Camping

I will admit that camping was the activity that I was the most excited about on our trip to New Mexico. Camping in Texas just isn't the same...just too hot for me. I miss the mountains and the pine trees, and I finally think my kids are old enough to also enjoy camping- and me not to worry about them so much.

After the adults had picked out the perfect spot, the boys did what they do best- exploring :) They used their trusty adult trial guide (Uncle Daniel) and at their tail was the camera girl (Me).

First they found a small stream, which latter became the favorite spot to play, and ended in water loaded shoes :(


Then they found a tree that had fallen down, and creatures that had made nests in the roots. They also found quite a few good "hiking sticks" which later turned into weapons and were confiscated!
Then we set up camp. We had three tents to put up, and the kids were so excited to help put them up! We had Josh reading the instructions. Yes, the men in the family admitted they didn't understand how to put up the tent. And I do believe we ended up taking part of it back down over a very important missed step :)

The kids help stake down the tent, pounding with rocks. It was so cute to watch!

And Daniel set up his hammock. He said he was pretty hot that night, and had a hard time sleeping. I admit it wasn't cold by any means- but I was comfortable in my tent with a blanket, this hammock would have been cold for me :)

Josh brought his stuffed dog along, and Daniel tied it to the tree. No worries, it's not going anywhere ;)

Jeremiah was so helpful with the polls, he took his job seriously and followed directions very well. (someone told him to keep them straight up, and he did his very best to keep them that way, even when his little brother was being very distracting)

And this picture has a funny story behind it...

I was blowing up my air mattress, but it was taking forever! My sister asked me if I was sure the pump was in there right, so I checked and it seemed to be- I mean, it was putting air in, just slowly. A good while later my Dad asked if I was sure it was in right- once again I checked and was very sure that it was. While I was waiting for my bed to blow up, my sister took pictures of our camp ground and the activities that everyone was doing...and this is me....still waiting...

... finally I checked again, because even I had run out of patients.

Low and behold there is a valve inside the mattress that needs to be pulled out to inflate at full speed. Once popped out the mattress was up in 30 seconds. Way to go Anne!

I'm really glad Papa thought to bring along a game for the boys. It kept them out of the water for a little while anyway. This was Ben's favorite thing to do, that boy LOVES to hit balls!

But even these games can't change a young boys heart, and they were back to the water as if pulled by an invisible force....and this is where they stayed until dark.

We grilled fajitas and hot dogs for dinner, that's what I call camping in style :)
And who can miss the Smores??! I posted this picture on Facebook and Alex commented that this is Matthew's "get this crap over with and give me the chocolate" face! HAHA, very true though!

Joshua perfected the art of catching his marshmallow on fire, and tried to get his brothers to do it too. Until they tasted burnt marshmallow- then they were not as excited. However, playing with fire is somehow so appealing to boys his age.

My sister perfected the art of a perfectly toasted marshmallow, and was teaching Izzy the trick :)

I never learned :(

When it was all said and done we had a campfire... my dad has so much cool camping equipment! These ceramic logs were lit from propane, no clean up, awesome!

So we sat around the fire and played a story ring. Even the children added a sentence or two. If I remember right the story started out with a fish or frog in a stream, then it jumped out and became a princess, who kissed a frog who turned into prince. Then something about them finding an egg that was actually a dragon, with a big body and tiny wings. The story became very confusing- something about the dragon burning everything up, and killing everyone, and then the princess finding another dragon with a tiny body and huge wings... haha. Kids are great.

I think it was the most amusing thing to watch the boy's faces as Izzy and her mom described the princess and kissing the frog. Then as the boys described war, burning and destruction, Izzy looked horrified!

Papa was very into the story, and Ben was perfectly content sitting next to him, so cute!

That night we got unexpected rain, actually it was more of just an annoying drizzle.

The first time it woke me up, but then quickly went away. By the third time it started to drizzle the kids were starting to stir, so the adults got up to put rain covers on. Daniel even came and slept in the kid tent with me, but had a hard time going back to sleep. Gotta love camping ;)