Camping With Friends

Camping is always more fun with friends. And we hadn't been camping with these particular friends since Clara was two I believe. Last weekend we went to Village Creek State Park and Glenn and Becky pulled her parents' pop up camper with our Jeep. Since they were bringing their dog Reggie and there's not a lot of space in the Jeep, Leah rode with us. I felt so bad leaving Kate all by herself, but we just didn't have room for one more. We decided to take a break from our dogs this time and had a friend watch them.

Here's a view from the front seat as we made our first unscheduled stop. Their trailer lights weren't working, so we headed straight for an auto parts store for a quick fix. Then Robert needed to pee but wouldn't go standing up, so I put him in a pull up in case we couldn't get stopped in time. I guess we only had one other bathroom break on the drive there, so not too bad. We pulled in right at dark, so we had a fun time getting two campers all set up in the dark. Oh, and it had dropped into the 50s too, so we had chilly kiddos who needed some pants and sweatshirts and who hadn't had dinner yet.

It got pretty chilly that night, so we got to try out our heater for the first time. Worked like a charm, so we were nice and toasty in no time. Someone else forgot to figure out how to work their heater beforehand, so they were googling it at 1 a.m. trying to get some relief. Not mentioning any names though.

The weather the next day was absolutely beautiful. We went on a hike to a sandy beach that's designated for swimming. It was about a 1.5 mile hike from the trail head so we got some good exercise in that day. We hadn't planned on letting the kids swim since it was such a long way to haul towels and clothes and such. They had a different idea though and they eventually ended up soaked after being told they could wade in the shallow water.

They did great on the long hike, but Robert had had enough about a half mile away from the car. I got to carry him a good distance, myself completely spent from the excursion. We made it back to camp, had some lunch and then I went to get Robert down for a nap.

That booger wasn't tired in the least! He was bouncing off the camper walls for a good 20 minutes. All the while, I kept dozing off. At one point, I woke just in time to see him creeping off the bed. I had to position myself so that I would feel him if he tried to crawl over me to get out. He eventually conked out and got a good nap in.

We just hung out and enjoyed each other's company for the rest of the day. The adults played a board game, the kids played and fought and ate and fought some more. We enjoyed hamburgers for dinner and then smore's on the campfire.

One thing I loved about this park was the two benches perfectly positioned by each campfire.

That night wasn't cold like the night before. It was very pleasant, as was the next morning. Robert sported Buddy Walk shirt number two on Sunday. After packing up, we had planned to ride our bikes to the playground before loading up to leave. There was a fair amount of drama at this point, so the group ride didn't happen and we decided to cut our losses and get on the road.

We're so thankful for fun times with wonderful friends.

Ren Fest 2012

We went to the Renaissance Festival this weekend. Jason, Chris and one of Chris' co-workers went camping for the weekend and joined up with us at the festival on Saturday. We let the kids get costumes this year. It was quite warm, so Clara's stayed on for about 15 minutes once we were inside the gate.

I couldn't believe she went and stood next to this guy for a picture. Ha! He stands by the entrance and has wads of dollar bills sticking out of his costume from all of the pictures he's taken. I wonder how much he rakes in. I also wonder what his day job is.

I made sure and stopped first thing to get a family picture before all of the costumes were shed. Yes, I was a fuddy-duddy and didn't dress up. I just wasn't feeling it. Robert actually kept his on the whole time and Chris had to. He didn't bring a shirt. He was a little warm.

The kids feasted on kettle corn, ice cream and Dr. Pepper and Chris and I enjoyed some apple dumplings. Mmmm. They were both really well behaved and there were no meltdowns. Could it be Robert is finally starting to outgrow the mandatory public meltdown stage?

Can you spot the leprechaun in this next picture?

My cutie-patootie pirate.

Clara was giddy while getting her face painted.

And she wanted to try the bungee trampoline again this year. After several attempts, she finally did a flip.

Between pushing a stroller, getting Robert in and out of stroller, chasing him, taking him for potty breaks, and all of the walking in the heat, I was exhausted after several hours. Apparently they were not. I thought for sure they'd nap in the car, but nope. I couldn't even get Robert to nap when we got home. I eventually put a movie on for them so I could nap. Where does all of their energy come from?

More Camping

We went camping at Huntsville State Park again this past weekend. JDog joined in on the fun this time. It was nice being able to pass off the job of Chris' helper monkey to him :) He got to help him hook up the camper, back it into the site, and set it up. Oh, and he made the mistake of asking Chris if he needed any help before we left on Friday. Chris handed him the manual and told him to figure out how to sanitize the water hook up paraphernalia. And then the kids took turns asking him to play and walk and ride bikes. We got good use out of him.

