I'm baaaaack!

 

Ten of our kids went camping this weekend, so of course I asked that we take a pic...this is me with them, plus three of the four grandkids who were there...in the front in the white top is Margaret, with Sonja in the black, Charlotte Claire in the yellow, Camille in the red, then Elise in the blue dress, Anya in the kitty dress, Emily holding little Tennyson...then in the back, Jon with his hat on, Benjamin, Abigail peeking out between Sonja and Char, then Mariel, then Evelyn Joy, and me!  (not pictured:  Paul, Adrian, Ashley, Wulf)

Just the ten kids (with Emily holding Tennyson)...

We had three campsites...

Sonja and granddaughter Anya...

Emily's campsite, setting up the awning...

Evelyn taking Tennyson from Anya, with Char, Cam, and Sonja...

Wulf...what a camper!  He loves the beach, and riding his balance bike, and of course the playground!

Jonathan and son-in-law Adrian (Wulf's daddy)

Five daughters, afternoon coffee...Char and Sonja, and Mariel, Camille and Evelyn on the other bench.

Baby T is standing up and taking steps!  (Jonathan is a nice Uncle Jonny, playing in the sand with the kids!)

We had room for the guitar!

Margaret and I took a quick trip to the Dollar General, but no, I did not buy this shirt!

Aunti Abigail with Tennyson

We walked to the beach to watch the sunset, but Wulf went right in the water...

The pups got absolutely exhausted, they loved going in to fetch a stick, they were both carrying it.

My morning view, sleeping in the tent wasn't so bad...okay, it was.  The first night was horrifying.  My leg kept threatening to cramp up, I couldn't get comfortable, it was hot...then on Friday I googled how to stop leg cramps, and practiced stretching it all day, and it didn't bother me at all on Friday night...the storm that blew in however, woke me wide awake...the wind picked up, but the tent did not blow away, nor did a tree fall on it.  I did pray though, believe me.  Last night, it got really chilly, and since I packed when it was dripping sweat humid and hot, I only brought a few light blankets!  brrrr.  But, I did not die!

The morning sun...

Ahh, the beach!  Such a beautiful lake.

Emily's Instagram post...this beach is blissful.  No lifeguards, dogs allowed!

Anya, Elise, and Tennyson....

Phew.  Camping is tiring.  It was over too soon, yet I was done.  Done in.    

Thursday night, it was only Paul and I and Sonja, Charlotte Claire, and Camille, then Benjamin and Ashley with their two girls in the site next to us.  We grilled burgers over charcoal, and a fire, and it was pretty mellow.

Friday we had a nice relaxing beach day, the dogs got tired out, and as they tired, they settled in and stopped caring about people walking by, or about other dogs.  Labradors seem to adapt so quickly!  They were excellent in the tents, Paul and I had Sunny with us, and the girls had Suri.

Friday night, yay!!!, Margaret and Adrian came up with Wulf and Tennyson, and Emily, Abigail, Mariel, and Evelyn, and also Jonathan.  The fun had begun!  We had chicken fajitas.  I had grilled that chicken on Thursday, and cut it into strips, and cut up lots of colored peppers, and onions.  We put olive oil in two big disposable aluminum pans, added the peppers and onions with salt and pepper, then the chicken strips, covered tightly with foil, and heated on the camp stove.  It was so much easier pre-cooking the chicken, especially ten pounds of chicken.  We had all the fixings, and Sonja stood there with heating up tortillas in olive oil, mmmm.  

Saturday's dinner was simple, Margaret made pasta salad, I made pasta salad, so we just put that out, and grilled sausages, hot dogs, and coneys.  Margaret and I sneaked up to town and bought cup cakes for Evelyn's birthday, which is next week when I'll be in California.

This fine morning, it was hard to leave.  We took down the tents, deflated the air mattresses, folded everything up, then went to the beach for a few hours before heading home.

Home, ahhh, home, time to do laundry!  Bedding and towels, and wait, my clothes, I am packing today and getting up at...way too early!  We have to leave for the airport at five a.m.  Sonja helped so much, putting things away.  

Home, ahh home...wait!   My pool!  My pool, which I love, cherish and adore, what has happened to it?!  The water level dropped over a foot!  There is a leak somewhere, or is it the same thing that happened before, when we turned off the filter, the water leaked out?  We don't know.  The hose is in it, but oh dear, I hope it isn't serious.  Now I am relieved we didn't just buy a camper, we may have to sink money into our pool...and we're leaving so, dang.  There is never a dull moment.

But, I will sum up our camping weekend:  peaceful, fun, tiring, relaxing, enjoyable....we got hardly any rain, just a sprinkle during the storm that came up.  The weather cooled off, but it was still beautiful on that beach today, sunny and not humid at all.  The water was clear and clean and warm enough.   It was just an amazing weekend.