Campout 2008!

We have been planning this family camping trip for weeks....months even! Terry promised the boys that he would take them camping by the end of summer and this ended up being the ONLY weekend we had to do it. So, we left on Thursday with plans to come back on Saturday. We went to St. Francois State Park, about an hour from us, and it was truly beautiful! Course, it helped that we were completely alone on our 'loop' for the first 36 hours and the kids could roam all over the area where we were and go exploring in other sites. I told them that as long as I could see them, I was comfortable with where they went. They absolutely loved it!

But the trip started out a bit ....well, shall we say wet! It was sprinkling on us before we ever even picked out our site and backed into it. We were supposed to unload our stuff and go pay for the site, but we knew that since it was raining we would need to get the tent up asap and then go pay. Luckily, the campground host was driving around and came to us while we were putting the tent up and we just paid that way. So nice. Anyway, it rained that entire night! Thankfully, we had a couple extra tarps so we were able to rig a canopy by tying a tarp up between some trees just outside our tent. The rained calmed a bit before supper and we went and got some wood....Let me just say here that whoever is supplying the state parks with wood is making a bundle of money...or perhaps they aren't, but the state is! This little bitty bundle of wood that burns up fast cuz it is so dry is $3. We spent $15 on wood that would have gotten us through the first day, maybe. But we had to have a fire that night so we could eat, so we paid the money. Ugh!

We got back to the site and Terry built a fire, showing the boys how to stack the wood so it would burn well and catch quickly. I was truly amazed at how the boys would just sit out in the rain watching their daddy build a fire and helping him chop kindling. :) Anyway, they finally got the fire going and started roasting some hot dogs. I got the chips, ketchup, mustard, and buns and sodas over under our little canopy. Terry would bring me a couple pokers filled with cooked dogs and I would slide them off with the buns, doctor them up and pass them out. We all sat under the canopy eating our supper while the rain continued to fall! Course, one piece of entertainment was how the canopy would build up a bit of water and then it would fall off...the boys said the canopy was peeing for us! LOL

(Obviously cuz of the rain I don't have any pictures of the beginning of our trip....I didn't want to take the chance of ruining my camera!)

We finally got to bed...the boys were asking for their beds by 8 PM!!! I was shocked! But it was nice for Terry and I...we got to sit out by the campfire and visit, alone, for a couple hours! And the rain stopped just so we could....we only got dripped on by the trees! But once we got into the tent for bed, we had only been laying there about 10 minutes when we heard this loud, "sshhhhhhhhh....thunk!" and then, "Dad, I fell out of bed!" It was Brent. The boys were sleeping on an air mattress that was raised up on a frame and we were on a mattress on the ground. Well, apparently Clayton had continually scooted over to Brent, and Brent kept scooting from Clayton...and ended up in the floor! Poor kid! He fell out of bed twice through the night, so none of us really got much sleep that first night. But oddly enough, we all woke up feeling well and rested...and ready to tackle the day!

Friday morning was a bit cloudy still, but you could see a little blue sky trying to show through, so we were hopeful! We got around, Terry stoked the fire...well, rebuilt it really cuz there weren't any coals left from that dried out wood we had to use....and we had breakfast of Pop tarts, Granola bars, and juice. Very easy but a treat for us, cuz those aren't things we have much at all at our house! We decided to go back up to a place a couple miles from the park where we'd seen a sign for firewood to see what the cost would be. The guy LOADED that back of the van with nice round pieces of wood and only charged us $20! When we got back, the boys helped Terry unload it:





Just a few minutes after we got back from getting the wood, mom and dad came for lunch. We made campfire sandwiches...well, we tried to make them anyway...! If you've never had them, campfire sandwiches are these GREAT camping tools that create sandwiches for you when you stick them in the coals. Most of them are square, but you can find round ones sometimes. They are sort of like hot dog pokers, but have a square compartment at the end instead of the pokers. Anyway, you put in bread, cheese and lunch meat (ham is best) and close it up and stick in the coals. Watch it for a bit (opening and checking it so it doesn't burn, which ours did!) and when it is toasted and the cheese is melted, you pop it out onto a plate and bam-o! You have a hot ham and cheese! YUM! Then at night for dessert, you can butter the outsides of the bread and fill it with pie filling and cook it...instant pie! :)

Well, after mom and dad left, we took the kids to the playground area and to the creek. Oh, the creek was hilarious! It is always amazing how kids can play for a long time with a rock and not want to play at all with toys you have purchased! We skipped rocks and the boys had fun just throwing rocks in the creek. Then we encouraged them to wade into the creek (it was only about chest deep for Brent) and they had so much fun! Brent found this rock (pic below) that he continually would throw across the water, let it splash and sink, and then find it again...only to do it all over again. He played like that for over 30 minutes!

(Left: B splashing himself with his rock. Right: B 'looking' for his rock after throwing it.)



Clayton figured out that he couldn't keep his flip flops on very well in the water (they kept coming off and floating to the top) so he decided to just take them off and play with them!




Left: Clayton watching the dirt 'trail' that he left behind and that floated down-river every time he walked. Right: Clayton "dog-paddling" in the creek.



Just some more misc. creek picture...





These below are pics of Brent's rock that he found and then them together with his rock. He wanted to take the rock home with us but we explained that the State Park wouldn't look too nicely on us taking rocks....



While the boys were in the creek I found some deer tracks that we showed them when they got out. Very cool...and I was SO proud that I was the one that found them! LOL



We finally got them out of the creek and back to the campsite. Terry got the coals going for our supper and then took the kids up to the shower house for showers. While they were gone, I scrubbed taters and got them in the fire for baked potatoes....OH! What a great meal when it's cooked over the campfire like that!

Oh, and another thing happened while they were all in the shower....I was just sitting there, minding my own business when a deer came out of the woods at the top of the loop (couple hundred feet away) and began eating from the grasses that were there. She just stood there for nearly thirty minutes eating and listening, twitching her ears and her tail....but just as calm as you please! It was such a beautiful sight!

After supper, we taught Brent how to play Yahtzee and he loved it! (I always love being able to squeeze schoolwork in without them noticing!) Shortly after, the boys went to bed...they could barely keep their eyes open!

***The One Bad Thing*** I started getting a headache around the time they went to bed. I took some Advil and went to bed myself, telling Terry that I wasn't feeling very good, but didn't really know why. Well, I found out! I woke myself up multiple times through the night moaning in pain from a migraine! I finally got up around 6 and took some migraine meds (I'm so thankful I remembered to bring them with me!) and went back to bed. (It was the worst migraine I think I've ever had! When I got out of the tent to get my meds, I glanced up at the sky to see what the weather was doing. There were a few clouds in the sky and they were pulsating at me! I've never had that happen before. Light sensitivity, yes. But nothing like that!) Terry let me sleep till about 9:30, but he had to wake me up so we could pack up camp and be off the site by 12. I still had an achy head, so I took more Advil and started working. Oh, it hurt!

Anyway, we got everything packed up and I'm so thankful for the wind! It was only because of the wind that we were able to dry everything out before packing it up, so we didn't have to put the tent back up when we got home! :)

Amanda