Campout

1 The great August campout! I decided to fly solo since Dave was out of town for two weeks. I need adventure, too! Plus - if you can camp out with two kids, then just about anything else is a piece of cake :) We invited our friends to come and two families did in shifts, one family on Friday night then another on Sat night. We had such a great time! Thank you for joining us, friends!!!	2 Gotta play football while setting up camp! Somehow I found time for a few tosses with my buddy :)	3 Sam was a big help on the first day.	4 Ben not so much :) Kidding! He was awesome - he enjoyed watching us work :)
5	6 Hold tight while I grab the other pole!	7	8 One of my favorite shots :) Such a big help!
9 All set up. One hour. My goal for light and fast camping is 1 hr for each phase - packing up, setup, packing out. If it doesn't take an hour or less, it doesn't happen. If it doesn't fit in one cooler, it doesn't go. That's my policy :)	10 He's a squire out exploring the rest of the sites. Every time we go Sam is older and gets more privileges to explore. However, he is still learning how to follow rules...hence I had to keep a careful eye on him or he'd take off and my little squire would be across the campground!	11 Aaaargh!	12 Crashed out. Actually, Sam just rested quietly but didn't sleep. It was SO hot in there. Gotta have the rain fly for shade but it's a sauna. Not too many breezes sheltered where we were away from the blowing sand at the beach. I will have to bring Dave's battery powered fan next time...even though I teased him about that piece of gear.
13 Look who's peeking out the little window!	14 Ahhh...nice rest for Ben :)	15 And a dip in the water for us!	16 See that big dark cloud?
17 Gotta book it back to shelter!	18 Yes, I had rainproofed the site before we left for the beach. Just in case. Dad, are you proud?	19 Starting the fire and waiting for the first batch of friends to arrive for dinner!	20 Wait for the coals to turn grey, kay? (He's telling me how to cook.)
21 No, he wasn't playing with the coals. Just all kinds of dirt! I decided to leave this "campsuit" on him - great for spotting him in the woods. Also turns out it was great to just scrub him down in the shower with this on - no wriggling him in and out of it for a nighttime shower. Really no dirt or sand gets up in there anyway, so I don't have to bring a towel to the shower or anything, just a tiny bottle of soap. I also learned to brush teeth by dunking a tiny toothbrush into a little trial size Listerine - no need for paste, water, etc. Works well...Sam says "spicy!" Little efficiencies born of necessity this trip...	22 Long sticks were prize possessions this trip. I managed to only bring one back this time. We have quite a collection going in the truck. Sam uses them as "gear shifts" next to his seat. Yeah - the truck is a complete mess. If it doesn't stick or stink, I don't care it can come in. But we are getting to the point where it needs to be detailed...	23 More ball playing while awaiting dinner.	24 Dad - we're ditching the tent :) Turned out to serve a different purpose - it did rain pretty hard but really the rain sinks quickly into the sandy soil - it doesn't run off under the tent. What it does do here in Hawaii is deter centipedes. When it's really wet out they look for dry land - often your tent! Indeed I found two crawling up the front of the tent toward the door when I went to bed. I heard them slither on the tent so I took a closer look (didn't have my lenses in!). Yikes! So a protective watery moat keeps them away. I left water all over that tarp in front - none climbed up again but it was hard to keep feet clean.
25 Our friends setting up. They arrived and Rich quietly mentioned that they have "never had a successful camping trip" - the last time was 10 yrs ago in Zion in September and they froze they were so cold. I already felt responsible, but now I really felt responsible for them having a good time! It was great to have friends share our campout with us :)	26 Can you spot Sam??? This area is right behind our site and is fantastic for the kids. Like a huge backyard that we can see from our vantage point. I pointed out a "triangle" of trails they could roam in and they stuck to it really well.	27 Check this guy out!! Dave are you laughing? (Dave is away in upstate NY right now.)	28 There's Holly with Sam - she was one of his first babysitters :)
29 This was funny - it's raining but Sam is in his swimmers anyway, right? So he's sitting out there by the fire, having "fire time" and looking back at us huddled going "what's up with you guys?"	30 Is it s'more time yet?	31 Chatting it up...	32
33 Ahhh yes - s'more time!	34 Like the headlamp? Very fashion-forward!	35	36 Having fun with our friends Heidi, Rich and three of their four kids.
