every time I sat down to do this post, something always came up. Enjoy!!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Since our summer was a bit wacky, we ended up doing most of our summer things in September. This included our yearly family camping trip. Because of the inability to be creative this year, we went back to the same place we went last year, Del Valle in Livermore.
Because of our Disneyland trip and being so tired we hadn’t done any of the preparations for camp. So when we woke up Monday morning, our original leave time of noon was an impossibility. We didn’t leave till 4pm. It worked out fine though. Del Valle is close and it still stayed light late.
We decided that we needed a new tent. We have a tent that we got our first year of marriage. About 3 years ago we got a used tent that was nice but not quite big enough. So we’ve been setting up and sleeping in 2 tents each year. Then about a year ago the zipper broke. We dealt with it last year but this year we did our research and decided a nice big family tent would be the best option for us. So we got a 10 man tent.
It is VERY nice and it definitely holds us all. But with all of our stuff it was still a bit crowded. So we set up the other tent too and used that as the dressing tent. Scott thought I was crazy at first, but it ended up being a blessing. We even ate a few meals in there because we were being attacked by bugs.
We were there from Monday September 20-Saturday September 25. Gayle was able to join us for a few days which was REALLY nice. We all love her company and the kids were so excited to have her there. Joey was unable to join us and we missed him a lot. But we understood how life stands in the way of fun sometimes!
Our first night was VERY interesting. About 2am I jump out of bed because it sounds like thunder. I stand in the middle of the tent trying to figure out what I am going to do if it starts pouring rain. We had left the top off because the night was so beautiful. As I’m trying to figure out what to do it occurs to me that it’s not thunder I’m hearing but the sprinklers hitting the side of the tent.
Apparently we put our tent too close to the grassy area and we were now being “rained” on inside of our tent. Of course, actually thankfully, it was only “raining” on the third of the tent that Scott and I were sleeping in. The sprinklers went on for another 20 minutes. During which time Scott and I had settled in the small section of tent that was left in front of the door, cold and wet, while our side of the tent got a nice size puddle of water in it. Jaime and Alix were the only ones who woke up during the commotion and we were all laughing so hard we couldn’t get back to sleep very easily.
[See all the stuff hanging around drying out??]
We spent the good part of the morning cleaning out, drying out and moving the tent. We hung everything all around the camp sites in an effort to dry everything before the night came. Needless to say, we spent that day at camp!
[making hobo dinners for lunch]
Taking a wagon on a hiking trail, not matter how “easy” the trail looks, is not a good idea. Believe us, we’ve tried it!!
Last year we did this VERY long trail that was suppose to fork and take us to the lake. We never made it. But his year the kids made it to the fork in the trail! However, we realized that we could have made it last year had we walked another 2 minutes. So we decided that if we ever do camping there again, we’ll have someone drive the van to the lake, walk back to camp and then do the hike. That way when we get to the lake we can eat lunch and swim before going back to camp.
[The view was beautiful and we were glad that we made it to the top]
Jaime caught a squirrel. Niah really wanted to catch one but didn’t have the right trapping system. These squirrels were too smart. But they were VERY aggressive too. So after lots of test runs we finally realized that if Jaime sat still behind a bucket with food under it and dropped it fast, she’d catch one. Ta da, it worked!!
[Feeding the squirrel]
[waiting for the squirrel]
[caught it!]
[Letting it go….can you see the blur?]
We played lots of Kubb, checkers, Uno, slapjack and Scrabble.
We went to the lake all but one day. The weather was super cold the first 2 days and then pretty hot the last 3 days.
We had lots of yummy food and warm fires and great conversations. The kids played and read and enjoyed the great outdoors. The kids even slept in a bit more this year than usual.
[Of course we had to clean up after each meal. Not like at home when we just leave them in the sink….. :o)]
On Friday we told the kids that we were leaving tomorrow. Alix disagreed and before I knew it she was in tears. She was so sure it was Thursday that she was sad to find out it was actually Friday. It was the greatest feeling ever. Not knowing what day it was or even what time it was. Time stopped while our little family enjoyed our time together without the distractions of cell phones, computers, jobs or school. It was good for our family!
[We’ve decided that maybe we should take the picture on the first day of camp, not the last day…. :o)]
Sami…. You are the best mother ever!! What a fun camping trip! ALMOST makes me want to take my fam camping. Except for the dirt, the sleeping on the ground, the lack of showers and the bugs, I’d be there in a HEARTBEAT. :) xo to you!