S o'F Day 21 & 22 plus the weekend

We survived our camping trip! It got off to a very rocky start. The van was loaded down and we were packed to the gills. The bike rack was riding low and scraped on a curb after we filled up the van with gas. Stephen got all crabby. The van was so heavy that we seemed to have problems climbing the mountain pass. By the time we got to the state park, Stephen had already decided that we were buying (yet another) new car to replace the van. ~eye roll~

We also forgot a few key items (like a hammer to pound in the tent stakes, a slotted spoon and baby wipes). Stephen was keeping a list of all forgotten items and I was PMS'ing pretty bad so I took that list and the comments about the van very personally and it was not until Spy hit me with some seratonin-raising chocolate that I was able to calm down and decided that Stephen did not need some frying pan therapy.

The camp grounds/state park was wonderful. We were close to the beach but not too close. There was a playground the kids could play at and the roads were close together so cars drove very slowly which was nice because the kids were tearing around on their bikes.

It was also a "dutch oven" camping trip because as we were heading up, there was a burn ban in place but it was lifted for "designated fire pits" so we were able to gather around the fire and roast s'mores. But, we had planned all of our meals to be cooked in a dutch oven with charcoal or in a frying pan on the propane camping stove. Stephen made Mountain Man Breakfast and the kids ate it! Wow - they ate eggs! Well, except for Cars. Big step in our house since Jax recently outgrew his egg allergy and Dex swears that eggs give him headaches. Anyway, it was pretty yummy.

My kids had a fabulous time. They ate s'mores, rode bikes, swam in the glacier-fed lake (brrr!), rode horses (Stephen took them as I had a bad experience with horses when I was 13 and I don't ever have a need to get on one again), explored, got a kick out of the little store at the park (virtually everything cost $2.99!) and just had so much fun being kids. We are already planning to go back to the same park again next year.

Here are some photos of our trip:


Stephen made Dutch oven pizza. You will notice that is it not quite round. We had to cut off the portion because I dropped the lid of the dutch oven, scattering ashes all over the pizza. I burned myself on the charcoal briquettes when I picked up the lid. I am sporting a very nice second-degree burn on my knuckle. Anyway, the pizza was surprisingly good.


The lake at sunset on SoF Day 21.



Cars "body surfing" with a life jacket and a floaty on SoF Day 22.


Dex riding the waves.


Cosmo Friday at the campsite. In background - van that is the focus of Stephen's wrath.


Jax at the "secret place" at the lake.



Spy spying. ;)

One more thing I would like to mention is that there were signs posted about bear activity so we had to lock up virtually everything in the van at night - all of the food, sunscreen, bug spray, cosmetics, etc. Everything with a scent that might attract the bears so they would not come to the campsites. So, the last night there, Stephen put some hand cream on because his hands were split and raw (he always has dry skin but forgot his super-duper used-to-be-prescription-hand cream-but-now-isn't lotion and applied my Burt's Bees Honey hand cream. Honey hand cream and there are BEARS around?! OMG - what was he thinking? (For those of you not familiar with this hand cream, when you use it it smells as though you had just dipped your hands in honey). Fortunately, the bears were probably scared away by the super aggressive chipmunks. Whew!