Camping!

Last weekend, we decided to go camping with some friends. Dustyn & Emily and Nick & Ashley are some good friends we made while I was in graduate school. We have all stayed in touch but unfortunately they live in opposite directions, about 8 hours apart. Fortunately, we are close to being in between their homes, so we made a plan to all meet up around here once a year. This year, we decided to go a little north to truly split the difference and even up the drive for them. We found a location online and it seemed great. When we got there, it wasn't quite what we expected. Online, it called it a campground, which would lead one to believe that there were, oh I don't know, woods somewhere nearby. Not so much. It ended up that we were in a cabin in the middle of a mobile home recreation facility, right off the highway. Not really what we were planning. However, the cabin was nice, most people were already gone for the year, and there was a bathroom, playground, and everything we needed close by. We laughed quite a bit about it but in the end, it was fine. All our kids loved running around and besides Hailey not really sleeping (probably at least partly due to the weather - it's been 90 here for months and the weekend we choose, it's low 70s with low 40s at night), we had a great time just sitting around the fire talking and enoying each other's company.

Here is our cabin from the front. The girls slept in the cabin with the younger kids while the guys slept in the tents with the older kids:

An interior shot. There were full size bunks and a full size bed plus enough room for 3 pack-n-plays:


Our view:

Our watchdog, Dylan (Dustyn & Em's dog):
Hailey enjoying the fresh air:

Nick and Lexie:

Hannah roasting a marshmellow (and avoiding smoke):

Me and Ashley with Hailey and Drew (and Rob - silly boy):

Nick, Lexie, Emily, and Dustyn around the campfire:

Emily taking lunch orders from Bradyn, Macyn, Drew, and Hannah:

On our way to the playground:

Emily pushing all the kids (minus Drew) on the merry-go-round:

Lexie and Hailey:

Lexie, Bradyn, and Hannah enjoying the tire swing with Macyn in the background getting on a regular swing:

Me, Emily, and Hannah eating by the fire:

Hannah enjoying dinner:

It was too dark at night to get any pictures of us sitting around talking but here is what we sat by:

On to a few pictures of the kids. Here are the big kids - Hannah, Drew, and Bradyn.
And the little kids - Hailey, Lexie, and Macyn:

And all the kids playing together:

Finally, a shot of our family enjoying the great outdoors:

We had a great time with our friends!