More camping

So surprise surprise we had a rough night sleeping. Appleseed does not do well out of his own crib. He did give everyone a very enthusiastic rendition of I Am A Child of God in the night. He cracks me up.Right before we left we went down to the creek again and my friend convinced me to let the kids go in the creek. Something I would normally do. Darn, I hate being so overprotective and cautious now. They had a blast. Butterball found a piece of wood that he called his surf board and kept trying to get on it.Appleseed was my scary one. He kept climbing all over.While we were packing Appleseed was having his own cooking lesson apparently. He had cracked every single one of the eggs. Look at that guilty face. So cute.
When it was time to go I had put Appleseed in his car seat as he was dead set on returning to the creek while we packed the last of our stuff. It cracked me up because his friend and him are very good together but also have times of not sharing. I all of a sudden heard him in the car saying, "Mine L Mine. Mine L Mine." He and his friend L say that all the time to each other. She was no where near him at the time. We decided it was their friendship language.

Camping!!!!!

I was THRILLED when I found out my husband did not have to work the weekend that the Stake campground was open. He asked me what the name of the campground was and I of course said, "Stake campground. I am sure you can google it" I was kidding.

I had asked my husband to bring something that we could use for rain as I heard it was supposed to rain while we were up there. He was amazing! He brought a tarp for over the picnic table and a big mosquito tent also. I loved it! And it was nice when the kids were in it because you knew where they were.My kids are like me. If I let them they would be off exploring to the end of the earth. I love their desire to do so but I have become more of a worry wart lately so as long as I could see or hear then that was as far as I would let them go.There was a small creek by the campsite that we went down and threw rocks in. My kids wanted to get in and walk around and for some crazy reason I told them no. Normally I would say yes and get in with them. I am not sure if it is all the injuries I have received in the last year or my husband wearing off on my (he is more protective where I normally am more relaxed).Then we went for a walk, something I LOVE to do while camping. I have always loved exploring things and just being out in nature. We enjoyed it. At one point in the road my daughter said it looked like 1/2 of Jesus' cross.We found a playground and I let the kids play for a short time. We ran into a counselor from my daughter's old school and she said that she had heard I was moving her to a new school. When I told her that I was she said that she felt I had definitely made the right choice in doing that. Hmmmm, makes me wonder about the old school.Silly Appleseed was swinging like this and kept asking me to push him. Nut, hello you can push yourself buddy.This is what I get lately from Butterball. That kid! :)Butterball is always very good at packing his own stuff, toys and what not included. But I was curious about this. You can't see it very well but he had packed a ton of hair bows, flowers, and clips and came out of the tent wearing them in his hair.We had friends that camped with us in our site and we loved it. They are an amazing family and I always enjoy spending time with them. The Dad made homemade fries that night. I INHALED them! They were SOOOOO good and I am been dreaming of them since. I plan to make some soon.

Camping - Last Day

Here is Appleseed helping me pack. I woke up feeling really well that morning and then it got worse. So I would sit down and rest, then pack a bit, then rest. It was crazy.Sitting around chewing the fat. I love family camping.The kids were so funny. It was our last day and they kept sitting around instead of playing. It was odd. Then they went off to play right as we are getting ready to leave. Silly kids.I seriously had the best time and I am so glad I have such a great family. I love them all a ton and can't wait for next year. But after suffering with a concussion for the past week from the fall.....I don't think I want to do that hike again. :)

Camping Day 2

Sorry it has taken me forever to get this one posted. I have been so sick and darn computer was not loading stuff.

