Camping

Little did I know that camping would be a controversial topic in our household. My sister and I come from a family where camping is something fun we look forward to every year. I think the reason we look forward to it so much, is not necessarily the mosquitoes, or sleeping on the ground, but the quality family time that it represents. No phones, no T.V., no interruptions... just us. I love the fact that we actually get to talk to each other, play games, and just hang out. Our husbands not so much. Neither of them enjoy camping. So depending on who you talk to you will get entirely two different stories. I'll just put it this way the kids and I had a blast, and if you want to hear Brad's version you'll have to talk to him...

We camped at Sun Lakes near Coulee City. Which was a big bonus because we had the chance to catch up with a lot of friends too! And when I say "camped" I don't mean camping in the wilderness with no electricity, no water, and all trees. There was no shortage of entertainment at this camping site. The kids played mini-golf, went out in paddle-boats, had water-balloon wars, played on the play-ground, went in the pool, played in the lake, went fishing (more on that later).... In fact when we got home Josiah looked at me and said, "I don't want to be home! I want to go back to camping! .... I wish I could go camping for the REST of my life!!!" And because I'm a brat I whispered back, "Go tell that to daddy and see what he says..." I didn't hear the full reply, but I did hear the last part ".....have fun." =0)

My mom surprised us by bringing my nephew Levi. My sister and I both said we hope our boys turn out to be as sweet as he is. I don't know many 15 year olds that let 6 kids under the age of 5 crawl, kick, bite, and hop all over them. He's amazing, and incredibly patient. A huge help to us moms who need as many hands helping them as possible!

Our biggest worry was how the kids would do for naps and night time. But amazingly enough it wasn't bad! The first night was a little rough getting all of us to sleep in the same tent. So I sent Madelyn to the cabin with my aunt Jo and mom. Now Madelyn is one of the easiest babies at night....NEVER wakes up! But for some strange reason, she payed them both a friendly middle-of-the-night visit from 1:00am - 3:00am. Where I hear they had a little party eating bananas, playing, and taking pictures! Needless to say they were all a little tired when I came over in the morning. The two older kids (once they got to sleep) were out! There's another plug for camping - definitely a bonus having lots of fresh air and exercise! The adults had a little harder time sleeping with the crazy amount of wind. The last night we were there the wind was so bad it was breaking people's tent poles! Thankfully our tent just kept collapsing all night... after awhile I figured out a way to kick the tent poles back up without getting out of bed - thank God for long legs! =0)

There are so many cute pictures of our camping adventures... these are just a few! I love the ones of Mallory and Josiah... they are two peas in a pod - both VERY messy eaters, and both love to growl! So funny! There's a cute one of my little nephew Stefan with Papa (his name-sake). You would never be able to tell that he is 6 months younger than Madelyn!