Our Five Ring Circus: Camping

Monday, October 4, 2010

Camping

We spent the weekend camping with my family. It was cold and rainy the entire weekend, but we had fun!

Dylan and my dad headed up to the camp that my brother runs on Friday, after Dylan got off the bus. The rest of us joined them on Saturday.

Grant, Lexie, and I woke up early on Saturday morning, to spend some time at Applefest. Lexie and I argued over why she couldn't wear a dress (I had to ease her into wearing jeans all weekend), so we compromised with her new dress coat.

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After a brief stop at Applefest, we changed our clothes, loaded up the car, and headed to camp. Lexie quickly attached herself to my brother's puppy while we unloaded our stuff.

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I'm so happy that my family booked a cabin for us to "camp" in. It began drizzling soon after we arrived, and the rain only got worse.

We took a drive through the camp to get some fire wood. The kids loved sitting in the back of the truck with us.

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The truck was quickly loaded with wood thanks to our little helpers!

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Apparently riding in the back of the truck wasn't all that exciting. Most of the kids piled into the cab of the truck to ride back to the cabin.

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The only brave soul was my brother's 2 year old daughter, Emily. She's used to living on a camp!

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We enjoyed a few minutes of our fire, and then had a big dinner.

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My sister, sister-in-law, and dad headed to a winery while Grant, my brother, my brother-in-law, the kids, and I went hiking. We hiked down to the gorge, in the rain.

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Grant and Dylan quickly went to work catching frogs and salamanders.

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Lexie enjoyed splashing through the creek.

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We all explored the gorge while Grant and Dylan continued to catch critters. It paid off. 4 frogs and 3 salamanders later, we decided to head back!

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By this time, it was raining hard, and we had a steep hike ahead of us! We were all soaked and exhausted as we neared the top. I have to admit, though, hiking in the rain is actually a lot of fun!

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We were all grateful to return to a warm, dry cabin! We changed clothes and the kids watched a movie while the adults played cards. My brother and sister-in-law had to gather up their 3 teenagers from their various locations, and we met at another cabin-one with an indoor fireplace. We had our fire there, and enjoyed lots of camp food-hot dogs, marshmallows, mountain pies, and s'mores!

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The kids had a blast playing with the huge stack of mattresses! And, well, the dads did, too. The kids repeatedly stacked up the mattresses, climbed on top, and then the dads knocked them down. When they tired of this, they made a path with them, and ran in circles on top of them.

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The kids began to wind down, and it was evident that they were ready for bed. We headed back to our cabin, and we ALL quickly fell asleep. I had to laugh when I looked at my phone and realized that it was 10:40 on a Saturday night, and we were all in bed!

I'd like to say it was a good night...

Dylan was beyond exhausted, and upset because he had to let his frogs and salamanders go before bed. He fell asleep sobbing. 2 hours later, he woke up from a nightmare. He was sleeping next to my dad in another room, so I didn't have a bed set up for him in our room. I had to share my ridiculously uncomfortable and tiny camp mattress with him. We both had a restless night.

As did Lexie...she somehow stripped her bed of her sheets in the middle of the night, and kept sliding off the slippery mattress and hitting the floor and wall. Each time she hit, she began crying. When she wasn't sliding off the mattress, she was continuously turning circles on her hands and knees, trying to get comfortable.

8 AM came quickly. And painfully. I hurt from head to toe. I blame the steep hike on slippery terrain, and the horrible mattress.

It was still raining hard, but the kids ran around outside while we prepared breakfast and packed the cars back up.

We had a big breakfast with my family, said goodbye to my brother and his family (I hate that!), and headed home.

My sister and I posed before we left, wearing our rival team sweatshirts. I told her she couldn't rip on my sweatshirt, because it belonged to our Pap. It's huge, but I now wear it with pride! I think of my Pap every time I put it on. She's Pittsburgh born and raised, and loves the Patriots. Traitor.

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It may have rained all weekend, but we had a great time with our family!

18 comments:

  1. Sounds like a fun weekend! I miss camping, we went alot growing up. Hopefully we can take Aleigha soon!

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  2. that looks like such a blast. you do the best things with your family. My extended family are such wimps for stuff like that and boring...but yeah I prefer to be asleep by 10 almost every night I can't help it...lol.

    and I laughed at your neice barefoot and wet sitting in a pick up. that would be my kids. They are always barefoot.

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  3. Lexie looks like a little teenager in that first pic. So cute. She's such a fashionista!!

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  4. I'm glad you had fun. I don't think I could handle that ran AND camping. eek.

    LOL at that pic of all the kids on the mattresses. Their feet are so dirty. They must've had fun!

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  5. Well despite the rain and horrible night of sleep, I am glad you can look back and say it was fun.

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  6. Traitor is darn right! The loss this weekend was hard for me (we live in the DC metro area) and I got razzed, but I'll take a 3-1 start without Big Ben!!!

    Your camping trip looked amazing. I am so jealous! I'm dying for my little one to be old enough to go to the cabins again.

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  7. I love that Lexie wants to wear a dress at all times! She is a girl after my own heart :)

    Sorry about the short night.....and I hope that you have had a chance to catch up on sleep since Saturday!

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  8. SO fun and looks like the rain didn't stop yall from enjoying the trip :) I would LOVE to play in the rain like that. we've been wanting to take the boys camping and I guess we really should

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  9. Oh that puppy is soooooo cute! Elly would have went ga ga over it! HA! Sometimes I tell myself I have to give camping another try and I totally would...if it involved a cabin with running water. =) HA! Glad you had an okay time depite the rough night sleep. Hope all the kinks and aches are all gone by today. XOXO

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  10. Now that looks like some fun! What great pictures! I am dying to take my kiddos camping... it will be a first for us.

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  11. Sounds like it was a great weekend!

    I have a child that will only wear dresses too! She has now even begun to refuse to wear anything but nightgowns. Little stinker!

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  12. well, that looks like a blast (minus the uncomfortable mattress) - whenever we camp I feel like I am sleeping on rocks. I wonder if Lexie will turn into a jeans girl when she is older. I can't believe she still likes wearing dresses in the cold weather - now that's fashion dedication!!!

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  13. I'm glad you had such a good time! I am freezing just looking at the pictures! Especially the ones where everyone looks wet! Brrrrr!

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  14. You are a stronger, better woman than I. I never would have survived through that, but it's great that so much family got to share in that experience!

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  15. That looks like so much fun! I love the pics by the fire and the hiking trip looks like a blast {although wet} time too! At first I thought you meant camping in a tent...I learned the hard way that tent camping isn't as much fun as it seems:)

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  16. What great pics! Looks like everyone had a great time! Go Steelers!! :)

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  17. whooa! looks like you guys have so much fun :) love the photos!

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