This is how Appleseed started Day 2. Cuddled up all nice and warm. There was this tree that was stuck in between two other trees and we had been joking how the kids should try and use it as a teeter totter. Later we decided to get it down. Crazy but it was fun and took a lot of work.My hubby and I getting ready for our ride. I seriously LOVE trail bikes. It is such a rush. I had a blast and it was fun to be with just hubby for a bit. Thanks to my sweet family for watching my kiddos.We went hiking later (seriously typing this makes me realize how much we did that day, it was awesome). We went to this waterfall. The kids loved playing in the water and the older ones went behind the waterfall. So cool. My smart brother-in-law tried to tell me that I should stop at a smaller waterfall and let my little ones play there as the hike to this was a little hard. Ofcourse I didn't listen.This is what we had to climb up and down on the way to the waterfall from the top. This mountain of loose shale rock. It was crazy and I was surprised none of our kids got hurt.Then on the way back I was carrying Butterball on my back as he had had it and was tired. He is my whiner when it comes to walking, hiking, doing stuff. :) We started to fall and I decided to brace my fall with my head instead of my hands as they were holding Butterball. And this is the result. My sister saw me and came back down telling me I needed to wipe up the blood so I my son wouldn't see. I told her I had wiped it twice already but it wouldn't stop bleeding. My BIL (the one that suggested me and my kids stop at the smaller one, remember? Gee is he smart. :)) gave my sister his shirt which she very tightly tied to my head. We just pretended to the kids that I was hot and that was why I was wearing his shirt on my head.When we finally got back up my Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy sister cleaned out my wound. OUCH!!! And then glued me up as I did NOT want to quit camping to go and get stitches.I felt OK. I had a bad headache though. My sisters had me rest while they watched my baby and the others went to shoot guns.Thanks to my sisters for taking care of me and my kids up there. And thanks to my sister Y for most of the pictures on here.

Camping - Day 1

It was time for our Annual Family camp out. I seriously love it and can not wait till next year. Those L's know how to camp right I tell you.

First off the trip down to E town was crazy. My baby threw up 5 times in the normally 2 1/2 hour drive. Very not cool. Poor guy. I had to wash all the towels and the car seat the minute we arrived.

The next day we got ready and left for the mountains. My oldest two got to ride in the back of my sister's truck. They love it and it helps with their car sickness. Baby rode with me, windows down the whole dusty way, and with the help of some medicine he made it the whole way without throwing up. Big surprise!We played Trail Master the first day. I love that game. Then my nephew climbed very high up this dead tree. Before my husband made him come down I quickly took a picture. Man do I need a better camera. :) Once I saw it I actually wanted to climb it myself. :)My niece celebrated her upcoming birthday. As my kids and one nephew can not have dairy I made us some brownies instead. I thought it went well but my baby apparently wanted that cake. People had put their plates with small bits of cake into the fire pit for when we started a fire later. He went in the pit several times and ate quite a bit of cake. Every time you turned around he was eating some. Silly guy.My baby was quite the fire wood collector. It was precious to see him carrying these small little sticks and trying to throw them in the fire.My big boy was a major wood collector. Nothing was going to stop him from getting wood after wood after wood. He loved it.It was a blast. There was only 4 of us sisters so hopefully we will have more next year and also the married nieces. That would be great! Hint hint!

Base Family Campout

We went to the Annual Base Family Campout. It was fun.....for most. :) Butterball whining about throwing the bean bags. I seriously do not know why.Butterbean was very very sick the whole time. That is part of the non-fun part. She was too sick to want to go play, the other 2 were dying to go play. It was not easy at all.Eating their free sno-cones. Seriously the worst tasting things ever. :)A local place had brought some birds to look at and talk about for several hours. That was fascinating.After making binoculars, eating free food, talking about birds, getting tattoos, playing on the bouncy castle, the splash pad, and the play ground we settled down at night to watch the movie, Brother Bear.And this is Appleseed at 1:30 AM!!! Not funny. Butterbean fell asleep right away, thank goodness. Butterball fell asleep about 1 AM. And this little monster fell asleep finally at 2 AM. He kept running in circles making noises and trying to peak out the windows at the people near us. It was nuts!Eating our free breakfast in the morning. It was a little crazy but fun still. Can't wait till next year.

Was it worth it?

