Camping Fun

Ok so a little more traveling this summer...  I think we have been gone more than we have been home!  This time went camping at my parents' property on Cove Mountain.  We had a great time camping for almost two weeks in the lovely mountains.  It was so nice to just spend the two weeks relaxing and not worrying about work or anything.  We read a lot of books and just chilled.  

One fun thing the kids learned to do was whittle or carve sticks:

They did this any chance they got to have the pocket knives.  Russell was really patient and taught them to cut away from themselves and to be careful with the knives.  They loved it.  Now Colby says carving is his favorite thing to do.  We also did a bit of fishing at Deep Lake.  Well we did at first and then the kids kept getting snags so Russell lost most of his tackle and we couldn't fish anymore.

Another fun time was time spent around the campfire.  Here we are roasting Marshmallows and making banana boats.

These are our yummy banana boats.  Banana boats are roasted bananas with marshmallows and chocolate melted inside.  You just cut open the banana, stuff it with marshmallows and chocolate (we used Health bars) and the wrap it in tin foil and cook it on the fire.  They kind of sounded gross at first but once we took the first bite, our minds were changed!  They were actually really good.  We also made S'mores and Woofers that were really good too.

One night around the fire, Jacee and Becca treated us to some campfire music.  Becca got out her guitar and together they sang a bunch of songs for us.  After they had played all of the songs Becca knew, they put the guitar away and started singing Girls' Camp songs.  It was so much fun to sing along with them and reminisce the great days of Girls' Camp.  Ever since then, the kids have been singing Camp songs over and over.

A favorite time of the day was when Grandpa would go set up his Trail Cam.  This was the best because all of the grandkids would pile into the dune buggy for a ride.  They looked forward to it every night.  I can vouch for the kids, there is nothing better than going for a ride in the dune buggy!  We did it many times when I was a kid about their age too.  Heck it is still fun now that I am old!

Ok so it wasn't all fun and games and relaxing, there was a bit of work too:

While we stayed on the mountain, we did quite a bit of cleaning up old logs and debris from under the trees.  The guys also put up a wooden fence at the entrance of the property.  The property looks so nice all cleaned up.  The kids had fun working and gathering sticks and logs to put on the trailer and then unload.  They were willing to work hard because it meant a ride on Grandpa's four-wheeler when it was time to haul the logs off to be dumped.  They loved every minute of it and they were so dirty.

Not only did the kids have fun loading logs and riding the four-wheeler but I think Russell and Klint had a good time being lumberjacks using their chainsaws.  They ran those chainsaws all day.  They did realize they were not as young as they once were and complained of having sore muscles at night.  But that didn't stop Russell from busting out the chainsaw the next day and helping Colby build a life-sized Lincoln Log fort in the woods.  Colby loved it and ate his lunch in there more than a few times.

During camp we also had "Scout" days.  These were days Tyrel would work on Cub Scout stuff and of course all of the kids would help him out.

On this day, they made homemade kites out of sticks and garbage bags.  Then they had a kite derby and tried to fly them.  Unfortunately there was no wind so they didn't fly very well.  That didn't stop the kids though, they still ran up and down the camp letting their kites fly.

Before the Hughes' went home on Sunday, the kids put on a rock concert and show for us.  We laughed so hard as they sang their Heavy Metal song "We're Burning Daylight."  They all banged their sticks on the logs like they were the best drummers in the world.  It was a great show!

After they left, Emily, Colby, and Logan made up their own songs too.  Here they are performing for us.

Emily was the drummer, Colby was the guitarist, and Logan was the backup singer/dancer.  They were so funny singing songs about Clifford the Big Red Dog and Grandpa and Grandma's dog, Bandy.

At night we would go look for deer and elk on the four-wheelers and dune buggy.  These three bucks were close enough to get some pictures of:

Russell said they were pretty big ones.  We also saw a few elk but they were quite far away.  I love seeing the wildlife on the mountain.  There were three deer that must live on my parents' property because we saw the same two little bucks and a doe every day.  There were also the range cows that tried to walk through our camp every morning.  Luckily, Molly and Bandy barked at them and chased them away.  The cows were so annoying, they would start mooing every morning right when the sun came up.  It was like they thought they were roosters or something.  

Finally on the last day, we went fishing again.  (Russell had gone down the mountain for some things and got new tackle.)  We had been unlucky catching fish all week and finally Emily was the lucky one in the family to get one:

This was a fat little fish too!  Emily was so excited and said this was the best day of her life!  We told her we could throw the fish back and let it keep growing but she would not let us.  She told us she had caught it and she was going to keep it and eat it for lunch.  And that is exactly what she did.  It was a pretty good tasting trout too.

We had a lot of fun adventures during this camping trip.  From hiking almost 2.5 miles and getting heat exhaustion (poor Logan was sick for two days) to playing card games for hours each day.  We had a good time.  There were a few other not so fun things though.   First was Bandy falling off the dune buggy and slicing her foot.  They had to take her down to the vet twice to get her stitched up.  The first time was the initial visit and the second time was because she licked the stitches out of her foot and had to get them back in.  She actually picked the second set of stitches out too but my parents were not taking her back in so they just continued to wrap her foot with out the stitches.  Hopefully it heals the right way...  

And the next not so fun part was with our truck.  Russell drove down the mountain to get some ice and tackle and other stuff and on the way there the bumpy road caused something to break on our truck and crack the muffler.  We were so bummed because this new red truck has given us quite the hassle with repairs and things leaking.  It seems like every time we drive it or take it off road, something breaks.  We are hoping we can get all of the kinks out of it and it will be a good truck.  We think it has just sat so long without being driven that things are just old and worn out.  We shall see.  The good thing about the new truck though is how it hauls.  With the four-wheel drive, we were able to just crawl down the mountain with the trailer rather than wearing out the brakes.  Hauling up the hill with the trailer was a little easier too.  So hopefully it will be a good truck in the end.

What a great camping trip but we are glad to be home and sleeping in our own bed!  Now that all of our summer travelling is over, it is time to buckle down and get ready for school to start in a few weeks.  We also need to get ready for the new baby to come so we will be getting out all of the baby clothes and things to get ready for her!

This summer has just flown by...