For the most part, camping and Labor Day weekend was a lot of fun. My sister Becky and her honey came from the Portland area. They brought along a friend named Andrea that was fun to hang out with. My oldest brother Rob and his wife Tiffany and their two kids Koen and Brooklan came. My younger brother Doug and his dog Bowie made it, and also another one of my younger brothers Ryan and his daughter Layla came.
I took Friday off so we could get a good start on the weekend. We went up a day earlier than the rest of the family. It turned out to be a long drive to our camping area. The road had lots of turns and curves, so I did get a bit sick to my stomach. Nolan thankfully slept most of the way there.
The setting up of the campsite was relatively easy, and Nolan was excited to help us. He was a bit upset that his cousins weren't there yet, but he seemed to get over that okay. Roasting marshmallows was very exciting for Nolan. He didn't really even need the chocolate. I would say the hardest part of the trip was getting Nolan to go to bed. We knew that he most likely wouldn't get a nap the next day with all the cousins, so we wanted him to get a lot sleep the night before. Too much exciting stuff going on for that. Here Nolan is right before bed hanging with Monkey!
The next day before everyone showed up, we decided to move the camp site just a bit, and then we had fun throwing rocks in the river. I think this easily could have been Nolan's favorite part. I have never been able to skip rocks before, so Nick was nice enough to give me some lessons. I'm very good at it now! My arm was sore by the end of the weekend.
Soon after everyone showed up one by one. First Rob and Tiff, and then slowly everyone else made it. Once everyone was there, it was time for lunch and to have a bunch of fun with the cousins. It was pretty warm, so some of us put on our swimsuits and waded or even swam in the water.
Becky and Jerry
Ryan and Layla
Rob and Tiff ;)
Here's a better picture of them!
Here are the girls. (Andrea, Brooklan, Tiff, and Becky)
Here's a picture of the sisters!
Next we got dinner ready. Nick and I made tin foil dinners. Rob and Tiff made yummy tacos. We all shared a bit. All the food was wonderful even if there was a little dirt in it! Nolan couldn't hold out of r dinner, so he and daddy snacked on some crackers. Brooklan found a tomato to snack on as well...
Nolan was being a bit ornery, so not a happy face here. I think it may have something to do with no nap and little sleep. He didn't quite make it to the marshmallows that night. We decided instead of having him scream while all the others were still up, we would take him for a drive. He was out in less than 5 minutes, but we drove around for another 20 minutes or so to just make sure. Here we are right before our drive. Nolan was crying a bit, so his eyes and eczema are a little bad in the picture!
Here's everyone enjoying the s'mores.
Koen
Uncle Dougie and Layla
While we were gone, the others went to the hot springs to relax ad clean up a bit. Nolan would have loved it, but it was all for the best. When they all got back, Rob and Tiff made us some dutch oven chocolate chip cookies. Yum-o!
We went to bed right afterward. We slept okay until Nick heard something outside the tent. He was brave enough to peek out, and what did he see? A skunk. He came back in and told me the skunk had found a dirty diaper to chew on. Yuck! We had forgotten to put our trash away before we went to sleep. Nick was going to let it be, but then it just disgusted him too much! I wanted nothing to do with it, so I stayed safely in the tent. Nick found the nearest something to throw (a few zucchinis we had brought from our garden). He told me he hit the skunk in the bum with one of them.
Nick didn't get sprayed, but the skunk did spray. We could smell it for a while during the night, but in the morning it was pretty much gone. Becky asked me if I had smelled the skunk the night before, so when I told her what happened, we all got a good laugh out of it. We were all very happy not to have gotten sprayed personally.
Breakfast was delicious. We all had eggs and hashbrowns with veggies mixed in. So good! Hard to go wrong there. Here Nolan is all warm in his gear waiting for breakfast.
After breakfast and a few temper tantrums, we decided to head out early. We had had lots of fun, and we were ready to go home and relax. It was fun to see everyone and spend time in the great outdoors though.
We went fishing...
We took cute pictures with Layla...
Then the next day...
We stopped to see Nana and acted like a Monkey!
We went to Gramma Fae's and Grampa Doug's.
When we got home, it was lots of fun handing out candy. This is the first year we got a good number of Trick-or-Treaters. Nolan had fun helping us hand out the candy. We had some cute little ones, and some not so cute big teenager ones...very scary...Altogether lots of fun and too much candy!
Coloring...
Swinging...
We got to entertain Brooklan one evening while her big brother went to a concert for his birthday. We played outside for a few minutes before the cold set in, then we popped some popcorn and watched some movies. It was lots of fun, but she just couldn't stay awake!
Here's Nolan and Layla playing away in the back yard...
More coloring...
