Nature Calls

ok, Will came up with the title. I don't take credit for it.

I know it's been a week *gasp* since I've written on my blog (sorry Uncle Bill) but last week was full of preparation for this last weekend. We went CAMPING! Crazy, you say, with 3 kids including one 6 month old, but we did it and we had a blast! I felt like I was packing for a 2 week vacation when we were only going to be gone for a weekend and I was wondering how it all would fit. It did, barely. Here is what the car looked like after Will expertly fit everything into the Honda. You can almost see Mikayla back there. She had to crawl over everything to get out. After making a lunch stop at McDonalds, we arrived at Dogwood Camp Site in Lake Arrowhead at around 1:30. I think it took a total of 6 hours to completely unpack the van but we got it done before the sun went down. Here is our awesome tent!! It had everything I wanted in a tent but all of those "extras" did compromise the inside space. We were a little tight. Oh well, family bonding, right? It has a screen on the side of it for those mosquito-filled nights where you still want to be enjoying nature, a hinged door so you don't have to forever zip and unzip, and a light, yes, a remote controlled light inside so you don't have to fumble with flashlights. All this for around $170 on Amazon.com. Amazing! I know others had tent envy, as did we of some other's tents. Hopefully we'll be able to use it for decades to come.

One of the first things the kids did, after getting themselves soaking wet at the local water spigot, was try on Alex's roller skates (thanks, Jenny, for letting everyone else use your son's toys). Of course, a Coke Zero had to be in hand as I helped my clumsy son get used to wheels on his feet. Everyone at the campground finally realizes just how unrelated my son is to his feet this weekend. I think for every 3 steps he took, he tripped at least once. Rocks, twigs, and trees are not my son's friends.

The Nelson's camped with us in our site. They brought their sister-in-law's trailer which we all were appreciative of. In the middle of the weekend, when we could no longer see the actual color of our children's skin, their built-in hose/shower cleaned them up pretty good. Of course, the downfall was stripping them naked, hosing them down, then actually watching the dirt leap onto them once again in less than 2 minutes. A pretty amazing thing, camping. It was fun sharing food and nights around the campfire with such dear friends. The food was so good that I gained 5 pounds over the weekend. I can only give the excuse of water-weight, right?? Thus, I've finally gone back to the gym this week to work off the baby weight (and excessive donut and s'more inhalation).

OK, the term "clingy" doesn't even begin to describe my youngest child this weekend. When she was awake, she was either in my arms or away from me, crying. It was exhausting but I did have about an hour a day that she succumbed to a nap in her exhaustion.

This was the pathway to the water pump that the kids LOVED. Dirt, dirt, and more dirt.

The kid's table.

One of the highlights was roasting smores every night. Tyler loved the act of roasting marshmallows but hated the flavor and texture of the finished product. Basically, he had one marshmallow on his stick the entire time. It got blacker and blacker.

This next picture was quite funny. Will and I wanted to get a picture of the 2 of us so we set up the camera on the table and posed for the shot. When I looked at it, I noticed the incredible amount of smoke from our campfire that engulfed us. No wonder why Lynnea's hair smelled like smoke when we got home...would it be child neglect to mention that she didn't have a bath the whole weekend?

Beware of the next shot. There were community bathrooms a few campsites away from ours but they were always inhabited by a particular arachnid that was local to the area. You never went to the restroom alone! They look pretty scary but they just sat like statues the whole time they were on the wall. That was comforting!

Here's a picture of our whole campsite. We had a nice little setup, full of shade.

Bekah and Mikayla had so much fun playing together. They loved finding new games to play and new ways to get dirty..

Lynnea's only place of no crying was sitting in her miniature chair on the picnic table. From that vantage point she could see the whole campsite and keep me within view at all times. For those of you out there who are looking at the seat and saying, "awww, what a cute chair," you can pick one up at Target. It's actually supposed to be a booster seat but it works well as a miniature person seat too. =)

Mikayla's knees. Apparently, in her haste to get down the hill one sunny morning, her legs went slower than her body and skidded on the pavement. We had about a 1/2 hour of crying and then all was well. Now, they're just a reminder of how much fun she had this weekend.

Jenna brought over her coloring book and scented markers for the girls to share. Thanks Jenna!! I almost kept the markers a few extra hours just to smell them...what were the creators thinking when they made smelly markers? I'd want to lick them if I were 5 years old again.

The men cooking dinner the second night-spaghetti. These 2 did lots of the cleaning and picking up while we looked after the kiddos. The spaghetti turned out great, guys. And that garlic bread! I think that's part of my 5 pounds.

Lynnea's hair is starting to get very "Sasquatch-looking" so in an effort to help her see better, I gave her ponytails. By the way, this is the look she has about 80% of the day..."who, me?" I also want you to notice the vice-like grip she has on my shirt.

On Sunday morning, Rob and Valerie led us in worship. It was so fun to see all of the couples in one place. There were quite a few of us! Al spoke a little about our class and keeping the unity in our transition coming up with the church and the kids did well through it all.

We had an incredible weekend. Smores, friends, dirt, sun, trees, food, stars...the list goes on. How blessed we are!!