Vacation, relax, kick-back, rest, fun, dirty, smoky, family, cold, mosquitoes, fishing, eating, singing, late nights...
That's definitely the way to describe our Grice/Gavin/Lowis annual camping trip! All of us needed that vacation. This summer has been so crazy that hitting the pause button on work was such a relief! Even though we came back to reality, tired, dirty and with mountains of laundry, I've never felt so rested after a vacation.
Anyway, here are the pictures...
"Early one morning just as the sun was rising..."
... A boy was doing his chores with a kitty on his shoulders...
Watson loves to ride on their shoulders as they do chores. :)
The boys took Gram's camper to Cold Springs to set it up for her.
We had the bed loaded with wood, coolers, etc.
We girls got the big tent again. Everything was just thrown in the door, awaiting Abi and my arrival.
Trying to make order out of chaos.
Tent city
It's always fun to wreak havoc on the newly organized tents, isn't it?
Hope had a new fishing poll that she was just dying to try out. She begged everyone to go with her. Mom sent her to me to see if I'd go. Hope told me "I want you to come with me!" How can you refuse that?
Hope started into fishing with all the zeal and exuberance that she does everything with. Let's just say that she wasn't born for angling. Brie and I slit our sides laughing as we ducked and swerved, trying to avoid her erratic hook.
I took this video towards the end of her casting spree. :)
Trying to catch minnows
The water lilies were beautiful this year!
Hope got a lot better the more she tried. Sadly, the only thing she ever caught was seaweed.
Abi and I spotted Brie over in the tree line and went to join her.
It was a peaceful, idyllic scene that confronted our eyes.
The three stooges
Day 2
It kept getting colder and colder... and colder as that first night crawled along on sluggish feet. It was 39* all night, but around 6:30 am it dipped to 37*. Burr! Abi and Grace got up to run to the outhouse. Abi snapped these pictures. That's Hope, Brie and Sam buried beneath the blankets. I think it was somewhere around 4:30 or 5.
You can't tell from the shapeless lump, but that's me. I woke up stiff after being curled up and tense from the cold. It was a miserable night!
As some left to do chores, somebody let us know that the pond was really pretty, so I grabbed the camera and the little people and we ran down. Sam found this baby mourning dove on the way.
Hope was fascinated by it.
Biking to the pond
The pond was breathtaking clothed in mist with the gold and silver tints of the sun's gentle touch.
It was still frigid out.
All the cob webs were dripping with dew.
Warming up back at the campfire
Walking Tacos were on the menu for lunch!
Yum!
Hiding from the camera :)
Around 3, we found out that Martins were planning to visit us, so we had a mass clean up to get ready.
We found that splitting a loaf of bread in half, coating it in butter and sometimes cheese and roasting it over the fire is scrumptious!
We had to wash dishes in the tiny sink in the bathroom. Thankfully, we had Gram's camper to wash other things, but we used the bathroom sink for nastier things like this pot.
Getting ready for the Martins' arrival.
Our tent looked like a tornado had gone through it.
Ryan and Kelsey came that evening too.
Sweet baby Jophus was still feeling under the weather after his knock on the noggin.
We roasted pizza over the fire for supper. Martins brought their own supper of hamburgers.
We had ten vehicles there that night. :)
After supper, we sang around the fire for awhile.
After Martins left, we all joined in and had a grand time playing "No Bears Out Tonight." It was so scary when Nate was the bear! He would hide really well and not come out till we had wrought ourselves up to the highest pitch of suspense, then come roaring out at us all. Oh man, he scared us so bad during this one round! We were so scared! When he came bowling out, even the big boys yelled and ran! :)
After that game, they played "Canada." I had to go in 'cause I was feeling really dehydrated. There were some construction workers that had been staying near us the whole time. The "Canada" players told us as they came panting in at the bedtime call that the construction guys got a good laugh out of watching them play. They prob'ly don't get to see a bunch of grown people playing kids games very often! :)
Day 3
Night two was so much more comfortable than the first night! I think that it only got down to the upper 40s that night.
Aunt Carol made her famous pancakes that morning.
Nothing tastes as good as crispy pancakes fried over a campfire!
Mom and Gram forgot a pizza in the oven the night before. It had burnt so badly that it was curled up at the edges!
Having some quiet time in the camper.
T.J. crashed on the camper bed. :)
"Roaster tudels" as someone coined them, were a main part of our staple that week!
Hope tried to teach the others a game that she had, but nobody was very eager to play.
Mm... Mm! S'mores pop tarts are delish!
Hope practiced casting her line.
Hope and Grace went to the camper for some quiet time. While they were gone, the adults decided to tackle the kids game.
As they played, we snacked on apples and caramel dip.
This is Hope's game.
Aunt Carol was throwing left over pancakes at T.J. :)
Kelsey had fun roaming around and reverting to the life of her ancestors.
Since it was our last night, we decided to have a grand shebang. I suggested shadow plays, so KK and Ben helped us set up a sheet in the pavilion. We held it up with duct tape, a box of pop tarts and rubber boots. :) Oh, wow! It was a riot!
Day 4
We started packing up as soon as we got up.
This poor air mattress got damp.
We teased Hope that she was an escaped or ex-convict. The first time we called her that after she got in her jammies, she said, "What's that?" We had a good laugh as we explained it to her.
We all gathered in Gram's camper to eat the rest of the toaster strudels for breakfast.
Everybody had left but Abi, KK, Sam, and I. Gram and Hope waited in the camper for Aunt Erin to pick Hope up. Anyway, we decided to leave some of our left over, unopened goodies for our fellow camper guys.
We left several boxes of pop tarts, chips, and tracts. No, we did NOT leave the beer!!!
Sam was so sweet! Abi set him to sweeping out the pavilion. He kept at it so diligently!
Loading up the bikes. Josh had a dentist appointment, so he and Mom left us to clean up while they went home to clean up. They were going to stop by the park later to take the tent down and get the camper back to Gram's.
Our van was packed!
Both coolers fit plus most of our blankets. The only thing that we couldn't fit was a tote!
Packed like a can of sardines!
This picture doesn't do Mt. Grice justice. It took us days to get through it! We're still washing sleeping bags today. :)
Abi and I had to be at a cleaning job by 1, so we rushed to unload everything, make lunch and get supper prepared ahead of time, set the little boys to keeping the laundry up, then run off to our cleaning job. :)
We were supposed to have Hobo Stew for lunch or supper one day, but we ended up eating leftovers that day, so Abi just prepared the Hobos for our supper. :)
So ends our camping trip of 2014... Now it's time to archive the fun times in our memories and prepare for next year's camping trip!
