The White House

The White House

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Camping!!

 

Tuesday morning was spent watering everything so we could go camping after Emily’s hair appointment (photos of that are on my phone).

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We need to eat some spinach.

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After taking way to long to pack up the truck we were off. We saw 5 moose and one beaver on our drive.

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After driving back and forth over a couple mile stretch we settled on this gravel bar. (We don’t do campgrounds…sharing space with others isn’t our thing). First order of business was to build a fire. Lots of bugs!

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Olivia is a hard little worker and gathered wood.

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Princess Emily? More than willing to let the rest of us set up camp and do the work. She’s more like Elijah than I realized.

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Homer drove out after watching the basketball game and brought Millie. It was her first camping trip and first time in water. Incidentally, it was Lucas’ first camping trip as well. Olivia’s second and she was about 7 months the first time. Emily hasn’t camped with us since she was 5. We did “camp” with Nick two years ago, but eating in a restaurant and then walking across the street to sleep in a tent isn’t exactly camping. This is something we are going to do more of.

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They waded. It was cold and slimy on the rocks. I can’t believe one of them didn’t fall.

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Showing me how strong he is.

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I love this photo of the dogs following the Little People.

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Two tents…one for Homer, Olivia and me…then Nick, Emily and Lucas. Forgot the pump for my air mattress, but surprisingly enough I survived the ground. Nick had a hump and didn’t get much sleep. We all need air mattresses…. camping doesn’t have to be uncomfortable.

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Best part about Alaska? It’s still light at 11:39pm…and all night. :)

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Lucas and Olivia called it fishing. Nick called it losing his hooks. They’ve never been fishing and we need to take them somewhere it can be done right.

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First time the kids had ever seen Jiffy Pop and the thought it was so cool. Nick made fun of me that this family doesn’t go anywhere without popcorn.

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Lots of laughs all around.

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I’d forgotten how hot a tent can get. The kids were stirring and I couldn’t convince them to go back to bed. Nick figured it was around noon. We crawled out and the sky was black.

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We quickly started packing up. Neither of us wanted to do it in the rain. Turns out it was actually  7:00am! No wonder everyone was tired. I think we finally went to sleep at 1am!

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Nick got a fire going while I cooked breakfast.

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We need a “Let’s go camping” checklist. We had sliced pineapple, snacks galore and I made bacon, eggs and pancakes for breakfast, but we didn’t have any plates!! We left the water jug at home, too, so we end up drinking out of the river.

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Skipping rocks a few more times and then we were off. (Yes, we loaded a couple rocks for the pool at home…only a couple though just for the memories).

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Nick drove the truck out and I didn’t watch. This is way steeper than it looks and scared me driving down.

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Alaskans get very excited when we see a bull moose….. we see him in the freezer this Fall.

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Back at home it was power nap time then up to mow the lawns (good thing I’m not lazy because I was draggin’ butt and could have easily slept all day).

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The girls brought some flat rocks back to paint. Wish we would have brought more.

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I planted a few more flowers and then got out the slip ‘n slide. (I just couldn’t do any more work).

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We harvested our first strawberries. The were so sweet!!

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Emily had a friend over to spend the night and they all went swimming, but I didn’t have the energy to get the camera.

I have the sprinkler on the front yard this morning. The grass desperately needs water and now I won’t have to do each flower bed individually. It’s been 80* the last couple of days. Lovin’ the heat!

So much to do…better get a move on. Hope you are enjoying your summer days. Oh, guess what? Elijah’s iPhone was stolen a couple weeks after he got it in early May. Some teen tried to activate it and we got it back yesterday. That’s some luck! The day before that the NP Police sent a letter letting us know Elijah’s lost wallet was turned in. How it got in NP 30 miles away we don’t know, but what a deal!

4 comments:

Kim@Snug Harbor said...

What a great post! I love that you all went camping. It looked like a really good time. Talk about the fun family - YOURS is the fun family!! Great idea to paint the rocks too - what a nice memory.

Lori Skoog said...

Looks like you had a great time. That picture of Homer smiling is fantastic. You spinach and strawberries look delicious...your hard work is paying off. Nice that the dogs went with you. Did Daisy lose her coat in this warm weather?

Nancy J said...

This would be Hugh's perfect camping spot, no-one else there, a stream, rocks, wood for the fire, however we find the air beds very cold even in our late summer.I so like the painted stones.What a great time for everyone, then back to home and garden and work.Hope you get to do it all again. Cheers from Jean

Patty said...

Loved the flat rock idea! You guys are always so crafty! We just got back from camping out at Birch Lake. I loved it and the weather and midnight sun was awesome! Glad you got out to enjoy it with your family too!