Posts in Category: camping

Camp Last Hurrah

I started the day with a mysterious jail-break - the chickens were out before I let them out. Looks like I have some coop repair to do! Bad chickens!

I started the day with a mysterious jail-break – the chickens were out before I let them out. Looks like I have some coop repair to do! Bad chickens!

Camp Last Hurrah was Thursday – last week. It was a very busy day, kicked off by a vigorous ride (on Emmy), hay-bale throwing, mucking, then camping. I didn’t stop moving – literally – for 24 hours. At 2:46 pm on Friday (after all the below adventures) I laid down for a rare (like once every 4 years) nap so I could be human when Dave got home. I turned the ringers off, put the boys in their bunks (they were exhausted as well) and was lights out for an hour. When I woke up at 4pm, I felt like I’d been run over by a train. Truly every muscle hurt and it was reminiscent of delivering Sam 10 years ago… But I wouldn’t have traded that 24 hours for anything in the world. Read on to find out why…Some of the stories are classified – you’ll have to ask me for the rest sometime 🙂

I had a great ride on Emmy, threw six 110-lb hay bales from a truck into the barn, mucked the stall and prepared to race home to head out to Fort Flagler for the big annual group campout. I got a text, though, saying that due to the big storm coming through the boys' friends were not going to go. I got an inspiration while mucking that we could just camp in our back 40. Got home, hatched the plan and engaged the boys in helping clear land to make room for the bigger tent. We had to expand our campsite from about 10x10 to 10x20. This entailed taking out a HUGE fern. Sam goes "This is a lot like Clash of Clans (game) but 25 times longer!"

I had a great ride on Emmy, threw six 110-lb hay bales from a truck into the barn, mucked the stall and prepared to race home to head out to Fort Flagler for the big annual group campout. I got a text, though, saying that due to the big storm coming through the boys’ friends were not going to go. I got an inspiration while mucking that we could just camp in our back 40. Got home, hatched the plan and engaged the boys in helping clear land to make room for the bigger tent. We had to expand our campsite from about 10×10 to 10×20. This entailed taking out a HUGE fern. Sam goes “This is a lot like Clash of Clans (game) but 25 times longer!”

An hour of back-breaking work later we had the land leveled off enough for boys to sleep on the ground in sleeping bags without too much discomfort.

An hour of back-breaking work later we had the land leveled off enough for boys to sleep on the ground in sleeping bags without too much discomfort. There were a few soft spots and one little dip in the ground, but not bad for leveling 140 sq ft by hand!

Nice view!

Nice view!

We were starving, so while we waited for campers to arrive we wolfed down Pirate Booty and the boys played Magic.

We were starving, so while we waited for campers to arrive we wolfed down Pirate Booty and the boys played Magic.

Soon we were heating up the chili Dave had made the night before on the new propane portable campfire (seated down in my fire pit).

Soon we were heating up the chili Dave had made the night before on the new propane portable campfire (seated down in my fire pit). This is new friend, John, stirring the chili. Thank you!

Patricia made amazing blackberry crumble. It was seriously good - the best ever!

Patricia made amazing blackberry crumble. It was seriously good – the best ever!

This is the view of the tent in the woods, boys finally settled into a game of Magic. They barely stopped their nerf war, hockey shootout, chasing games to eat, racing around howling like a pack of wolves. But around 9pm I gave a briefing to all 7 boys (5 Sam's age, 2 Ben's age) that it was time to chill a little. Handed out Trident to brush teeth (they loved that!) and headed back to the tent by lantern. Lest you think they followed direction seamlessly...I could hear the howls from far away as I gathered up stuff from around the campfire. There might possibly have been some pillow fights, some jumping around IN sleeping bags trying to knock each other down...I'm surprised the tent was still standing. I put the rain fly up at about 10pm in the dark, solo, in case it did rain...soooo glad I did!

This is the view of the tent in the woods, boys finally settled into a game of Magic. They barely stopped their nerf war, hockey shootout, chasing games to eat, racing around howling like a pack of wolves. But around 9pm I gave a briefing to all 7 boys (5 Sam’s age, 2 Ben’s age) that it was time to chill a little. Handed out Trident to brush teeth (they loved that!) and headed back to the tent by lantern. Lest you think they followed direction seamlessly…I could hear the howls from far away as I gathered up stuff from around the campfire. There might possibly have been some pillow fights, some jumping around IN sleeping bags trying to knock each other down…I’m surprised the tent was still standing. I put the rain fly up at about 10pm in the dark, solo, in case it did rain…soooo glad I did!

