Camp

We had some adventure this weekend!  After "camping" at my folks' cottage in Wisconsin, pretty much any sort of outdoor activity that doesn't include running water and a hot shower at the end of the day is seriously roughing it.  And this weekend was all about the NON running water and NOT hot shower...or any shower for that matter.  

And it was great.

I started taking pictures when we were in the beautiful Idaho mountains.  We stopped along the way to stretch our legs and to get some solid ground under our Clara's (aka "the puker") feet.  When that girl utters the words "My tummy hurts", we go on high alert.  LEVEL RED PEOPLE!  RED, I SAY, REEEEDDD!!  PULL OVER!!

Here's the 'burb all loaded up with enough gear for 6 people to survive in the wilderness for two days:

Here's me and my man.  Good Lord, I love him with all that's in me:

Here we are all stuffed in the car.  The Puker is mercifully asleep.

We got to the campground and set up camp.  I was amazed by how blue the sky was....how crisp the air was in those mountains.  The world is sure prettier when there's no pollution between your senses and the elements.

We left the top part of the tent off so that we could fall asleep watching the twinkling stars, and we woke to sight of the sky turning from grey to blue to brilliant blue.  The trees swayed in the breeze.  The creek running by our site lulled us to sleep at night.  The birds serenaded us.  It was quite a welcome to the day.  

I, of course, had my camera handy.  I grabbed my little point and shoot - here's what I woke to:

It was a chilly 50 degrees or so, so my big kids came and snuggled with me in my sleeping bag.  "Take our picture, Mommy!" Clara said.  The little sass...she just wanted to monkey.  But me (and my 6 chins?)  we wanted to sleep.

When Ben saw what she was up to, he decided to join in...

Why not?...

Sammy was trying to get snuggled into her sleeping bag, when her air mattress decided to buck her right off onto the ground. 

At least she was a good sport about it...

There was this little creature toddling around our campsite all weekend.  He was covered in ketchup, water, yogurt, and dirt....and he had my son's blue eyes.  We called him Pigpen, but it might have been Thomas.

After a long day of playing in the heat, this little one kept wanting to know when we were going home....and then she'd tear off after the other kids around the campground.  We all feel like we could sleep for about a week straight right about now.

Ummm...what are these doing in here?  These should probably be a different post.  This pretty little creature was on my lavender before we went camping.  

Okay, here we are back to camping.  The power of the lowly apple....give one to a 1 year old or a 3 year old, and they'll be quiet and content and busy for at least 30 minutes.

An apple a day keeps mommy's insanity away...

There's our little tent nestled in the forest:

I just love the color of the bark on the Ponderosa Pines.

And check out the texture of this tree - so pretty!

These trees are so tall!

And then...the drive home.  Nothin' quite like piling 6 tired, sweaty, dirty people in the car to drive a winding mountain road back home.  The Puker lived up to her name.  Thomas almost earned the title of Puker Junior.  He was screaming and pale....but then I cranked the obnoxious kids' music, and it distracted him and calmed him just enough to get some color back in his cheeks.  It's Dramamine for him next trip too.  

And for your viewing pleasure...our road trip home (I love you shower and dishwasher):