Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Camping 2009 - American Heritage

Every year we try to go camping with our friends Fred & Jen at American Heritage over Labor Day weekend. Last year the boys and I were only able to make it down to day camping with them because Michael had to work. This year we made sure we could go down there as a family. We ended up borrowing Michael's parents 5th wheel trailer from them. Owen was so excited about the truck that we decided he could ride down with Daddy.
Michael said the excitement lasted about 5 minutes and then he was wanting to ride with Mama in the van. He also had to listen to Owen kicking the dashboard for the entire ride down.

Once we got there Michael had to back the trailer up into the site. Owen is running to see Daddy! It's really hard to back up a 5th wheel if you've never done it. If you want the trailer to go right you have to turn the truck left. It goes against everything your brain is telling you to do.


Needless to say it took Michael and Fred quite a few times to get it in the site just right. Michael actually drove the truck into a tree at one point and scratched the trailer. It's 30 years old this year so it just adds character like wrinkles on a person...right!


This is Jack's idea of lounging by the fire.


Hanging out by the fire after the rain stopped on Saturday.



The first site we were at was 2 sites down from Fred & Jen's because the sites on either side of them were taken. However, after we had been there a few hours the lady at the office let us know that the people on one side weren't going to show up because of the rain so we could have their site. It was so much better being right next door and the site was bigger so it was much easier for Michael to back up into it. He got it on the first try!



This is Jen's youngest sister, Zirah and one of Jen's 5 sons, Evan. We were on the hayride that the campground does every night at 5:30pm.



Zirah took this nice family picture of us....Fred is being a goof in the background!



Here's Fred with two more of their kids. Joe Joe is the one with the pacifier and Charlie is the other one. Owen and Charlie are only 6 months apart in age and so are Joe and Jack. It's so much fun having friends with boys that are so close to my boys in age.




And we're off!



Driving by our campsite...the gazebo is over one of our picnic tables. It came in handy when it rained for an hour on Saturday.



Saturday night was not the best for us. Owen woke up and was crying so Michael brought him into bed with us. In turn Owen woke up Jack so I brought him into bed with us too. 4 people in a small full size bed was not fun and Owen was in a really chatty mood and it was only 2am! So I asked Michael to take Owen down to the twin hide-a-bed so at least Jack and I could sleep. Owen ended up waking up because he needed to go potty and once he was done with that he finally went back to sleep, but Daddy stayed with him the rest of the night.


Jack doesn't really like to snuggle so after a while I put him back in his pack and play to sleep, but he woke up later in the morning and I brought him back into bed with me to sleep. He's so cute when he sleeps.


Sunday morning we woke up to a downpour. Everything was soaked and both of our sites were pretty much lakes. The gazebo was no help really because it was sitting on a lake so we decided to have breakfast under this pavilion that the campground has. It's not far from our site and it worked out great. We ended up having the rest of our homemade meals there.



After breakfast we ended up hanging out in Fred & Jen's tent trailer, playing Cranium, eating junk food and just having a great time. Owen and Charlie got to share a Root Beer. This is really the first time "I've" let Owen have pop. Michael has let him before, but that's another story!



Joe Joe got to enjoy a yummy chocolate cookie that his grandma brought. At one point there was 14 people in the tent trailer at once. 6 adults and 8 kids.


Jen bought these yummy salt and pepper Kettle chips at Costco and they were so addicting. I ate a ton of them!



The kids really had a fun time too!



Fred was trying to play peek-a-boo with the camera or the kids I'm not sure, but he just ended up looking like the killer from I Know What You Did Last Summer!


Jen, Zirah and Grayson peaking out having a good time!




The boys were quite cold after being outside playing for a while since it wasn't raining at the time. We ended up give them a bath in the teeny tiny bathtub in the trailer. They like it, but Daddy got soaked!



Good Morning! Sunday night went much better than Saturday...everyone slept in their own beds, but of course I slept horribly because I swore it was freezing went it wasn't, I couldn't get comfortable and the skylight above the bed was leaking on my side of the bed because of all the rain. Did I mention that the trailer was 30 years old? Oh yeah and it used to be my grandparents and then Michael's parents bought it from them. It's been in my life as long as I can remember.



At least Daddy slept better!




This was the lake right outside our door. I wish I had taken a picture of our fire pit. It was under at least 2 inches of water.



Zirah and Evan were sleeping in this tent and Zirah woke up in the middle of the night thinking that Evan had peed, but it ended up they were sleeping in a lake. Jen wanted to try to get the tents dry before they packed up them so Michael came up with the idea to hang them from the pavilion. It worked really good!



Monday morning the sun was actually out so Michael and I took the boys over to see the animals. Owen even got to feed a goat. He really enjoyed it! After that we packed up and headed home. It's always so exhausting cleaning up and then doing loads and loads of laundry, but it's totally worth it. Of course I didn't sleep good last night either, but oh well that's the joys of pregnancy. :)

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