Wednesday: I came up Wednesday evening. I picked up Jake and we drove to my parents house. The kids and I slept over in the trailer that night and Jake drove home. I talked to Jake on the phone while he was driving home, and the kids were trying to fall asleep and it was like 11:30 pm. I am glad he made it home safely.
*William of course woke up bright and early so we left the trailer so the girls could still sleep and he went and jumped on the trampoline while I took fun, creative pictures of the dew drops on the grass.
*The kids were hungry, so before we left town we stopped off at McDonalds and the kids got to eat pancakes and play. We didn't end up getting out of town til 11:30ish.
*Getting set up. We came up without mom, she would be coming up later after she was done with her cleaning jobs.
*For some reason my kids totally didn't want to be there. And were scared of the bugs (because I insisted on putting bug spray on them right away).
*The kids played while Dad and I got the trailer set up.
*We were at the top of the loop for the first time in years. Because my parents had promised they would stay away from Gary (who was in the lower campsites in the loop) and his girlfriend. He ended up letting us borrow the boat for a couple hours during the trip which was nice of him.
*I brought the kids scooters, but because the hill is so steep (and we were at the top of the loop) I was really scared one of the kiddos would crash. Thank goodness they listened when I said they couldn't go past a certain point with their scooters.
*While we were out looking for firewood after we were all settled in, Lizzy fell asleep. So we left her in the car sleeping. Dad was getting camp set up and I had followed Sydney and William down a couple campsites, and after a little while Dad brought Lizzy down who apparently was screaming and crying thinking we had left her behind. Poor baby.
*Mom Showed up and we finished getting things settled the way she likes. And then we packed up our stuff and headed to the bay to go fishing. The kids ended up playing in the lake and William and Lizzy had leeches (yuck) and so I was so grossed out I had to have mom pull them off. So when I bathed Sydney later I had to check her over to make sure she didn't have any leeches, which she didn't.
*That night in putting the kids to bed, Sydney felt squished trying to sleep on the top bunk with Lizzy, so after some arguing over who would sleep on the couch bed, Sydney won and ended up sleeping on the couch bed this trip. It was more comfortable for her. Her and Lizzy are just getting too big to share that small top bunk anymore. (Oh, my babies are growing up. It was so weird to see Sydney sleep somewhere else, because once she turned three she has always slept on the top bunk.
eating brunch at McDonalds
there were so many prickly bushes, so so many, that dad and I took turns digging them out from around the areas of camp we would be frequently.
Scooters to the rescue! for bored children
I can't remember why Lizzy was throwing a fit.
gathering the wood. the kids had a good time. and enjoyed helping us get the wood into the car. dad and i had to alternate who was sawing the wood because it was getting very tiring.
Moving that wood was exhausting. So dad and were taking a break and resting for a little bit.
Sydney and William were playing around the campsite while dad and I dealt with the wood and then went scootering.
when Lizzy woke up in the car dad had to bring her to me. she was really really upset and scared.
mom got there.
went to the bank for fishing. it's been such a long time that I barely remember how to set up a fishing pole and cast it out. Good thing my dad is an expert fisherman. Hopefully my kids will learn some fishing skill from him. Sydney reminds me of Sarah when she was young with how she likes to watch her grandpa clean out the fish guts and how she's willing to touch it.
changing william out of his wet, cold clothes. Good thing I had packed and brought to the lake the kids water shoes.
Good thing my mom and I are expert packers when it comes to snacks.
Dad was pretend tying the kids up with a new tightening cable he had brought up.
Each kid got their turn being tied to the tree. But the girl in their excitement with William tightened it so much he was crying cause it hurt and I was super worried cause I couldn't get him out and so dad had to come rushing over and help me get William out of it. That didn't happen with Lizzy, but it got a little tight with Sydney, enough to cause some discomfort before we got her out of it too.
Friday:
*We started off with cereal for breakfast. William woke up early and I let him play on my phone for a while to keep him in bed and quite while the girls were still sleeping.
*My parents brought out there Walkie Talkies and the kids were so excited. They took turns using them. And then we ended up using the Walkie Talkies to find my mom who was hiding from us. The kids did have difficulty with patience while waiting for their turn. Sometimes two kids would have them, or one of my parents and one of my kids would have one; so it was really good practice for them in sharing and patience.
* Then we got ready for a hike up the mountain. I ended up alternating carrying Lizzy and William most of the way up the mountain. We were all pretty tired (except for my parents) when we got to the top. The girls had a ton of fun picking all the wild flowers. William and Sydney kept fighting or racing to see who would be in front and lead everyone up the trail. My silly kids. William stayed in the front more than Sydney did, who kept falling behind while picking flowers.
*After we came down off the mountain the kids were bored. So they played with slime, mixing colors and glitter. After that I pulled out a wood toys painting project for the kids. Those activities put us close to dinner. So while mom and I cooked the kids had to just play around. At one point Sydney was so tired that she was fighting and crying, and I took her into the trailer and put her in bed while she was still screaming at me and within a few minutes she was asleep.
* We ate dinner, and then after Lizzy and William went to sleep, (which took some time getting them ready for bed, reading stories, a snack, and finally relaxing enough to fall asleep), Sydney wasn't tired because of her nap and so we played phase ten and/or Yahtzee (can't remember which) with my parents for a while before we were all tired and ready to go to sleep.
Saturday:
*We had cereal for breakfast for our last day. Easy cleanup. And since the kids are required to change their clothes before we leave the trailer we were already dressed for the day.
*Then mom wanted to go for a walk, so the kids and Walkie Talkies headed for a walk, while I packed everything up and put it on the back bed. Then I went and catched up with mom. I found her talking with Gary's girlfriend. At that point Gary offered to let us use the boat before we left (since we wouldn't be here the whole next week when everyone else was coming).
*So Gary and Dad took me and the kids out on the boat. We even caught two fish. William was having such a fun time putting his hand in the water. I love watching how simple things like a boat ride are so amazing and fun for the kids. Anyway, it started to rain after like 30-40 minutes and we headed back to shore. Like 5 minutes after Gary dropped us off the rain stopped.
*Dad cleaned out our two fish right there on the bank by the dock.
*Dad and I and the kids walked all the way from the dock (which is at the bottom of the loop, and really close to the sites we normally stay in) all the way to the top of the loop where we were staying.
*After dad got everything hooked up and we had cleaned up the trailer, and we were ready to pull out the suburban died. We couldn't get it started. Not even after Dad used Moms car to jump start it. Dad was getting frustrated, and mom was getting worried. So I said why don't I go ask around and see if someone can help us. There happened to be some people in the camp site next door. And I asked them if they could help. Luckily the dad (who only spoke Spanish) knew something about cars. He got underneath the suburban with his son (who was the one I originally talked to) and they were able to fix the problem. But they recommended we get it in right away to be fixed because the problem could happen again.
*Jake drove up to get me and the kids. But he didn't end up leaving right away so the kids and I ended up helping dad with the garden for a while.
Pictures the girls took on my smaller camera:
below: I took these. The marshmallow all over her face was so funny and cute.
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