Camping

 5-19-2013 Our First camping trip of the season! YAY! We headed out of town fully packed to the hilt in our van. I mean, open the side door and sleeping bags, pillows etc were stacked higher than the benches! But it made a nice little bed for me in the back so I could lay down next to Laney and hold her hand when she got tired and cranky since she couldn't see the DVD player and was done with all her toys. We were going to stay in an unmarked area but decided we liked the idea of having bathrooms for the kids. So we stayed at an RV/Camper place. It had nice bathrooms, a shower and running water at your sight. It also had a wonderful swing right next to us, a playground for the kids, and a club house where you could play DVD's. The kids had fun running over to the playground and swinging. I missed the solitude. I kind of like being away from everyone else when I camp. That and we weren't aloud to have fires. So, it was kind of hard in that respect to.

 We drove out to the Rim and had lunch one day. The kids particularly loved getting as close as they could to the edge...Eli of course looking for bugs or throwing rocks off the cliff. This little "smile/smerk" is his usual now....

 

 Yes, you can tell just how much Eli gets his personality from me....love it.

 

 

 There was this little trail that went all around the camp and so we took it, and it ended at this storage area and wooded area. The kids found plenty of things to do, turning all rocks and tree's into a playground of their own. I am amazed at my kids and how fearless they are. They will climb anything if you let them. Eli even slipped and was falling, but he calmly asked for help and that was it...onto the next log to climb!

 

 Again...typical Eli move. Turning anything into a sword or gun.

 Getting ready for bed after a nice shower. So I am getting SO old that I now need to have some sort of chair to sit on in the tent to help the kids get dressed or my back and knee's just won't hack it! So SAD!

 Stephen made a swing out of our hammock and pushed the kids as high as it could go...yes, all FOUR kids are in there at one time.

 We had lunch another day at a stream and of course Eli found a bug, I believe it was some kind of maggot or worm? He carried it around all day. Just so proud of himself.

We started of with just "wading" in the water but eventually all the kids were wet from the waste down. We had fun though, finding little fish, making a damn with rocks...

 Then guess what we found???? Tadpoles! Yes, absolutely ThOUsanDs of them. It was so hilarious to watch the kids try and catch them. Each of them held them in their hands except Lydia. I found some cups for them to scoop them up and watch them. Eli collected thirty of them into his sandwich bag and wanted to take them home. He had a pritty big melt down when we released them before going. Although funny thing...I neighbor later that week came over with Tadpoles, her frogs had mated and she gave us like thirty! (We now have nineteen frogs in our fish tank and counting...we had to put the fish into another bowl just to give the little frogs somewhere to be!) ANYONE WANT A FROG????

. Packing up and look at my three little princesses! Just sitting eating their snack waiting for their carriage to be packed and ready to go...so hilarious. they just sat there waiting. Meanwhile Eli was off I didn't know where half the time, but close enough to shout at and get him back