The Camping Trip

 Our camping trip was.......wet & cold. We got rained on, hailed on & even snowed on. But that didn't stop us from having plenty of fun & adventure.


                          
Justin & the little boys got some fishing time in, though I'm sure all the fishies were hiding under rocks in the river somewhere, trying to stay warm. None of them were kind enough to take the bait.
 
 
            
 Seth finally got to try out the bow & arrows he got for Christmas.

        Jarod & Micah got to shoot the BB guns they got for their birthdays.

I was pretty nervous about the boys going around shooting real (& sort of real) weapons in the woods, but Justin thoroughly instructed them on weapon safety & conduct & how to NOT accidentally shoot your brother. I made them come up out of the woods to the camper, practically every 10 minutes, to drill them on the rules & make sure they were still alive, eyeballs in-tact & all. Kind of a nerve-wracking thing for a mama......but I guess it's something I'd better get used to. Boys & their toys. *Sigh* Can't we just stick with Nerf guns, please?!!!! (There were plenty of Nerf gun wars as well, BTW.)

All of my men had fun chopping wood for the fire. Their contests of strength were quite entertaining, as you can see in this video:

                   We did lots of exploring......

                                         .............and playing in God's playground!

       The sun came halfway out ONCE, for a couple hours..........

                              .....so I let the kids play in the sand & water a little bit.

Especially frightening & traumatizing for me was that Justin let Seth drive (for the first time ever) the Suburban..... 20 WHOLE feet. Is it REALLY time for the driving thing to start??????

    My little bouquet from Justin & the boys. They are so sweet to me.

Justin tried to get a little fire started. He managed, somehow, to ignite wet wood. He's pretty amazing like that.

   The mommy & baby Hobbits warmed their feet by the fire.

We spent most of our time INSIDE of our lovely camper (which I am so thankful my man bought for me this year), wishing the sun would come out & the rain would stop.

It was a little challenging trying to keep the kids entertained during the many hours we spent inside the camper.

                                        

   I rather thought Jarod's creation of winter trees was appropriate.

DAY 2: Relatively clean & happy!

                                   
                                          DAY 4: A little less clean & happy.....

                           

                    We all did lotsa snugglin' to stay warm!

                    Even the dogs snuggled for warmth.

      Seth had the immense privilege of studying for his finals while camping.

 For fun in the camper, I made a tent in the boys' "bedroom" & gave them flashlights, so they could....like...you know.....pretend they were camping!!!  

                         
We had planned to camp for a whole week, but by the evening of day 4, we were ready to come home to dry out & warm up!

                                            
      At least Jarod had something to show for his "hunting" endeavors. ;)