The kids and I went camping on the Base last night. It was super hot. At first I thought of setting up the tent near the car as we were by ourselves. So we set it up but it was blazing so I had us drag it and everything else over to a shady but bumpy spot. Who cares right? At least we are in the shade. Our tent will be cool at night, we can sit in the shade.

They had a bazillion, and I mean a bazillion little plastic balls all over the area. No one was sure what they were for but after awhile they started disappearing. So we grabbed a few too. I saw one girl carry a shirt full several times to her tent. I am sure she left with about 50 of them. Turns out they were there for us to all play with and keep. Cute idea. We had a bouncy castle that they jumped on and a play ground right next to it so it was back and forth from one to the other.Butterbean found a marker in the car and colored her lips, teeth, and pants on the way there. Seriously?Here we are all trying to set up the tent together. It is a super easy tent to set up but even easier with just yourself.They had crafts for the kids. They made these cute hats and painted them. It was a cute idea and I was amazed at some of the hats they made. I want to do this at home now as a craft someday. Butterball did not have the patience for it but Butterbean loved hers.Appleseed sat on the grass while the kids played and ate grass. Mmmmmmm, yum.For dinner they provided hot dogs, chips, water, and ice cream bars. My kids loved it. Appleseed ate an entire hot dog himself. Don't worry I broke it into small bites and fed them one by one.Then they had smores over a bonfire that my kids opted not to go to. And later they showed a movie, Charlotte's Web, and had popcorn and gave out glow sticks. Then they feed you breakfast at a ridiculous time of the morning. The sun was not even up yet. But they had a ton and of course the kids love those sugar cereals as they don't get them at home so they were excited. And to beat it all, it was all free.During dinner they had some music playing so Butterball was up dancing and singing and then Butterbean got in on the action. Sorry that it is sideways. Didn't realize that.
So to wrap it up, was it worth it? We never did sit in the shade and enjoy it by our tent. When the movie ends at 11pm you don't have to worry about your tent being warm from the sun or not. I forgot they didn't provide drinks, they did provide Coke with caffeine for dinner, and had forgot to bring my own. I found a huge multiple drinking fountain later that had plasitc cups on it but had cute little girsl filling them all up for people. I am sorry but I just kept seeing germs as they weren't assigned to do it but doing it out of the goodness of their heart. Thank goodness for my emergency water I keep in the car so that we could refill that too. Having just a few bathrooms for 50 million people is a joke. They get super dirty and you are always in a line. OK, not 50 million but a ton! At bed time you had some really nice parents who let their kids stay up later and play around. And you know the shade I wanted? Right next to the pavilion and they had the lights on till about 11:30pm so it was super bright in our tent. Even after the lights were put out the naughty noisy kids outside had fun playing with who knows what and making all kinds of noise. Then to have more kids be noisy in the morning so that they wake up your monsters before you or they are ready to be. Am I tired? You bet! Have my kids been tired, whiny, grumpy, and just play wild today? You bet! So worth it? YOU BET!!!! Would I do it again? In a heart beat!

Family Camping

We went camping this weekend and had the best time!!! Even if my son begged to go home from the very beginning. He even asked me, "Which way to Gamma's house." I think he was planning on walking there. When it was time to go home we told him and he said, "Yeah!" It was so funny.

We started off watching my cute niece play softball. She was so good at it.The kids watching.Hauling wood.Roasted marshmallows and socks! It was raining the first day so we got a little wet and muddy. Except for one sister who I thought was nuts wearing flip flops. Then when she could go in the creek to wash off her feet and shoes I began to see the wisdom in those flip flops.Only here can you camp and sled! It was so fun.We all got in a little shooting.Even Grandma got in the action.Rode trail bikes and ATVs. My sweet nephew and niece gave the younger kids rides.Getting very relaxed while roasting marshmallowsHe wore that helmet everywhere, literally!It was such a great time and I can't wait till we do it again. Thanks to the L family for providing so much food, entertainment, and fun! It was the best!