I know, I know.....I've been slacking from here for awhile. It's been a combination of things, a few crappy days, busy with stuff around here, mini-vacation, finishing homeschool paperwork, etc. So now I am trying to play catch up, just bear with me! :)
The other weekend we went good ole fashion camping!! It was a last minute trip for us. A bunch of friends from our homeschool co-op were going and it happen to work out that we were able to borrow an RV. Yes I know, we were sorta spoiled! It was just a small 31' with a slideout. We were just thankful to be able to have something to use.
We headed northwest of us to Mifflinburg Pa, about a 2 hour drive. Of course the kids wouldn't have cared how long we drove as they had a blast being able to just chill and play games (seat belted of course) in the RV.
This pic was taken on the way home, tired kiddos & animals!
We got there about 8:10am Friday morning. I unfortunately had not slept a wink the night before. My stupid insomnia has been really bad lately. I haven't been sleeping past 3am and it just so happened that night I couldn't fall asleep (no, it was not from being excited! lol) So here I was, wide awake since 4:30 am Thursday morning & we were now 28hrs into no sleep. I was feeling fine though.
2 of the families were already there prior to us. There was a total of 5 other families besides ours....in total, 12 adults, 18 kids, 3 dogs and 1 kitten who thinks she's a dog and had to come along so she didn't go nuts without human company. (yes, this is our goofy kitty). We had all of our sites situated together which was really nice.
We had great weather! It was actually cooler than I anticpated. Thankfully I had had the kids all pack warmer clothes just in case. It was close to 90* when we had packed but I knew from the past when I camped, to always be prepared cuz it can get cool. We actually had sweatshirts on at different times and didn't even have to turn on the a/c at night (the kids actually said they were cold overnight at times). It was perfect camping weather and made sitting by the fire great.
The campground had just opened their pool so our group was the first to break it in for the season. In fact, we had it to ourselves on Friday. It felt nice just sitting out in the sun. Of course, I got tired of having the sun hit the front of me, so I took my kids small swimming tube and laid it down on the chair and plopped my big ole prego belly in it. It was a perfect fit and allowed me to lay on my stomach which I haven't been able to do in months! (yes, I do know I looked kinda goofy, who cares. This momma was comfy!)
Yes there IS a 35wk prego belly there!
We did a lot over the weekend....swimming, biking, fishing, sports, and lots of cooking over the fire! From hot dogs & burgers, to s'mores & mountain pies. Oh boy did we get creative with the mountain pies! We used cherry & apple pie filling. But we also made one where we spread peanut butter on bread then put in marshmallows & chocolate & roasted, YUM! Then the one morning, I took the leftover veggies from a foil packet I made the night before (peppers, potatoes, onions, mushrooms & bacon) I put that in my mountain pie maker, then cracked an egg over it, sprinkled some salt, pepper & cheese then roasted it over the fire. Oh. My. Word!!!! It was amazing!!!! In fact, I got the group hooked and a lot of the others used my roasted veggies & made omlets as well!
The one day we played a round of kickball on a field, adults verses kids. That was hilarious to watch! The kids did awesome and some of the adults pulled muscles. lol The adults ended up winning but the kids sure did put up a good fight.
There was even a DJ the one night playing songs. I was down with some of the kids and they had a blast with the chicken dance & cha cha cha slide. We had went back to the camp site and a bunch of the girls wanted to go back to the dance. Bless James' heart, he took a whole group of girls down! I only wish we had gone down for some pics. Rumor has it he was hula-hooping with the kids amoungst doing a bunch of other crazy dance moves!
We did have an afternoon shower the one day that forced everyone into their campers. I guess since we had the dvd unit, the kids felt compelled to hop in ours. Which was fine. But it cracked me up to see how many kids squished themselves into our RV to watch Gnomeo & Juliet. lol We had more than this at one point, this was when it was quieter. ;)
Another day we played basketball, kids verses adults again. It was only half a court and all the grass surrounding the court was a major muddy mess. Anytime the ball went out of bounds, someone was getting muddy. I wish I had snapped the pics of Kenny stumbling then falling face first into the mud. What a great game!
It was awesome how great our group got along! And it was nice to spend a long weekend with these families that we see every week at co-op but don't usually have a lot of time to sit down and chat with. We shared SOOO many laughs (not good for a 8 month prego gal who could've peed her pants). But there were also just has many heartfelt, deep conversations that just bonded us all even closer than we had been. There is definitely something special shared amoungst all of us and I am so thankful for this amazing group of friends!!!
~Those who gossip about you (or mock your blog) don't define your character- they define theirs. 1 John 4:20