We got some kinks worked out and had water in the camper this time. The potty wasn't as stinky either. We managed to bring everything that we needed and the entire weekend went off without a hitch. Well, except for Robert on the second night. He was beyond tired and when it was time to put him down, he went ballistic. I was attempting to wipe him down with a baby wipe and he started clawing at his chest trying to "get the soap off". It was scary. He has scratches all over his chest from that little freak out. We left him in just a pull up and Chris finally got him calmed down and he fell asleep in his arms.

We got him into bed and he woke not long after, screaming. We figured out he was probably having a night terror because he was completely out of it and could not tell us what was wrong. Screaming fits of rage and night time at a state park do not mix, so Chris got him into the car to drive around. He got pulled over, Robert still screaming like mad. Of course, Chris didn't have his wallet on him, so no i.d. All he had was a screaming, half naked toddler strapped in his car. The officer found two of Robert's cars sitting on the back bumper, so it was obvious Chris had been driving veeeerrrry slowly through the park. Chris explained what was going on and he asked Chris to roll down Robert's window. He said something to Robert and Robert screamed in his face. The guy was like, "Alrighty then, carry on." Ha! He eventually came out of it and Chris brought him back, awake and calm. He went right back to sleep and slept the rest of the night. So, note to self, Robert needs naps when we're camping. If not a nap, then at least a normal bedtime.

He woke happy and ready to go the next morning. Here they are the first morning with their hot cocoa.

We went down one of the trails in search of a letterbox. Clara brought her walking stick and Chris found one for Robert. He was such a little toot that morning. He wanted to do the exact opposite of whatever we wanted. You want me to go down the trail? Nope, I want to get back in the car. What's that, it's time to go you say? Heck no, I'm staying and heading back down this trail. The stick helped convince him to walk with us for all of about 5 minutes. A game of hide and seek in which Clara ran ahead a ways and hid behind trees worked for a few minutes too.

Our first letterbox!

Letterboxing is like geocaching. You follow directions to find a hidden box. Unlike geocaching though, there is a notepad and stamp in the treasure box. You have a family stamp that you stamp on the notepad and write a little note and then you add the stamp from the letterbox to your journal. We were a little disappointed to find that someone hadn't put it back in it's container. It was just in a ziploc bag next to it and the notepad was soaking wet, so we couldn't add our stamp.

Just a little further down the trail we found our second one. We'll definitely be finding more letterboxes.

That night the kids had fun running around in their headlamps and we enjoyed smores by the fire that JDog built.

This picture doesn't do Robert's dirty face justice.

Clara searched high and low for a friend and she was excited when Carly, who is also in 1st grade and had no other older kids with her, showed up at the campsite next to us on Saturday. Carly was a little, um, pushy, but they had lots of fun scootering around together all day. Sunday morning she started shouting down the road, begging me, "Can I pleeeeeeeeeeeeeze keep Zoe? Puleeeeeeeze? Why not? Puleeeeeeze?" After telling her nicely about five times why she couldn't have my dog, I resorted to ignoring the child.

A cold front came through and we woke to temperatures in the 60's on Sunday. We noticed that the leaves had started falling on Saturday afternoon. Seriously, we didn't see any leaves dropping that morning, but by afternoon, the sky was filled with them falling in the breeze. Autumn officially started on September 8th in Huntsville if you're wondering.

So we now have another successful camping trip under our belts. It's hard to venture back to reality when you enjoy such a relaxed, slow paced time out of doors. It's amazing how a mere two days feels like you've been gone a week. Next month we'll be venturing out of our comfort zone and to a new park.

'Twas the Week Before School Started

I get pretty lazy in the summer. It's hot outside. There's no routine. It's hard to get up and get going when we don't have to be anywhere. So I decided to step up my game last week before Clara headed back to school. We had donuts with friends on Tuesday morning, went to Splashtown with Becky and Leah on Wednesday and to Bouncin' Bears and lunch with friends on Thursday. I only took pictures at Splashtown though.

Clara has wanted to go to Splashtown for ever. She asks when we're going almost everytime we pass by it (which is a lot since it's so close to our house). I'm just not a waterpark kind of girl, Chris has zero interest in going and the thought of chasing Robert around all day is NOT appealing in the least. But, Clara and Leah had put it on their summer to-do lists they made at the beginning of the summer, so I decided  to finally make plans to go and I'm so glad I did. We went when Robert was in school and Becky had someone watch Kate so we could go on the bigger rides. We had so much fun and Clara loved it.

I thought she might be too afraid to go on the big slides since the only thing she's ever ridden is one small ride at the carnival and bumper cars with Chris. And that's it. She did great though. The only ride she didn't like was The Tornado. It's a four person ride and she started crying before it got scary. I think she had built up in her mind that it was going to be scary. She said it hurt her bottom and I will admit it was a little intense, especially when I knew how scared she was and there was nothing I could do for her. The poor girl was in tears as we got off. She does not like it when I tell people that it was her favorite ride.

