I've been looking forward to our fall camping trip all year long. I LOVED getting away last year. I needed to spend time with good friends, disconnect from technology and give my kids the opportunity to run wild and free in the wilderness.
But, there is a price to be paid. The planning, shopping, packing, cleaning, organizing felt insurmountable this year. Maybe it was because I knew we would be arriving home with a very small window to get ready for the ward Halloween party....
All the costumes needed to be ready and the house needed to be cleaned so that we wouldn't arrived home into preordained chaos.
Thursday morning I woke up with stress coursing through my veins. I hit the ground running and soon I was bossing and barking at everyone. Megan was at the kitchen sink plotting a mutiny because she didn't want to wash the dishes and the others had simply disappeared in an effort to avoid an assignment.
I stood in the middle of the madness and realized that if we didn't regroup we were going to have a miserable morning and arrive at our campsite already furious with each other.
So we got a schedule going and we were off. Soon we were on our way to Wallace State Park and 3 days of friends and nature.
Megan made us a broom to sweep the leaves off of our tent porch. If only it didn't leave it's own leaves behind as well.
Everly learned how to "tend sticks" this year. She is still working on the concept of not waving the flaming hot end around in everyone's face. Only two of us got branded!
We had some pretty sweet campfire visitors!
I love how the kids roam from campground to campground sharing food and teaching each other games and generally having their run of the place. And I really love sharing food and forgotten supplies with my friends...they're so close! Just a few yards away! I feel like we've lost some of this feeling of community as our connection to each other shifts to the digital arena.
I was born in the wrong century. Except for Netflix and hot showers.....those are keepers.
The girls got tired early and requested to go to bed early.
uh....okay!
So we got them brush and jammied and settled in. A few ghost stories later and they were snoozing away and the grown ups were left to chat.
It was my favorite moment of the trip. Having time to enjoy the company of these awesome people I have come to love and count on in my life.
The next morning started off low-key but turned stressful when Mari and Martin realized that Seth was missing. We all set off in different directions calling his name and thinking that he'd turn up any minute at someone's campsite or down at the lake. But he wasn't turning up and Mari was getting really scared. Of course!!
Mark and Martin ran down the road and went down different trails, Jessica stayed back in camp and watched all the other little ones so we didn't lose anyone else. Todd took Deer Run loop and Laney and I branched off down Skunk Hollow Trail. We were yelling and praying and hoping to run into him soon.
After about 15 minutes, Ethan came running our direction and started searching with us. A few minutes later, Mark texted him...Seth had been found! He had gone off on a morning hike with the Johnson family and had overlooked the very essential step of asking permission.
We were just glad to see his face.
Everyone gathered back at camp and the Guenther's set off on a hike and we kicked around camp just organizing and shooting the breeze.
Laney took advantage of a captive audience and told her very best ghost story. Kylie told one and suckered me into looking closely at a gruesome "scar" and got me to scream like a sissy when I got too close. ugh!
After lunch we headed down to the lake with a big group of the willing. We had heard tales of the "biggest seesaw in the world". Well then!
Anna was....happy!
We had to take a few minutes to roll down the very best rolling hill a few times.
And a few more times.
And maybe a few more times....
Look at that awesome swirling hair! That is impressive rolling speed.
Couldn't resist snapping a picture of cute Mark. Love that man.
We followed the Johnsons down a path and placed our trust in them as we veered off down a dry river bed and wound round and round in search of the teeter totter. We trust the Johnsons. They are professional campers. They know stuff.
And we weren't disappointed. Best teeter totter EVER.
By some miracle I managed to take a panoramic photo of it while everyone was moving about and being generally spastic.
But not before I gave Mark a super stretchy chicken leg...lol
On our way back to the camp, I thought it would be fun to snap a fall photo of the girls. Megan did not agree.
One of this things is not like the others....
I managed to get this one (not perfect, but I'll take it) right before she rolled her eyes at me and stormed off.
Mathew found his people and they gathered around the watering hole.
It was the perfect getaway. We gathered, we laughed, we shared and swapped. The kids were loud a crazy and dirty. Mini-societies were built and collapsed multiple times. Each child seemed to get a chance to be the "boss of everything" and enjoy their power before the others organized a mutiny.
It's exactly what I was hoping for. Happy, tired, smokey, and completely filthy.
Camping perfection.
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