2nd annual columbus day camping trip

it was fun.
it REALLY was!

the weather was PERFECT!
warm during the day. chilly (ok. FREEZING at night)

setting up camp on friday afternoon...

we grilled kielbasa for dinner. and put the kids to bed. then we sat around the fire. it was just 3 families the first afternoon/night.

the next morning...
{the fire is going NON-stop - except it dies out during the night. but we (by "we" i mean "they") get it going as soon as we are up in the morning!}

lincoln.
oh.my.word.

he turned into a different kid. SERIOUSLY!

but, think about things from his perspective: we got him out of bed on friday afternoon during rest time, drove and picked r, j and b up from school. our car was SO packed. the most packed it's been EVER. drove 2 hours. stopped in a random field. flung out of the car. threw all of our stuff out of the car. set up a tent. and cooked dinner over a little grill next to a fire. i mean? what the HECK?!? he's probably thinking, "i mean. don't we have a nice house to sleep in? what is going ON???"

he was SUCH a different kid. mellow. calm. it was WEIRD. we had him rest on saturday afternoon for an hour with sawyer. he literally laid there - FLAT for an hour straight.

another crazy thing. he woke up on sunday morning, stood up and fell back down. would NOT walk. said his feet hurt?? we had NO idea what was going on. but we also kinda didn't have time to figure it out. we had to make breakfast, have a little worship service and pack up camp. so, we carried him everywhere the whole morning {he would crawl otherwise. he would NOT walk.}

once we headed home, and asked him some more questions, we realized he was saying the tops of his feet hurt in the same spot on both feet. the ONLY thing that made sense was that his feet were sore - probably from all the walking/running/jumping for hours in the creek on saturday. so, when we got home we MADE him walk. and by the time we went to bed, he was fine! woke up on sunday and was fine. the kid has a CRAZY pain tolerance for pain on impact (like, falling down/hit in the head with a ball/etc) but i guess he doesn't really know what SORE feels like! he basically went paralyzed.

AMAZING breakfasts made both mornings by the guys - bacon, sausage, eggs, fruit and muffins!

our tent - it has 2 sections - a big one that 5 of the kids slept in. and a small one that pat and i slept in.
levi had his own tent :-)

we went from wearing hat/gloves/MANY layers at night to bathing suits/shorts and tshirts in the afternoon! amazing! {and LOTS of laundry - 9 loads to be exact!}

the place we were camping is kelly's grandparents property. so, we rent a porta potty. and that means there is NO running water or showers. but it IS great to have a place to go to the bathroom!

we went for a walk on saturday before lunch - to try to walk off breakfast a little bit!

most of us. ken stayed back to make sandwiches for lunch. kelly stayed back to visit with her mom. and jay was at the virginia tech football game.

ella is pretty much the cutest thing EVER! i couldn't resist taking a few pictures of her in her adorable boots!

lunch - pb&j sandwiches

there were 16 kids there. 3 under 2 yrs old. they ALL get along SO well. not ONE argument! it was SO nice!

there's even a little sandy area!

the girls spent a couple hours working on a dance routine that they performed for us

sawyer surprised us by being OBSESSED with the fire!

our tent is the one with the window pane thing. and levi's is the one with the red top behind that.

the nights were the BEST. sitting by the fire. smores. great company.

rich brought his guitar and we sang a few songs on sunday morning. pat taught a lesson on obedience.

so, i think it's a tradition now.
and i'm actually excited about that.

the kids LOVE it.
and i do enjoy it.

and then we got home sunday and everyone had monday off. which also was great - time to do laundry and sleep some and regroup before the week starts!

we are so blessed with such amazing friends!

{AND. before we even got off the gravel road, lincoln was back to his "normal" self - it was CRAZY!}