I'm a little late getting to this post, but for good reasons, I promise. We've been trying to squeeze every last second that's left out of this summer. That has kept us very busy over the past 6 days.
We headed to Mooris on our camping excursion on Friday evening. We made it to the campground around 6:30. We were greeted by my Aunt Carol and Uncle Frank, and my cousin Steve, Krysta, Coy, Cale and Cody. We were just in time to set up our tents and break out the mountain pie makers.
The kids had an absolute blast from the minute they got out of the car. Cooper was in awe of the surroundings. He stared at the creek that ran beside our camp site and watched wide eyed as his cousins ran around. It didn't take long for him to join in their fun. They played in the "sandbox", ate yummy mountain pies and s'mores, rode their bikes, played at the playground...you name it. McKenna was the only girl cousin on the trip but that didn't hold her back one bit. She was right in there with the boys, getting dirty, running around, biking and playing in the creek. We did have some tense moments over a daddy long leg spider. Who knew our McKenna had arachnophobia.
We settled into our tents shortly before 11pm and were able to get a restful night sleep. Thank goodness for the glow sticks that served as our little night light. They were essential to calming everyone's fears.
Saturday morning we were the first ones up. Go figure! Earl and I were able to make a quick trip to the bath house to get showered before the kids got up. It was still early and the campground was really quiet. So, we hopped on the bikes and took the kids for a nice bike ride. It was so relaxing. We were in charge of breakfast on Saturday morning. Let me first say that I've never cooked breakfast at a campground. And let me also say that I've never cooked breakfast for 13 people. Earl was in charge of the three pounds of bacon that needed frying. I took charge of the 30 pancakes and two dozen eggs! I will admit I was a little nervous. My pancakes do not always turn out the best. But, soon everyone was fed and ready to start the day. I was breathing a sigh of relief and thanking my lucky stars that I wasn't in charge of supper!
(Yes, that is Cooper riding a two wheeled bike for the first time. He hopped right on there like he was an old pro.)We spent most of the late morning and early afternoon in the creek. It was cold when you first got in, but it went a long way in keeping everyone cool that afternoon. The kids (and the grown-ups) worked a little on the small dam and just walked around and splashed one another. Back at the camp site there was more bike riding, a trip to the local produce stand and more time at the playground.
Saturday afternoon my cousin, Amy and her family arrived. This added two more adults and two more boys to the mix. If you're keeping count it looked like this....10 adults and 7 kids ages 6 and under. Oh, and might mention that there were 5 dogs also! We felt a little guilty for leaving Tucker behind and have promised to take him next time.
"The Crew"Uncle Frank was the brave one in charge of supper that evening. His solution to feeding 17 people...deep fried turkey. It was absolutely delicious. Follow that with some marsh mellows and s'mores and I think you would agree it doesn't get much better. We spent some time around the camp fire that evening as the kids played. I will say it was a bit challenging keeping track of 7 kids. At least one of us was always saying, "Where's so and so?" Everyone would look around and say, "Oh, he's right over there." We kept track of everyone after dark by afixing a glow stick to them somehow. Some kids wore them around their necks. Others, like Cooper had to have one put on his belt loop. Whatever works!
That night after all of the kids had been put to bed the cousins spent some more time around the fire. I can honestly say that I cannot remember the last time I've spent time just sitting and talking with my cousins. It was really great. I remarked to my Uncle Frank that I wished we had done this earlier in the summer so that we could do it a few times. I knew we would have fun, but I never imagined we would have such an awesome time.
Sunday came all too quickly and it was time to get packed up to come home. McKenna was heartbroken and wanted to stay longer with the others. We promised to come back next summer but as you can imagine that did little to dry her tears.
I can't thank Aunt Carol, Uncle Frank, Steve and Krysta enough for having us for the weekend and for helping us out when our lack of camping skill came through. Everyone was so incredibly helpful with all of the kids and that made it so fun for Earl and I. Kyle and Caty were so nice to take the kids on a few bike rides and to help them in the creek or just take someone to the bathroom. It's the little things that go a long way.
Back at home we unpacked the car and the marathon of laundry began. That might be the only downfall with camping. There was lots of laundry. It's all worth it though. I would do it again next weekend if we could.
Monday was filled with so many activities that I can't even begin to tell you about them in this post. I'll have to save that for tomorrow. But you can be sure that we have made the most out of the past six days and made many memories.
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