Family Camping: Day 3

Our final day of camping was nice. This time after waking Charlotte early to go potty we were able to put her back in bed where she went back to sleep and so we could sleep longer as well. Alice said she didn't need to go and since she was wearing a pull up to be safe anyway we decided to let her keep sleeping. It was about 7:30 when Curtis and I got up and started packing up things in our tent. Nikki woke up around 8:00 and was ready for us to make breakfast of pancakes, bacon and cocoa or cider to drink. We weren't in a big hurry to leave since we didn't have to be out until 1:00 from our site but after breakfast we cleaned up and starting packing.

It was great the way the older kids really pitched in to help during this camping trip. From helping with meals to helping with dishes to helping with the girls to helping pack up our gear they did a great job and it made the camping trip that much better. Even Charlotte packed up her own suitcase and back pack without me telling her and brought it to the truck. I packed Alice's bags for her but she brought them out of the tent to the truck by herself, also without me telling her to. It was cute to see her with one backpack on her back, one being pulled on wheels with one hand and holding another smaller backpack in the other hand.

Cooking breakfast together. We were amazed at how evenly the pancakes cooked over the fire stove. I think they cooked more evenly than they do on our griddle at home.

All packed and ready to go home.

The name of our camp site.

Curtis was pretty excited that he was able to get up to 16.2 miles per gallon on this trip. It went down to 16.1 when I took the picture but he was pretty happy to get that high of a number on his truck.

On our way home.

Family Camping: Day 2

 Tuesday morning we woke up around 6 am to take the girls to go potty so they wouldn't have an accident. Unfortunately they never went back to sleep. We were at least able to lay in bed for another hour even though they were chatting away. We ate breakfast sandwiches that morning which consisted of English muffins, fried egg, sausage and cheese. They were yummy! This time we used the stand up fire stove there at the campsite because our grill was too small to cook more than one thing at a time. Well, we still used the gas grill for frying eggs and the fire stove we used for cooking the sausage and heating up the English muffins and water.

Playing some ladder ball after breakfast.

After cleaning up from breakfast we had to decide whether to go on a walk first or go ahead and head to the beach. Nikki was wise and told us we should go to the beach early to get a spot before other people come. So we packed up our stuff and drove across the lake to Boulder Creek Day use area, which is close to my grandparent's old cabin. There are a couple of beaches on this peninsula. There's the one by the boat ramp and then another on the opposite side. We went to the one on the opposite side. What an awesome sight to see such a big beach and only two kids were there when we arrived, a brother and sister about Garrett's and Jack's ages. They invited our boys to play marco polo. While they did that Nikki, Alice and I went on a beach walk to go see my grandparent's old cabin and beach area. I saw that the new owners have a new dock that is T shaped with a nice motor boat parked on one side and a canoe on the other. The sprinklers were going in the back yard so I didn't get a good look but it seems like the new owners are taking good care of the property.

After about an hour or so the two kids said they needed to leave. They were staying with their grandparents. We then had the entire beach to ourselves for about 3 hours. A little before we left a lady showed up with her two dogs. Then when we were packing up our truck after we were done we saw several more cars in the parking lot and people getting out and heading to the same beach. I'm so glad we listened to Nikki and went early. Who knows how many more people came after that. The weather was plenty warm even at 10:30 am when we arrived and was just beautiful the whole time. We had planned to eat hot dogs for lunch but ended up eating leftovers from breakfast and yesterday's dinner and whatever we had in our cooler. It was nice to just eat by the back of the truck and head back down to the beach. We left around 2:30.

After our day at the beach we went to Ice Cream Alley in McCall. They required masks and not all of us had one so I went around with the 3 youngest kids and waited out on the main street.

We were all getting pretty tired but still wanted to go to Ponderosa State Park and at least drive around to see the scenery. When we got to the highest point a few of us got out to look around while the others waited in the truck. It's such a beautiful place!

Then it was back to camp to cook up tin foil dinners because it just isn't camping if we don't have these for one of our dinners.

And then relaxing by the fire. I didn't get a picture but we did do a different type of s'more that was a little easier. We roasted marshmallows and then put it between two Chips Ahoy chocolate chip cookies. Not bad but I prefer the regular way better.

Charlotte had found this hair elastic in the lake while swimming. It was double banded and looked like a bracelet to her so that's what she decided it was. Unfortunately she lost her favorite pink goggles while swimming.

Enjoying our tin foil dinners.

