Lava Hot Springs Fun

On Friday, when Mike got off of work we drove up to Lava with Mike's family. We camped at a nice grass campground just a few minutes away from Lava.

Kenzie and Hannah were so excited to see their cousins. We ate late hobo dinners and then had smores (fitting in with my new camping motto). Kenzie started to get pouty and said, "I want to go to bed." We happily obliged and sent them off to bed. After they were asleep we sat around the fire and played "Good thing, bad thing" and ended up laughing our heads off about a goat with venereal disease. And how "It turns out the youngest son didn't even like cheese." Because that's what you get when you tell group stories. Then we played mafia, where Scott and I dominated as the Sheriffs for one round and the killer Mike was brought to justice.

The next morning the guys headed out for some golfing. We got up right after they did and pretended we weren't bitter to be left all morning to entertain the children. The kids were so funny. It was freezing, but they really wanted to put their swim suits on, so we let them put them on over their clothes. They looked great.

When the guys got back Mike said something about taking up golf. I'm afraid I did not react well. Perhaps he'll have to talk about it when I'm not surviving on 5 hours of sleep. We took down the tents and headed to Lava.

We had so much fun at Lava (see above). It was nice and sunny after a cloudy morning. It did get freezing when the wind blew, but the water was great. We spent the whole day switching off with the kids, riding the slides and jumping off the highest diving platform. Kenzie even rode one of the slides by herself. We had to drag the girls from the water at the end of the day, even though their lips were turning blue. Good times!

Here's my scrapblog (I love that program. Love it).

Reflections on camping with children

At least while you are camping no one expects you to have clean pants (which I never, ever have). The Dorito/chocolate/licorice fingerprints on my pants (I never feed my children these things, but somehow they find their way onto my pants) fit right in with everyone else's dirt and fish guts.
This weekend we loaded up our very small, cramped car (which gets excellent gas mileage), and headed up to Mirror Lake for the Chambers family reunion.
Some memories from the trip:
Kenzie-Survived a trip without the DVD player (Her parents survived too.); Still didn't get to "put her whole body in" because the lake was freezing and her parents were being wimpy; Slept in a sleeping bag, but only for a minute (Somehow she managed to get completely out of it and slept only in a coarse blanket that we had put under her sleeping bag in place of an air mattress); Is convinced that toilets that don't flush are the latest and greatest rage in toilet fashion; Made lots of friends with Mike's cousins, old and young; Loved listening to fantastic stories told by Grandpa; made jewelry with her new friends; found the fairy tree, and her favorite part: "I was climbing up some rocks. Look I have mosquito bites."

Hannah- Impressed us all with her talking skills while she stayed up all night talking to herself. Was absolutely positively in heaven because the Lippert's brought their dog, so she could follow it around and say, "oof! oof!" Told me the fire was "Hot. Hot," but tried to grab it anyway.;Spent some quality time sleeping in an impossible position on Laurie's back. (Thanks Laurie and Stacie for taking her on a walk)









Mike- Packed the car so well that the makers of Tetris should be contacting him soon about inventing a new game. Joined me in the "Gosh, maybe I never was a patient person" club; Had a great time digging up large rocks to make room for our extra large tent; Said, "This is the best meal I've ever eaten" and "I've never been so full in my life" after every awesome meal.










Stephanie--Only swore once (and it wasn't even a real swear word: 'pissed', as in "That really pissed me off," uttered when Mike sprayed her with water in the car on the way home and it dripped into her bra and down her back). Let Hannah fall asleep in her sleeping bag and thought it was really sweet, even after she screamed for a few minutes and woke up the whole camp; Decided camping really isn't that fun; Decided she would do it again anyway.


It was a really well-planned and fun reunion. Thanks Lori and Brad Reeves for planning everything.













Some Moose we saw as we were leaving















Listening to Grandpa's stories around the campfire.















Stacie and Laurie