It’s been too long since the last update. This may take a few days to get you caught up, but I’m sure you are used to that by now!!
Sunday September 7 was Afton’s birthday. We had been prepping her for weeks that her birthday was coming and that she was going to be two. By the time Sunday morning rolled around Afton was on cloud nine. She could hold up two fingers and when asked she could say ‘I two’. It was too cute. We did our normal Sunday routine and I went to a meeting in the afternoon. I got home “early” so that I could make Afton’s birthday dinner. We had a good time eating dinner and sharing some birthday cake with the neighbors. They are such a good friends now. They brought Afton a new doll that she absolutely fell in love with and would not let it out of her sight. She got money from her grandparents and from her siblings. It was cute to watch Jaime and Alix get all into making Afton a birthday card and giving her two dollars each. They are great big sisters and their younger siblings are so lucky to have them. As soon as cake was done we had the kids run around to get some energy out and then we worked on packing all the clothes for the camping trip. As soon as all the kids were in bed I went to Camille’s house. She agreed to do corn rows in my hair so that I would not have to worry about it during the week. It took three hours, a little longer than I had anticipated, but came out great! After I got home Scott and I were up till 1 am getting all we could packed and ready so that the next morning would run more smoothly.
Monday September 8-13 was our annual Family Camping Trip. We had been looking forward to this all summer. We went later this year hoping to get better weather. I was a little disappointed that the weather report said it would get into the mid 90’s everyday. But it did give hope for cool nights, so I packed warm clothes, just in case. Good thing I did! Our mornings were COLD so we would build a fire and snuggle in our jackets and enjoy seeing our breath. The afternoons were WARM/HOT so we could swim and play and have fun. The evenings were COOL and inviting after the warmth of the afternoon. By bedtime it was cold enough to snuggle in a sleeping bag and sleep soundly all night. The kids did well at night. We did have the nightly run to the bathroom by one kid or another and Keri decided she needed a nightly feeding which would result in me having to make a dash to the bathroom too! The moon and stars were an amazing sight and I’d slip off to sleep watching them out the opened window in the the tent. We slept in two tents again. It just seems to work. Hopefully next year, Jaime, Alix and Milo will be old enough to sleep in their own tent so that Scott and I can sleep together, but we’ll see. We sure do wish we could have found a tent big enough for all of us. Maybe in the future.
We spent most days fishing in the mornings and staying around camp gathering fire wood and eating and planning the rest of the day. This was the first time we have camped in a place that encouraged us to gather fire wood. It was fun and the kids had a great time being responsible for the task. It also made for some nice BIG fires at night. We spent a couple of mornings exploring the camp ground and spent an hour in the visitor’s center. It was VERY tiny but so much fun. They had so many activities for the kids. We spent every afternoon at the lake swimming and playing. We soon realized it was too much work to take Keri and all her stuff to the lake (there was no shade and it wasn’t comfy for her anyway). So one of us always stayed back at camp to be with Keri and usually Afton too. Our camp site was in a good location. Close enough to the water that Jaime and Alix and Milo could go down to the water by themselves but far enough away we did not have to worry about the three little ones.
Yay, an update from the Thompsons! Sounds like you guys had fun camping. Looking forward to the rest of the update…and no baby yet!