Family Camping: Day 1

It's been a few years but we finally bought some new tents and took a camping trip up to Donnelly, Idaho. I have to say if you can go camping during the week, I definitely recommend it!  We left Monday morning and came home Wednesday afternoon. There were other people camping in our campsite but we were not surrounded by anybody in the spot we reserved. It was so nice and that made up for having a spot closer to the main road. It only would have been better if we had a few more shade trees on our camp site or at least closer to our tents, etc. We want to invest in a canopy so we can make our own shade next time. 

So Monday we got to our camp site around 1:30 pm. We quickly unloaded and pitched our tents and then made some hoagie sandwiches for lunch. We quickly figured out that the water they had available for drinking, etc. had that sulfur smell/taste to it. Honestly, it's nothing new since I used to smell/taste this in the water we drank at the cabin growing up. The old cabin was actually almost directly across the lake from our camp site. We had bought a block of ice for our water cooler on the way out of town but did not fill it until we got to camp. Nikki, Garrett and I decided we would have to go to the gas station in Donnelly to buy some clean filtered drinking water and another block of ice. There was no way we were going to drink that sulfur water for 3 days! We had to dump all the water we had filled into the cooler out but saved the ice block. While we were gone Curtis took the younger 3 kids down to the water to do some swimming. Our camp site was right off the lake but there was a lot of grass in our area so the beach was pretty small. Nikki, Garrett and I joined them swimming after we got back.

After we changed out of our swim suits we got busy with making kabobs for dinner. Yum! Steak, mushrooms, peppers and red onions cooked on our little portable grill. Then we popped some campfire popcorn. We had a little down time so I went into my tent and did a small ab workout from an app I have on my phone. I'm pretty happy with myself for actually doing it while on vacation because that never happens! That night after the 4 other kids were in their tents Curtis, Nikki and I got out his telescope and did some star gazing. The moon was full that night and looked so bright! I could see it shining through the trees and took some pictures. I got tired and went to bed before Nikki and Curtis. They said they were able to find Saturn and see it's rings. So cool!

This was before I showed up but it looks like Charlotte was carrying Alice. She's such a good big sister!

All of our kids did really well helping out during this camping trip, especially the older kids. It made it so much nicer!

The girls and I rode circles around the camp while waiting for the kabobs to finish cooking. I'm so glad we took Charlotte's, Jack's and my bike. It definitely gave something for Charlotte to do and so glad there were paved roads. We also took Alice's new scooter since she doesn't have a bike.

They were so excited to sleep in the tent they kept going in there before it was even bed time.

My shot of the moon through the trees. The moon was so bright that when I went back to my tent I didn't need a flashlight to get into my pajamas.

Parks and a Party

Last Tuesday we had our 2nd Relief Society Activity since the pandemic and we once again met at Lyons Park. This time it was a heritage night theme and they had a table set up for people to bring a  family heirloom to share. Only 12 people showed up and 5 people brought things to share. I decided to share my Grandpa Hansen's painting that he painted for me when I was 10 years old. When he had asked what I wanted him to paint I told him the "Y" Mountain in Utah because he had taken me and 3  of my brothers two years previous to hike up to it. Everyone enjoyed the painting that I shared. A couple of people even took pictures of it. Unfortunately it somehow got a small hole in it on part of the canvas and I have no idea how it happened (it was there before the activity). It hasn't been hung for almost 2 years because we thought we were going to move 2 years ago but then changed our minds and never put the pictures back up that we had taken down.

Even though it was kind of hot this week the 4 younger kids wanted to go to the park so I drove them over to Lyons Park playground Wednesday morning around lunch time. They had a great time and it felt good to have energy to play with them instead of just sitting to watch them. I got lots of fun pictures so I'm going to share some.

Nikki went to a young women's activity Wednesday night where they played Bunco in the back yard of one of the leaders. Nikki won a prize that included some pink nail polish. She gave the polish to the girls and Alice wanted me to paint her nails right away.

Friday evening we were invited to a Harry Potter party at a friend's house (Chrystal and Matt Hayes). Of all the days it happened to be the hottest day of the year so far. At first they were going to have most things outside, then it changed to do half and half. Ultimately we ended up mostly inside. 

The party was muggle dress code but some wanted to dress up still including Charlotte but this was the best thing we could find for her. 

They got to make a dragon egg made out of foil, air drying clay, and fun decor.

Jack wanted this painted on his forehead instead of an animal.

They did a potions class with Professor Snape and the kids would poor some polyjuice potion into a cup that had a drop of food color in it. They would take their cup over to the face painter who would then change them into an animal according to the color in their cup. Both of our girls had green and became snakes.