 1 Gramma helping me decorate our "winter" cake - carrot cake made by my dear friend Dana, covered in "snow" and a log cabin complete with snowman and bonfire ring. Sammy and I have been talking about snow for months...wishing we had some. We look out the window most mornings to see if any fell overnight. We think maybe it does but it melts by morning... |
 2 Look around carefully, who can you see? (hint: little bug from one of Sam's books - "GOLDBUG"!) |
 3 "Did you know? Campers wear big hats!" So I went back into the garage and got him his hat to wear :) |
 4 Finally on our way to the campsite! |
 5 Helping Daddy set up camp. |
 6 Here we are at Bellows AFS. Such a great spot!!! Look at how level, private, and roomy it is! |
 7 Joined by our friends - Sammy's hiking buddies Anneliese and Calleigh. |
 8 Sam sleeping while we finish setting up camp and decorations for his party. |
 9 Sammy has his party shirt on, his kukui nut lei and a birthday boy pin :) |
 10 Taking Thomas for a walk :) |
 11 Lei greeting for his guests. "Thank you, Sammy!" |
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 14 Dinner with our friends. |
 15 Lounging!? |
 16 Daddy colors really well...nice work, Gail! :) |
 17 Waiting for mommy to get the darn "bonfire" lit! All the rain made the twigs and pine needles a bit damp, and the menfolk were worried about massive combustion right next to a "log cabin" so I had to play it real conservative and be a good wife. (I.e. did not follow friend Dana's advice to use lighter fluid!) |
 18 Oohhh! It says "S-A-M!" |
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 20 Here goes mommy again! |
 21 Daddy gives it a go :) |
 22 Alright - let's just stick with the candle! |
 23 Who do you see, PopPop? |
 24 Yummy frosting on the 3 candle! |
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 26 Ok - digging in now! Dana's cake is so delicious!!! |
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 28 What are you ooogling? |
 29 Now it's time to make some s'mores! Angel and Mike came with their son David and his friend Nick to celebrate. That's Angel in the background and Dana getting all pyro with her lighter fluid :) |
 30 Teaching the finer points of s'more making. |
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 32 Sammy made one for Angel :) Or is that his? He probably ended up with it and made Angel fend for herself. He loves s'mores ;) |
 33 Aren't we stylish with our headlamps on? |
 34 Gotta love 'em! No searching around for a flashlight and you're hands-free to boot! They have gotten very sleek since Dave and I purchased our first big, bulky Petzl lamps 10 years ago for hiking. |
 35 Oh yeah... |
 36 Time for presents from Angel and Mike, and some games. |
 37 "What could it be?" |
 38 Lots of magnets for learning letters and numbers! We had a great time with those this morning. Would you believe he requested that we spell "trail"? Light of mommy's life... |
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 42 Tucking the kids in bed. This was their first family camping trip! What an honor to be the ones they joined for their "virgin" outing :) |
 43 Sleepy buddy waking up in the morning. He had a cold but was a trooper about sleeping even though he had a lot of coughs. Mommy didn't sleep so well listening to the rustling, coughing, squirming, repositioning... Oh well! The joy of camping wasn't the least dampened. It rained at one point just after he went to bed and when I went in to close the windows he said "who's out there?" |
 44 Gotta have a mommy and Sammy groggy morning shot :) |
 45 Sammy enjoys "Sammy's coffee" (Ovaltine and milk). |
 46 Taking Thomas for an early morning walk around the site. It wasn't this dark out but it sure looks early, doesn't it? We got up around 7am. |
 47 Sam just LOVED taking Thomas for walks! All over, through the trees, flowers, weeds, around the site...he showed him all kinds of things. |
 48 He just adores Thomas! |
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 50 Our little tent. Lanai and two rooms makes it really spacious and easy to move around in. Dave set it up all by himself. Impressive. |
 51 Here is my dear husband working hard every meal to feed us wonderful camping fare. I think French press coffee is the first order of the day, shown here lighting the burner. |
 52 Coffee and milk start the day! |
 53 Dave is making a big egg scramble, pancakes and bacon for breakfast. |
 54 Wrangling him for a thank-you kiss :) |
 55 More Thomas time! |
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 59 Off to the bathroom :) |
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 62 Eggs are done! |
 63 So are the cakes! (Sweet potato pancakes are so tasty and easy - just add water!) |
 64 Did I mention Sam loved to take Thomas for walks? |
 65 Mommy babysits Thomas for a minute :) |
 66 Very interested in Calleigh's bandaid. |
 67 What are they talking about, do you think? |
 68 Breakfast time :) |
 69 Our truck loves camping :) |
 70 Gramma looking bright-eyed as usual! |
 71 Thomas checks out our tent! |
 72 Soon joined by all the kids :) |
 73 Haivng a "meeting" in Sammy's "apartment." He has his own room in the tent. Very spacious pad! |
 74 Show me how daddy sleeps..."yike dis" with big snorts for snores. :) hee hee! |
 75 Romping with daddy! |
 76 Time for more presents! This is from Dana :) |
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 78 A big pirate pop-up book! |
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 80 Look at the pretty card made by friends Anneliese and Calleigh! |
 81 New binoculars for our hiking trips and a great camp chair made just for Sam! Thank you so much!!! |
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 83 Cool animal tracks on the campchair! |
 84 Thank you!!! |
 85 Sammy's new camping chair is perfect! |
 86 Some raisins to fuel up for the next walk :) |
 87 Kathy finally kicks her feet up. I think she was in the chair for 90 seconds before a child needed her :) Hard to get out of that chair it's so comfortable! |
 88 Kids find all kinds of things to do in camp without any of their toys around. Mostly it entails getting very dirty... |
 89 I think they're hiding from Kathy here! |
 90 Or helping a friend ride through sand... |
 91 Or more walking! |
 92 Or getting into mischief with mommy...we're making a fire pit so we can build a little fire before any grown-ups figure out what we're doing... |
 93 Mom is occupied...so we're safe there... |
 94 Grown-ups are busy packing...check out the comfy sleeping gear! Wow! |
 95 Dave was busy. There isn't one shot of him sitting down, is there? |
 96 Soon we had firebuilding 101...and attracted a few grown-ups to the challenge. It was pretty damp after the overnight shower, so we ended up resorting to a fire brick to get it going. But we did have a wee fire! The kids made kindling and threw it on. |
 97 The dirt I mentioned - here's Gramma, Sammy and mommy upon return home :) I had to get out a scrub brush to get it all off! |
