This is a long post. I put on all of the pictures I took of our main camping day. The delay is partly due to how many there were to put on. Also, the last two weeks have just been unmanageably busy! I keep hearing from everyone else how busy they are too. I guess it's part of this time of year. Anyhow, no promises on blog posts for now. I can't quite tell if the busy-ness will be lifting or not and I also am without a camera for now. I hope to get a new one soon, but ours got broken at the zoo a few weeks back. Hope you enjoy the camping photos. We really did enjoy ourselves out there. 
Walking you through the day, starting with breakfast...William is handling hot cocoa for me.
Mmmm...burnt oatmeal with no sweetner. Oops. We stirred in some sliced banana to help it out.
Really, it felt like a camping meal that was a little makeshift.
It certainly warmed and filled. :)
Dishes.
After breakfast and clean-up the boys headed off to the lake to do some fishing with Peter. The baby hadn't slept very well and was ready to go back to bed. Millie and I hung out at the cabin while she napped.
We enjoyed having the time with just the two of us.
After a while, we appeased our lack of things to do with eating some goldfish crackers. Me: "Hi fishy." Millie: "Hi mommy." Me: "How are you doing today? Are you going to Millie's mouth?" Millie: Eats the fish. Me: "Good-bye fishy." (Repeat 20 times)
When Cecily woke up, the girls and I walked over to find the boys at the lake.
We played on the swingset a little while they finished up.
They were excited to show us the crayfish that they found.
I think their faces are funny. They were fascinated.
He was huge and had only one pincer.
One last look before we throw him back in the lake.
Back to the campsite for lunch. The boys kept busy playing follow the leader on this cement pad near our site.
Peter and I put together ham sandwhiches and kept the girls happy.
Cecily was especially loud and grabbing everything she could reach from this chair.
We finally gave in and let her gnaw on a carrot stick. She made some pretty funny faces.
The girls didn't seem inclined to sleep at all after lunch, so we headed off to hike together for a while. Our first stop was this little one-room schoolhouse that is on the park property. (A side-note: We randomly ran into another homeschooling family with 6 children on our way and enjoyed some conversation for a few minutes. They were visiting from Georgia. That was fun!) Back to the schoolhouse, it has been converted into...
...a climbing wall..er..rather, walls. Strange thing to turn it into, but all of the Jones monkeys enjoyed it.
It's much harder than it looks. It takes a lot of strength. All of the walls are slanted out.
They gradually got the hang of it.
You could maneuver from wall to wall all across the room.
Cal getting some help.
And Millie.
Wow. Right before we left, Benny made it all the way to the ceiling.
We found this trail to take up into the woods. Doesn't it look inviting?
The hike turned into a bit of a search...
...for mushrooms. Such an amazing variety along the path.
Millie running and yelling, "Benny, Benny, mush-oom!" right before she trips and plants her whole self on the ground.
There were a few trees across the path.
I'm sure you're surprised that no one really minded that.
William was in a good mood.
This is blurry, but I thought the moss was really vivid. There is the most amazing bright green moss all over the place.
Almost neon green and so velvety.
One more log picture.
She must try too.
Heading back. Sam stops to consult his bird field guide.
Millie was naturally getting fairly tired by now. She decides to beg a ride.
What a lucky girl. She has more than one capable brother to help her out.
And then there's always Dad.
Showcase of mushrooms collected.
Special display by Millie.
And Calvin had a favorite of this, the biggest one.
Amazing!
He actually insisted that we show the porous underside, which he thought mighty wonderful.
Cecily laid down for another nap and this time Peter stayed at the cabin with the little ones and Sam and Will took me on a short walk to see a pond they'd found. While Sam was busy catching a Northern Red Salamander, William worked his way across the pond on this fallen tree.
Getting there...
Sam came to join him. Will is making circles in the water with his feet.
Ahhhhh....it was actually extremely peaceful here. We all enjoyed some silence that felt natural in the midst of the woods on this still afternoon.
Sam gives up the shimmying....
...and jumps to shore.
Hobo stew for dinner. That's what we call ground beef with sliced onion, potato and carrot cooked in foil packets on the fire. Served with a little ketchup. We also heated up some of our homemade sauerkraut with kielbasa. Served that with spicy brown mustard.
Cecily hung out in her favorite spot.
She even got a few tastes of the sauerkraut.
And loved it! Ha!
Walking you through the day, starting with breakfast...William is handling hot cocoa for me.
Mmmm...burnt oatmeal with no sweetner. Oops. We stirred in some sliced banana to help it out. 
Really, it felt like a camping meal that was a little makeshift.
It certainly warmed and filled. :)
Dishes.
After breakfast and clean-up the boys headed off to the lake to do some fishing with Peter. The baby hadn't slept very well and was ready to go back to bed. Millie and I hung out at the cabin while she napped. 