We stopped for an ice cream break and they both got cotton candy flavored with Sour Patch Kids mixed in. Blech.

Here they are in front of Clara's favorite, the wave pool, which is NOT to be confused with The Tornado.

Friends and Fireworks

The rest of the 4th was low key. We had naps and then friends over for some grilling. 

Robert enjoyed his watermelon immensely. He took it for rides in his wagon and I caught him rubbing it on his belly. It eventually got eaten, I think.

After dinner we loaded up and headed to Jill's bookstore to watch the fireworks. We got there early and hung out in the a/c browsing books until it was time for them to start. The kids were a little excited about the fireworks.

I guess I should say most of the kids. This guy would've been just fine skipping the show. Methinks he's not a fan of loud noises. He sat in the car and played the entire time. He turned every knob, pushed every button and pulled everything that wasn't bolted down out of it's spot.

Clara was jumping for joy and shouting "Fireworks! Fireworks! Fireworks!" during the majority of the show. Have you noticed that most of the time, I don't even try to wrap up my posts with a conclusion anymore? It's like, boom! Post over.

Sports Camp

Clara attended Sports Camp at church a couple of weeks ago. She was so excited to have Leah and Kate join in the fun. The older kids got to choose between soccer, football, basketball and cheerleading. Being the mean mom that I am, I conveniently forgot to tell Clara that cheerleading was available. Oopsie. So she and Leah chose soccer. I know cheerleading is big right now for little girls, but I think it just adds to the problem of little girls growing up too fast. No judgement. Just my opinion. I want it to be something that she looks forward to doing when she's in junior high (but I'm secretly crossing my fingers that she won't be interested when the time comes).

I didn't think Clara was going to make it all week. When I picked her up the first night, she looked exhausted. She was crying because she didn't know the memory verse and she had a mark on her face where she had gotten hit with a soccer ball. She got hit a couple of other spots too. It was eleventy million degrees outside and she was just a mess of emotions. She woke the next morning saying her legs hurt and she didn't want to go back. She was better by that night though, and thankfully it rained the next two nights so they played inside. She did much better the rest of the week. She learned the memory verse the next day and received a pin on Tuesday for knowing it. Becky and I traded off kids several times throughout the week so we were both able to have some free time and date nights. It was nice.

This picture was taken right after Leah won a cd. She wasn't excited or anything :)

Travis was on their soccer team too. Yay for friends! Clara had a sleepover with Leah on Thursday night. They swam all afternoon on Friday and didn't take a nap. That night at Sports Camp, they played a short game against their coaches and parents got to come cheer them on. I don't think 'game' is the right word for what we witnessed though; it was more like a free-for-all with every single kid on the field running amock. I'm just going to assume she learned some actual soccer skills at some point during the week. Clara and Leah were holding hands a good portion of the game and Travis couldn't seem to stay on his feet.

Clara ended up having an allergic reaction to the fresh cut grass. First her eyes started itching and it probably didn't help matters any when she started rubbing them with her hands. Then she started itching all over and ended up with a few hives as well. As the game came to a close, I gave her some benadryl and splashed some water on her to try and rinse her off. The benadryl hadn't stopped the itching yet, but I think it was starting to make her drowsy as we headed inside for the last few minutes of singing and prizes. She started crying, so I took her to the bathroom to try and rinse her off a little better. Then horror of horrors, Kate won a soccer ball. And then one of the older boys gave Travis the soccer ball he had just won. Clara. lost. it.

I mean, completely lost it. She was a blubbering, itchy, exhausted mess who was unable to contain her disappointment any longer. Oh, the humanity! Her coaches wanted to take pictures with her but she couldn't compose herself long enough to pose for a picture. I was able to convince Kate to let her hold her new soccer ball for a picture and she perked up long enough to snap this quick pic. All in all, Clara had fun at Sports Camp but I was soooooo glad when it was all over.

Recent Pictures

Here's a sampling of what we've been up to lately. Clara learned how to blow bubbles last week and is quite proud of herself. Now if she could just figure out how to transfer all that air from her cheeks into her gum.

I kept Travis and Justin one day last week. There's just something about boys and their legos.

We caught a shedding lizard and got to watch him up close as he tried really hard to get his skin off of him.

Robert at the park after school one day.

We joined the Sargents for an evening at the park a couple weeks ago. I promise, Clara did her own hair that day.

I love this one of my boys.

Clara saved up her money to buy a couple of hula hoops. She's been wanting one for months.

Relaxing and reading library books in the back yard.

I made Chris a Minecraft creeper cake for his birthday. Minecraft is a computer game that he really enjoys and Clara loves watching him play so she loved the idea of a creeper cake.

Puddle jumping in their new rain boots. Robert got fireman boots and wore them non-stop for the first few days.

Clara and Daddy started a little garden.