We squeezed in one camping trip to end the summer properly. We always mean to go more often, but there seems to be something every weekend that keeps us from going. But we decided we just needed to go, even though we still had family in town, and the weather was going to be pretty cold.
We reserved our spot, and as soon as Ben was done teaching, we headed out of town. We set up camp (well, Ben set up camp), cooked our hobo dinners, and went to play in the creek. The boys loved to gather firewood, and we had a fire going in no time.
Grace and Matt loved to help Dad set up the tent, and the boys got busy tending the fire. It's so funny to see the kids entertaining themselves and each other. They can be so weird sometimes, but it's good to see them having fun together.
Haley's job mostly was to help keep an eye on Matt, which -- believe me -- was a full-time job. We did attach a bear bell to his pants, and he jingled all over the place. I panicked a few times when I wasn't hearing the bell ringing, but it turned out that he was just sitting down.
(Haley was contemplating putting on her jacket. She did.)
If any of you don't live in the mountains, here's a little secret. Mountain dirt is DIRTIER than regular dirt. So it took no time flat for the kids to get dirty. I tried cleaning them several times, but I eventually just gave up.
For some reason, Grace REALLY loved this hatchet. She carried it around until I finally told her to put it down before somebody lost a limb. I think she knew it was Dad's important tool, and she loved being helpful.
After dinner, we crossed a small stream to get to the creek, and we spent most of the evening there. The boys worked on their rock-skipping skills, and Matt dug in the sand.
Haley was trying to dig this rock free. It didn't work.
Throughout the night, we froze half to death. Joey, Matt and I slept on the air mattress that slowly leaked air. I was wide awake until 3 am, at which point my butt was on the cold, hard ground. I was busy all night trying to keep Matt warm. He moved a lot, and he ended up mostly beneath me, trying to get warm. Everybody had to use the bathroom (the tree) at 5 am, and Ben and I just got up to start a fire because we were frozen. I can't remember going camping without freezing and getting 1 1/2 hours of sleep. But it was all worth it in the end.
Joey said his favorite part was sitting by the campfire drinking hot cocoa (which he did all morning). After breakfast, we packed up and then went back down to the creek. We spent another 1 1/2 to 2 hours down there, playing in the sand. It was a great time, and even though we were still pretty cold, we slipped off our shoes and got busy building sand castles and volcanoes.
