Camping: The usual adventures

Last week we went camping for five days. We had basically been planning this trip since the day we got home from camping last year, the boys love it so much. We all do.

We got in on Wednesday around lunch time, and got to work setting up the site. It seemed to go really fast somehow...must have been all the extra helpers this year.


After we finished setting up, it was on to the usual fun. There was car grilling,



Taye grilling,


and (stale, nasty) Jiffy Pop grilling:



There were morning tea parties,



night time snuggles,



and lots of monkeying around in between.



And, of course, lets not forget - the bug bite on the eye. Number four for the year (7 or 8 lifetime) and on the very first day, no less.



We had a great time, the boys were so happy to be there. They got along so well, it was so sweet to see. One day Taye and I made the trek to the bathrooms, and apparently while we were gone, Darius decided he wanted to come and see us. As Taye and I started back down the path we saw Darius and Luis coming, and Taye started running and shouting "my brother! my brother!" When he got to Darius they hugged, and then held hands the whole walk back.



They spent the rest of that day playing 'Woody and Buzz.' Here they are, in character. Buzz is in the orange, of course - you can tell because he has his helmet on. The script went something like this: (holding hands) "Woody and Buzz Lightyear! Kkkrrt! Oh no - Woody's arm ripped! The man has to fix him!" (enter Luis, who 'sews' Woody's arm.) "All fixed!" And repeat. And repeat...



We made the usual rounds this year, and also found some new adventures (which will be given their very own posts). Thursday we went to Lower Falls for a couple of hours. As we were walking from the parking lot, we saw the enormous rock near the bathrooms. Taye's first thought? "I wanna climb that!" And climb it he did. Over and over, while Darius and I played in the water, and Daddy stood by as spotter.


Darius and I ventured out into the river a short distance, but once it started to get too cold, Darius was out of there. He much preferred the smaller (dirtier) pools he found.


It proved to be an awesome day for bugs at Lower Falls as well. There was a bee to watch on the few flowers sprinkled around,


the ladybug that landed on my back,


and whatever this huge, nasty, (thankfully) dead bug was too.

Mostly the boys just liked running around on the rocks. Taye kept us on edge with his fearlessness, and we remarked later that its a good thing the back of his head is so cute, since thats what we see most of the time!

We got a good site again this year, with a nice path down to the river. I didn't make it down until the last day, since it seemed like the boys never wanted to go down at the same time. After we finished packing up Sunday morning, we had time to kill and walked down. The boys actually decided to go in the water this time (since we had no extra clothes out, and the duffel bag was at the very bottom of the jam-packed trunk). I was wishing I had my bathing suit on, it was so tempting.


After the river, we went to Clark's Trading Post to see the bears, and then out for a nice lunch with Nana and Jim.

We had so much fun that plans are already in the works for next year. Now I just have to figure out how to juggle 3 kids wanting to sleep next to me...