I am not sure I slept at all...one of the boys likes to giggle randomly throughout the night, the others squirm and elbow, one talked all night long in his sleep, and there was much thrashing and squirming in general until 5am when the rains came. I texted the parents that all was well in case they worried about wind (I didn't want kids out under trees in the wind, which didn't come until the next day, thankfully).

I am not sure I slept at all…one of the boys likes to giggle randomly throughout the night, the others squirm and elbow, one talked all night long in his sleep, and there was much thrashing and squirming in general until 5am when the rains came. I texted the parents that all was well in case they worried about wind (I didn’t want kids out under trees in the wind, which didn’t come until the next day, thankfully).

Love percolator coffee! Big fan of my horse shoe trivet, too ;)

Love percolator coffee! Big fan of my horse shoe trivet, too 😉

Sam making eggs for the gang. He loves to do this.

Sam making eggs for the gang. He loves to do this.

Everyone settling in for some eggs and biscuits - a brief time-out from a Nerf war spanning about a mile between homes.

Everyone settling in for some eggs and biscuits – a brief time-out from a Nerf war spanning about a mile between homes.

The Band of Brothers marching home from a raid!

The Band of Brothers marching home from a raid!

Thanks for this shot of the crew, David Kim! Great to see you for coffee! Boys - it was an honor and privilege to serve with you! Happy Camp Last Hurrah!

Thanks for this shot of the crew, David Kim! Great to see you for coffee! Boys – it was an honor and privilege to serve with you! Happy Camp Last Hurrah!

A double serving of bonehead juice, please!

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I did a timed set-up and take-down of this simple dome tent for an upcoming Mommy/Sammy/Ben camping trip.

Compact Camping – Summit ’07

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Dad has over 50 years of camping experience. It was a real treat to camp out with him again and pick up a few refreshers 🙂 Sammy enjoyed himself as always 🙂 He is a good little camper! A whole bunch of pictures are up (click on photo above). We’re off to Shark’s Cove for snorkeling today.

camping trip to Malaekahana

after nap kisses

Mom, Sam and I decided to sneak away for a little camping trip while Dave is away. We wanted to check out a park we’d heard was a good, safe place to camp. While you don’t have to worry about bears or snakes here on the island, you do have to worry a bit about crime – car break-ins and noisy walk-ins hanging out in the campground. Maleakahana has 24 hr security, so we felt it would be a good place to check out. We had a wonderful time! Turns out this is the windy time of year (Mar-Apr) so we lost a lot of food to the camp chickens (who apparently eat centipedes live!). This juicy little fact is pertinent because our camping neighbors found a centipede in their tent – yikes! So those roving chickens are actually pretty helpful.

Dave didn’t grow up camping as a kid, so he is remarkable in that he’s really taking to it as an adult. However, he likes to be comfortable and have a few amenities, whereas I’m pretty happy as long as I have fire at night and coffee in the morning. So after experiencing a wild night camping out for Sam’s 2nd birthday (we selected what we thought would be a quiet spot at the end of the campground on the Marine Corps base, but our site ended up being adjacent to a group of about 40 drunk Marines who blasted Metallica until we chased them off at about 3 in the morning), and this centipede story (along with a few others I can’t mention here), Dave is really wondering about the merits of camping! Please post your reflections on memorable camping trips so he can appreciate what an indelible mark camping makes on your life 🙂 Sam has a great time and grows up more each time we go. It really seems to make him feel like a wee man. And I appreciate the opportunity to get totally filthy, sleep very little (because there’s always some intrigue going on at night, whether it’s your toddler doing 360’s in bed next to you and putting his feet in your face, or the aforementioned drunk Marines, or centipedes or whatever) and come home to really relish a shower and having all your cooking tools handy 🙂

There are a bunch of photos in the album (the picture above links you to them), and I posted a review of the campground at Outdoor Ohana, a new website Dave and I launched for like-minded families. Let us know what you think!