Camping Details

What a fun few days! An adventure, that's for sure. Me and 6 of the kids headed out camping without Glade and the oldest 3. Chelsey and Whitley had school and Nick found himself in some pretty good trouble so he got left behind. We left without a hitch, other than the struggle with our hitch. The journey there was uneventful, the kids all got along well and the cars ran smoothly. The area was a little rough, it had burned before and there were lots of little prong like stumps everywhere. Made it rough for little ones walking around. OK, so a few of us big ones tripped a couple times too! The ground was a little uneven so we had a "fun" time trying to get the jacks under the camper to level it. Eventually we used a car jack, which none of us knew how to use, to get it up high enough to make it all work. Lucky for us we had Stephen. He was very helpful. After getting it level, we quickly got camp organized and the kids were off exploring.

It was pretty chilly when the sun went down so we got a fire going and broke out the hot dogs for roasting. Normally this is one of my favorite things to do while camping. Because there were only 3 s: Me, Julia and Shellie, the kids way out numbered us. It was a little stressful having that many kids around a fire. They just don't think. We got through dinner and started getting the little ones ready for bed. My kids go down really easy so I was back out at the fire in no time. It was just me, Stephen, Rhett, Dalin and David for the rest of the evening. I don't know how it came about, we ended up trying to teach David the Macarena around the campfire. That was fun. We all turned in early. Shellie let me borrow a little heater for my camper and I was so grateful! It got cold! The heater did just enough to take the chill off. Unfortunately, it ran out of propane in the middle of the night and I was too cold to get up and get more. In the middle of the night, Bo let out a huge belly laugh. I was waiting for more, or for Dalin to say something, but nope, nothing else. I guess he was having a good dream! In the wee hours of the morning, I was dreaming that I was at the mall and I was having a stroke. When the paramedics arrived, I told them my nose was paralyzed, I couldn't feel it. Sure enough, I woke up and my nose was numb! Funny how our minds and bodies work.

The second day was great. The kids played and hiked all day. It got a little warm, but not too bad. We did happen to see two tarantula's while we were sitting around. Julia didn't think that was so great. Especially since the first one had it's front legs reared up at her two year old. Rhett and Stephen found a little hatchet in one of the bins and spent the whole day chopping stuff up. I never thought they could get through anything, but they did. At one point we heard a huge crash (tree falling) and all the kids came running. "Did you see that!" We put a stop to that. Rhett tried three times to build his own fire outside the fire ring and was successful at one point. I wanted to ring his little neck! Us s sat around and talked and giggled and probably shared way too much information. It was nice. The second night, I stayed out by the fire by myself for a while and listened to my mp3. Very peaceful. I made sure to take enough propane in the camper with me this time so we stayed toasty warm all night. It was a good night's sleep except for the elk who was looking for some action. I'm guessing since he howled all night, he was not successful.

Katy woke up bright and early that morning. Still dark and freezing. She was wild, wouldn't stay still, kept talking. Eventually we were all up. The kids ventured out but were back with purple lips and freezing hands in no time. We decided to turn the heater back on and have breakfast in the camper. That was fun. The last day there was almost as good as the previous. One little problem - BEES! Not just a few bees while you were cooking, but swarms of them. OK, I've never seen an actual swarm, but I have also never seen this many bees at one time. The kids out hiking and playing in the trees weren't too bothered by them, but anywhere around camp it was awful. The women stayed holed up in Shellie's camper. We kept the little ones with us as long as we could. The kids kept wanting in then out, in then out. There were always at least 5-8 bees on the door of the camper. Shellie was really good about swatting at them to try and keep them out while kids got in or out. Eventually one went up her pant leg and stung her. I felt really bad. Katy just walked around shooing at them around her head. She got stung right above her diaper. Jared just walked around with a ping pong like paddle swatting at them. About 2 pm, I just called it quits. I was hot and having no fun and the bees were terribly annoying. Julia agreed but Shellie was a little frustrated I think.

We packed up in about an hour and then spent the next 40 min trying to hook the stupid camper up to my van. My camper was free ($) and obviously so. The little wheel that you crank up and down to get it on the hitch doesn't work. We had to lift and pull. This took all 3 s and Stephen to accomplish and even then, it wouldn't completely hook on. I'm sure on hidden camera we could have provided all with a great laugh! We finally got it to hook and then came the really fun part, backing it out. I could NOT figure out which way to turn the wheel. Frustrating and funny at the same time. Back and forth, forward, backward, over and over and over. We finally got it done and were so excited. She told me to lead so I did. After I pulled out on to the main dirt road, she turned the other way and says "where are you going?" I pulled out the wrong way. Here we go with the backing up again, grrrr. We got out and the trip home was mostly quiet, except the two babies who were way beyond tired. We met Stephen's scout leaders half way and he jumped in with them and went back up. They had a camp out this weekend so he is still gone. I'm sure I could go on and on with more funny stories and silly things, but I'll wrap it up now. If this was way too detailed for you, sorry. It is, after all, my journal!

Memorable Tid-bits

-Katy lifting her shirt, and sticking her belly out to all the trees. (Copying all the boys )
-Shellie rethinking "tree hugging" due to the aforementioned. (boys all over them)
-Lainy and her "crack house" - she says her r's like ow "crackers" We copied her all weekend
-As long as we're talking about Lainy, she has a thing for "cracks". We saw hers all week.
-Dalin going on and on to David about Pokemon and David staring blankly at him till he paused and then he would let out a funny little laugh.
-9 boys sword fighting for 3 days
-Hiking with a baby on your shoulders who doesn't want to be there
-Trying to dig a hole with a square shovel
-Forgetting the propane tank for the stove.
-Every kid gnawing on rock hard donuts
-Playing cards with my friends protected from the bees
-Warm peach cobbler
-Watching Stephen and Rhett create a bond
-Roaming around with a cell phone held high in the air searching for a signal
-Chapped lips
-Two good friend agreeing to accompany me on this trip!

Bo and Lainy, practically inseparable


Me following Katy around picking her up and dusting her off


Stephen taking a rest from hacking up logs


Dalin with his walking stick


"What?" Bo says after me calling his name several times.


Jayce, Dalin, David and Jason hauling logs


Rhett taking a whack


Victory over the log!


I'm sure he was saying "you can't get me!" to Lainy



Pretty Brooklyn was so helpful with the little ones


Katy kept getting in the van and taking my Dove chocolates


The boys walked up and down this log a lot (it was really long)


Breakfast in the camper


The other kids went upstairs to shower and left the TV on, this is how we found Katy. She tucked herself in.