Thought for the Day

"Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul." -- Henry Ward Beecher

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

A Family Camp out

For Labor Day weekend we went on our first family camping trip.  The kids have wanted to go for a long time, so with an extra day for the weekend we decided to take the plunge.  We went to a place called Mann's Creek.  They have a reservoir there and a few campgrounds.  We got in Saturday afternoon and got our tent set up under some nice shade trees.  That evening we just relaxed, played some crochet, baseball, etc.  We had some hot dogs and hamburgers for dinner which were yummy.  Then as were starting to slow down for the evening, the fun began!  The winds started picking up because a cold front was to be coming through.  We thought after a  while that the winds would die down.  Nope, not the case.  So as I lay there on the luxuriously soft ground, listening to the wind blow, I just kept wondering when I was going to have to crawl out of my tent to set it back up!  A couple of hours later, when it's dark and most of the other campers have settled in for the night we got some new neighbors.  While it was kind of funny watching them try set up their tents in 30mph wind gusts, it was not so funny when they were laughing and joking until about 2am.  Fortunately, the kids slept like logs.  Not to mention the zipper on the door of the tent we had did not work.  Needles to say, even though the first night went off with a bang, the rest was pretty good.
The next day we went for a walk to the reservoir, played some more games and had some additional family members join us.  My parents and some of the kids cousins came up for a night which the kids loved.  We had a great enchilada dinner made in the dutch oven by Woody followed by some peach cobbler.  I think sometimes we eat better when we do activities than we do at home!  All in all it was a good time and something the family will look forward to again.  Maybe we'll try an ice cave this winter...just kidding!
One night Benjamin was so tired he decided he'd just lay on the ground for a rest!  Poor kid, camping was just too much fun.