Outdoor Fun

Friday seemed like a whirlwind day. The morning went by fairly easy, but in the afternoon my dad called. One of the guys he works with invited everyone and their families to go camping near the base. So Dad wanted to know if we would like to go meet them in the evening and have smores. Mark said, "Let's go and suprise them by camping all night!" So we did!

We had no tent, no sleeping bags, a twin size air mattress, no food... Absolutely nothing was ready. And Oren had a t-ball party that I needed to bring a side dish for. AAAHH! I threw together a pasta salad, we headed to the party, had a potluck dinner which meant one less thing to bring camping. Mark went to go help someone move furniture and I ran to the BX with the kids to grab some gear. We ended up with a nice, big 5-man tent that is tall enough Mark can stand up and big enough to fit 2 double air mattresses. We think we will be going camping a few times this summer.... :-) We were able to get a double mattress, sleeping bags were atrociously pricey so I decided to pack quilts for the kids to sleep on.

Next stop was the commissary for meat, cheese, yogurt and ice. We ran home and packed backpacks for the kids, stuffed the cooler, threw together non-refrigerated food stuffs and equipment. When Mark got home I had everything loaded in the van: towels, backpacks, pillows and blankets, cooler, tent, lanterns... everything. So we took off.

Mom and Dad were so excited when we got there, and even more thrilled when we started unloading all our gear. She was very impressed that in a matter of a few hours I was able to get everything together, and go to a party besides. Thing is, we make lots of unplanned last minute trips to see his folks for the weekend. So I have gotten good at packing what we need, and doing it quickly. I make lists, and actually use them. I can pack lots of stuff in the small space in the van that we have. So an overnight camping trip was no problem!

We enjoyed ourselves, the boys went fishing with Uncle Morgan and Grandpa. Janelle entertained William. I fell off the innertube twice before actually getting on and staying there. Mom got pictures....

Smores with cinnamon graham crackers taste amazing! Marshmallows are yummy when toasted just right. And sausages are divine when camping and cooked over coals. Nothing beats a cold ham and cheese sandwhich on a hot day.

I only took a couple of pictures of one thing the whole trip. As we were setting up the tent we took it out of the box. Janelle thought it would be funny to see if William fit into the box.

He fit just right. Janelle started laughing and so we turned around to see what was so funny. There was this little top of a head, then he jumped up and did a little peek-a-boo thing. We cracked up! What a silly little guy.

We are exhausted today, but it was a lot of fun, and we are really glad we got to go spend time with family.