i love camping!

seriously?!? i can't believe i just said that! :)

we went camping this past weekend with 3 other families. one of the other dad's we were with grew up here, so it was his mom's property. so we had TONS of space. a forest. a creek. and the use of his mom's bathroom for us to use (no one took showers...but it was nice for the girls to be able to go to the bathroom there!)

we took the kids out of school early on friday so that we could get there and get set up before it got dark.

they know that they have to help set up before they can go play.

we had LOTS of wood to burn through!

we all adore the fire.

i was in charge of the menu/groceries. friday night was chicken taco's (i cooked the chicken before we went so we just had to heat it up) with cheese, green peppers and onions, guacamole and chips. followed by smore's. and then there is a "midnight" meal for the adults of kalbi (korean meat that is SO good!)

our camp

it was COLD that night...into the 30's. brrrr.....that's not my favorite part of camping.

saturday morning we had eggs, bacon, fruit, muffins and breakfast potatoes cooked over the fire for breakfast!

my hands were back and forth between FROZEN from cutting up onions and potatoes and BURNED from putting it all over the fire.

i had some GREAT help :-)

everyone said they were good. i don't really love potatoes...so i'm not the best reviewer.

why does food taste so much better when you're camping?

lincoln was a huge help all weekend. he loves to help.

it was such a relaxing weekend. we love the families we were with. we know one of the really well, another one pretty well, and were just getting to know the third. ALL the kids got along SO well. and we just enjoyed being in each other's company!

the kids worked on forts in the woods most of the afternoon on saturday. we hardly saw them.

i taped the menu up on the car so people could know what to expect.

making paint with berries.

naptime.

while the dads fed the kids lunch (peanut butter and jelly, apples and chips) the moms went on a long walk. that was a good plan! ;-)
then, later, we walked to the property next door to take the kids on a tractor ride. it got up to 70 degrees or so that afternoon! we were HOT! it was gorgeous!

the football was ALWAYS in play. even as they were riding off...pat was throwing the football to joshua.

such simple things can keep them occupied for a LONG time. the dads kicked the football to them down this hill overandoverandover.

the whole group (25. i was off by one initially..)

it would have been better to not have the sun behind us. it would have been better light. but i wanted THAT background.

jeff made popcorn for a snack that afternoon.

dinner saturday night was hamburger and hot dogs, guacamole (we used 12 avocado's in 2 days!) and chips, fruit. followed by smores again. AND a pineapple upside down cake later that night...it's cooking under those coals in this picture.

the night was MUCH nicer saturday night...only got down to about 50 degrees.

sunday morning we made donuts, bacon, eggs and fruit. the donuts were a HIT!

joshua was such a big help all weekend. it's so cool to see him maturing...

the cinnamon/sugar coaters for the donuts :-)

mike led us in worship.

it was such a precious time together.

we sang that song, "big house"...and this was "big, big yard where we can play football, TOUCHDOWN!" :-)

we had such a great time together as a family. and just enjoying friends. i've always (the 4 times i've gone in my life) tolerated camping because the rest of my family loves it. but i truly LOVED it this time. it's a LOT of work. and not simple or cheap. but the memories you create are pretty priceless!