37 Sammy waking up in the morning :)	38 I always take a first thing in the morning picture ... a strange tradition.	39 What are you doing in there mommy?	40 Heidi cooking up the eggs and bacon I brought. Poor Heidi was at this for a long time because I didn't realize I should have cooked up the bacon first when the flames were really high. We tossed lighter fluid in to get the coals fired up and it all came out ok :)
41 And...the kids waiting :) They were really good about it!	42 The big men waiting. Eating chips to keep from starving!	43 More showers in the morning.	44 Ben! He was SO good the whole weekend. Seemed to take it all in.
45 Sam helping me bring a chair to the beach.	46 Morning nap on the the go :)	47 Hanging with Heidi! She got him to laugh so hard he got the hiccups!	48 Lovin' my little boy...
49 This is the noise he likes :)	50 17 lbs now!	51 Sam waking up from a nap - don't remember what was so funny. Nothing really - just hitting me with a diaper :)	52 Ben's playmat :)
53 Or prayer mat?	54 Next shift of happy campers arrived for dinner on Sat night! This worked out well :) Here's Kathy cooking up the burgers.	55 The kids want in on the action blowing up the air mattresses. They are convinced it would be a great trampoline!	56 Sam showed Anneliese and Caleigh his "triangle" of trails. They ran and ran up and down this hill, through the woods and back again!
57	58 Back around to "chase my friends!"	59	60 And over the special log again - this was a train, a plane, and also the time-out log. Sam had three time-outs before 8am on Sunday, the last morning. I think he was wiped - he said at about 9am "now it's time for a nap" and went into the tent to lie down. He did that the previous evening - now it's time for bed. Funny boy. I tried to keep my sense of humor!
61 Look at that RUMP!	62 It's a train now.	63 They got a big kick out of drinking water from shot glasses! Round after round they filled them up. We finally had to put a stop to it by turning the cooler around. But they figured that out, too! We'd turn around to see them filling up again!	64 See what I mean?
65 Ha! Anneliese is drinking out of a plastic wine glass now :)	66 Funny boy last night!	67	68 Doesn't he look like he's 13 with these faces? Waiting to get more s'mores on the second night of camping.
69 Hanging out with his friends :)	70 This is morning now...waiting for mommy to cook pancakes. I managed to get up, get Sam dressed, go to the bathroom, get the fire going and pancake batter made, oh and the table cleaned off...all before Ben woke up at 7am. Whew! The timing worked out great both mornings. Ben was so great sleeping through the night. I put the boys down around 8pm and had a little grown-up time before bed. I got so much sleep the second night that I was up around 1am rested, just kinda chillin in my tent looking at the boys sleeping...	71 I am blessed. Don't get me wrong - it was a lot of work and I am tired but SO worth it!	72 Mixing up the batter. So I said to Sam - please guard the batter and don't let flies get in while I get Ben up and change him. I looked back to find someone "tasting" the batter!
73 Like Ben's camping chair?	74 Yummy pancakes!	75 Taking Miss Kathy on a field trip :)	76 Sweet boy so wonderful during pack-up time. He is amazing.
77 Jon got us lattes! Woohoo!	78 Sharpening a stick to use to crack open a coconut.	79 Go Jon!	80 Yeah!
81 What is Sammy doing? Just noticed this when I went through the photos. Jon has great technique!	82 Look at the little face inside! To crack it open you hit it on the line that runs between the "eyes."	83	84 One hole is open so it's dried up inside. Not worth opening so we kept it for a camping mascot.
85 More activities - volcano time! Load it up with Mentos then pull the trigger. "Lava" shoots up 20 feet!	86 OK stand back!	87 Video of the "explosion."	88 "I need a nap!"
89 Filling the truck up with "oil." Sticks served many many purposes.	90 Kathy rode with us to watch the boys while I checked out. They are so awesome!