30 Aug '09 - + 1 - 3 Camping!
So, yeah. I have a million pictures today. Or 91. Whatever. But we were camping so i took more, and it's five days' worth, so ... those are my excuses.
We went camping! Back in January or whatever, we decided ("we" being all the family that lives around here) that we should take a camping trip with all of us. Sometime when it would be warm. Like August! So we reserved the campsite and planned ahead, and this week we packed up and headed to Ludington State Park, which was very beautiful and lovely and would have been perfect if, y'know, it wasn't FREEZING. And raining. Sigh. We had fun despite the cold, in-between rain showers.
We got there on Wednesday and set up camp, walked around a bit, ate s'mores, and let the kids stay up late. On Thursday a hike to the lighthouse was suggested, which was SUPPOSED to take about 2 hours. The two hours were not taking into consideration the fact that we had 6 little kids with us. We hiked through the forest (Where we saw some deer. Everyone thought it was cool except Zane, who spent the rest of the hike looking behind him and asking if the deer were following him.) and up and down sand dunes, and when we arrived at the lighthouse everyone was thrilled. The kids played in the lake, getting themselves happily drenched. A few people started to walk back (a less difficult path) to get the cars so we could drive the kids home, but then we realized that cars could not drive to the lighthouse - or anywhere near it. So we all started the long walk back to the campground. All in all, it was 4 hours of walking. And all in all, i'd have to say that my kids did pretty good.
Thursday afternoon we went to the lake to let the kids play in the water. It was way too cold for any of the adults to want to swim, but the kids had a great time floating in the current of the channel that fed into the lake.
Friday it rained nearly all day, so we went into town for lunch and ice cream, walked around a bit, and generally wasted time. Saturday morning was cold but dry, so we headed out for a walk to the nearby dam. Just off the path was a huge flight of stairs zig-zagging up a huge hill. Someone suggested, "Hey! You should see who can get up and down those stairs the fastest!" And off went most of the kids with Jim and Todd. Several minutes later they started coming down. And then there was a tremendous CRASH! and Houston started crying his "I'm seriously hurt" cry. His explanation is this: "I was running down, and i heard someone behind me, so i started jumping down the steps, and most of the flights had 4 steps or 3 steps, so i was jumping that far. But then one of the flights had 6 or 7 steps, so i jumped as far as 4, but then i fell down the rest."
Whatever happened, he landed very badly, because his ankle almost immediately started swelling up. It is either sprained or broken or...? We shall find out tomorrow. Either way, he is in pain and is unable to put any weight on it. He woke up in the middle of the night Saturday night crying in pain. He's been REALLY good-natured about it, though. Much less complain-y than i would probably be. This morning i told him, "Houston, i am so proud of how you haven't complained AT ALL." He was all, "What do you think i should complain about?" I said, "Well, because your ankle is hurt and you can't run down dunes and ride your bike and play with the other kids." And he was all, (think, think) "Moooooom!" But in a silly way. Because he's awesome.
After the walk to the dam on Friday, we ate lunch and then headed out to climb some dunes while it was still sunny. Houston rode on Juanito's shoulders. Poor Juanito. We found a HUGE dune to run up and down and jump and play on. Houston scooted himself around on his bum so that he could be near the fun. Katrina and Zane spent most of the time at the bottom of the hill - Zane playing in the sand, Katrina searching for a charm she'd found and then lost. And then, just as we were getting ready to leave, it started to drizzle again.
It rained the rest of the day Friday. Poured. The men set up a tarp over a couple of picnic tables, making it possible to make and eat dinner outside. We huddled around the fire for warmth when it slowed to drizzling, and then scattered back to our tents to sleep when it started pouring again at about 9:30. It poured and poured during the night, but by this morning it was sunny and dry. Dry enough that we could pack up our tent for real, with no need to set it up and air it out again at home. Hurrah! (Also to be thankful for: our tent performed remarkably well again. No leaks at all. Poor Jackie and Eric had to leave a day early because their tent and sleeping bags were soaked.)
Today we packed up and drove down to my cousin's house to celebrate my grandpa's 90th birthday. Ninetieth! We had pizza and cake and sang to him and took pictures. Yeah!
Only one comment:
Hey, running up the stairs was a good idea, equipping your kid with ankle breaking crocks was not!
Jim - 01 September '09 - 10:40