The evenings were spent eating an amazing dinner cooked over the camp fire and cleaning up our dirty kids. The three little ones were soundly sleeping by 7:30pm every night and then we’d do smores with the big ones before putting them to bed. We let Jaime stay up a little later than the rest (one of the advantages of being the oldest) and engaged in our grown up talk around the fire. I think she enjoyed that very much.
Jaime and Alix both got the advantage of being woken up early and taken fishing. Both girls froze and both girls caught fish. They were very excited and enjoyed the time with dad VERY much. The last day there we went on a 3 mile hike (1.5 miles each way). I carried Keri in a makeshift sling and Scott carried Afton if she needed a break. The rest of the kids walked the whole way. It was a challenging hike with lots of ups and downs. We found a nice place on the trail and had a picnic snack. The kids did amazing and we had a ton of fun. Afton fell asleep on Scott’s head while he was carrying her back to camp. It was super cute. We went into the local town for dinner on Friday night. We found this place that had a bbq pit in the front and it smelled wonderful. We enjoyed that very much.
Some highlights of the trip…. There’s nothing else like seeing your five year old boy, Milo, run from the tent (looking to see if anyone was looking) totally naked except for his flip flops, pee on the nearest tree and then run back to the safety of the tent. It was sooo funny. Especially since his little bum was very white compared to the rest of his tanned body. Collecting glass bottles, plastic bottles and cans. My friend is a teacher and for a fund raiser her class is collecting these items and redeeming them for money. We must have found at least 200, mostly beer bottles. I’m sure people were wondering how we could possible take care of so many children with that many beer bottles in our camp! It was classic having the ranger stop and tell us our fire was too high and we had to keep it down. On the flip side of that, our neighbors couldn’t get their fire to go. I offered to help them but they declined. While we enjoyed our wonderful bon fire, they struggled the rest of the night. I felt sorry for them, but they did decline my offer to help. I have a new nickname…..CPA (certified public arsonist). So I like to start fires…..as long as they are controlled! :0) They had lots of wild grapes and blackberries. The kids enjoyed eating as many of those as they desired. Jaime and Niah are pretty good Kubb players. We had such a good time playing that game and improving our skills. All the kids are pros at Uno now. Our new family favorite camping game. Afton’s baby that she was given for her birthday became her pride and joy. She insisted on taking it to camp and whatever we did with Keri, Afton was right behind doing it to her baby. Afton must have “washed” her baby a zillion times; in the lake, drinking fountains, dish water….. It was too cute and Afton makes a great mommy!
Your camping stories remind me of camping as a kid, something we did often every summer. And now I haven’t been camping for 8 or 9 years! How lame are we?? Too funny about the beer bottles…but what a great idea to clean the earth and do a little good for someone else in the process too! Can’t wait to see your cute family again someday!!
The visual of Milo running out to pee in only flip-flops is HILARIOUS! Mostly because I can see my boys doing the same thing. Sounds like everyone had a great time and we’re glad you’re back safe!