We enjoyed having the time with just the two of us. 
After a while, we appeased our lack of things to do with eating some goldfish crackers. Me: "Hi fishy." Millie: "Hi mommy." Me: "How are you doing today? Are you going to Millie's mouth?" Millie: Eats the fish. Me: "Good-bye fishy." (Repeat 20 times)
When Cecily woke up, the girls and I walked over to find the boys at the lake. 
We played on the swingset a little while they finished up.
They were excited to show us the crayfish that they found. 
I think their faces are funny. They were fascinated.
He was huge and had only one pincer.
One last look before we throw him back in the lake.
Back to the campsite for lunch. The boys kept busy playing follow the leader on this cement pad near our site.
Peter and I put together ham sandwhiches and kept the girls happy.
Cecily was especially loud and grabbing everything she could reach from this chair.
We finally gave in and let her gnaw on a carrot stick. She made some pretty funny faces.
The girls didn't seem inclined to sleep at all after lunch, so we headed off to hike together for a while. Our first stop was this little one-room schoolhouse that is on the park property. (A side-note: We randomly ran into another homeschooling family with 6 children on our way and enjoyed some conversation for a few minutes. They were visiting from Georgia. That was fun!) Back to the schoolhouse, it has been converted into...
...a climbing wall..er..rather, walls. Strange thing to turn it into, but all of the Jones monkeys enjoyed it.
It's much harder than it looks. It takes a lot of strength. All of the walls are slanted out.
They gradually got the hang of it.
You could maneuver from wall to wall all across the room.
Cal getting some help.
And Millie.
Wow. Right before we left, Benny made it all the way to the ceiling.
We found this trail to take up into the woods. Doesn't it look inviting?
The hike turned into a bit of a search...
...for mushrooms. Such an amazing variety along the path.
Millie running and yelling, "Benny, Benny, mush-oom!" right before she trips and plants her whole self on the ground.
There were a few trees across the path.
I'm sure you're surprised that no one really minded that.
William was in a good mood.
This is blurry, but I thought the moss was really vivid. There is the most amazing bright green moss all over the place.
Almost neon green and so velvety.
One more log picture.
She must try too.
Heading back. Sam stops to consult his bird field guide.
Millie was naturally getting fairly tired by now. She decides to beg a ride.
What a lucky girl. She has more than one capable brother to help her out.
And then there's always Dad.
Showcase of mushrooms collected.
Special display by Millie.
And Calvin had a favorite of this, the biggest one.
Amazing!
He actually insisted that we show the porous underside, which he thought mighty wonderful.
Cecily laid down for another nap and this time Peter stayed at the cabin with the little ones and Sam and Will took me on a short walk to see a pond they'd found. While Sam was busy catching a Northern Red Salamander, William worked his way across the pond on this fallen tree.
Getting there...
Sam came to join him. Will is making circles in the water with his feet.
Ahhhhh....it was actually extremely peaceful here. We all enjoyed some silence that felt natural in the midst of the woods on this still afternoon.
Sam gives up the shimmying....
...and jumps to shore.
Hobo stew for dinner. That's what we call ground beef with sliced onion, potato and carrot cooked in foil packets on the fire. Served with a little ketchup. We also heated up some of our homemade sauerkraut with kielbasa. Served that with spicy brown mustard.
Cecily hung out in her favorite spot.
She even got a few tastes of the sauerkraut.
And loved it! Ha!Believe it or not, this day came to an end. Kids headed to bed pretty early and Peter and I sat out and enjoyed the fire and a game of cards.
6 comments:
That was great Julie. I felt like I was right there with you. Lots of good photos. I esp. liked the photo of all the mushrooms, as the variety was amazing, and they all looked so pretty grouped like that. Very good pictures. I wanted to go down that pretty path with all of you. Hope you get a new camera soon, or I will have to go through withdrawal from grandkid pitures! I am missing seeing Cecily as I know she's changed...but appreciated seeing her here. Love, Mom
I loved these photos, and the commentary as well. Its hard to believe they grow up so fast. Keep em coming!
Jaime,
Did you mean photos or children?
:)
Julie
I meant I loved the pictures of the children, and loved the commentary as well.
Thank you. I appreciate the feedback. :) Hey, your blogger profile picture changed between your two comments! That's pretty funny.
Julie
Sorry that it took me so long to find this lovely post. Every summer from when I was 1 year old until we moved to Oregon when I was 17, we drove up from Los Angeles to the Rogue River at Union Creek and camped for 3 weeks. We went lots of other places also but always capped it off with the camping piece. Boy did these pictures bring back the memories. Especially the logs. Thank you for taking us along. I loved it. Interesting that I have felt overwhelmed too - gosh, what is it? I will pray for a replacement camera for you soon.
Love, Kathy
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