311 pictures taken this weekend

But only a dozen make it to the site.


Friday night we watched Alvin and the Chipmunks and packed. Saturday morning Heath worked and Peanut and I finished packing then played outside with Jon and Stooks. They were working on the pontoon trailer. When Heath got home we left for the camp out. We got down to Truman lake late in the afternoon and it was nice out but a bit cloudy. We are used to showing up at a campsite at dusk on Friday and so instinctively jumped into action immediately putting up the tent and unpacking. First was getting the tent up and everybody helped.

Peanut carried over the sleeping bags (picture moved to the coveted top of post) and we unpacked the bags pillows and clothes.

Then all 4 of us wondered the woods near our site gathering firewood. The wood was a bit moist from rain a few days back and much of the stuff we could find was starting to rot or still alive. After a lot of looking we got two acceptable piles of wood.

Our campsite was in good shape so we decided to have some fun and go for a hike down to the lake. It’s about 1/2 a mile from our site but we didn’t walk in a strait line and our pace was slow do to a lot of playing on the way.

We followed a creek most of the way and worked our way across it side to side and it was a really pretty walk. Heath took a ton of pictures on the hike and many are really good. At 5 we left the edge of the lake and hiked back at a bit faster pace to get dinner going. The fire started pretty easily and there was enough good wood in the pile to get a nice fire started. While it was getting going we drove to the general store nearby and got some butter and foil ( I had forgotten) when we got back the fire was in great shape so we started cooking. Peanut and Heath got some biscuits in the dutch oven first.

I got the corn in the fire and the baked potatoes and worked on ways to cook Peanut’s hot dogs and Heath and my hot Italian sausage. Campfire meals take a while and we were a bit inpatient but eventually dinner was close to ready. Peanut’s hot dog was done first and he got started while we cooked the sausage.

We started out with the sausage sitting on a stick over the fire. This was too unstable so we wrapped them in foil then wrapped them to a stick and held them over the fire. They were swelling too much and had flaming grease dripping out and stuff so we abandoned this technique too. Eventually I tossed the dutch oven lid on the some logs in the fire and filled it with beer. Then we boiled/fried the sausages in the pan.

This worked out good and everything turned out great. It got dark after dinner and we immediately started a cherry cobbler and built up the fire. While it was cooking we put on head lamps and put Peanut in the backpack and went on a night hike. We had a nice bright full moon and didn’t need the lights but Peanut loves using them and does not get many chances so we let him keep it on.

We got back and had to add new coals to the dutch oven and turn in and we got out my laptop and downloaded all the pictures so far. We had 250 pictures. After quickly looking them over we ate the cobbler then got ready for bed. It was a good night, cool but not freezing and Peanut’s first night in a sleeping bag to him self. This did not go that well as he is a wiggler in his sleep. We worked the bag down to his feet and kicked it off and I would find him curled into a cold little ball between Heath and I with no blanket. I covered him up several times during the night and eventually I wrapped him in the comforter we had underneath us and Heath put her bag partially on top of him.

He woke up happy and excited and did not seem to have been cold. Peanut and I got up early and built the fire up big and got the dutch oven full of water boiling. We boiled eggs in plastic bags and 2 of the 3 bags worked great. The 3rd was too close to the side and must have put a hole in the bag because it filled with water. Once the eggs were ready we loaded the dutch oven up with cinnamon rolls and got it going again. We ate the eggs all up then Peanut cooked a marshmallow then ate all the tube of cinnamon rolls.

It was a great morning and camp came down really fast. We got everything packed up in the car and set two backpacks on the top with snacks and water in them. We drove around the lake for an hour scoping out the area then went for a nature hike in a horse park.

There was like 50miles of trails for the horses to ride on and we found a spot to jump in. We saw 4 horses while hiking and Berry did not like them one bit. We hiked till noon then stopped at a small stream to eat lunch.

We had fruit and granola and cheese and crackers and PB&J on tortillas. Peanut was pretty tired and it was getting really hot. We decided to hike back to the car and drive home. Peanut slept most of the way back and Heath and I listened to podcasts of This American Life.

We got home to find Stooks reading a book in the driveway and Jon welding on the pontoon trailer. We decided to join them outside and call up my friend Nate and have him bring his 2yr old daughter over. We all played in the front and back yard a bunch and several times we about went inside and people went home but the weather or something kept tricking us into staying outside and enjoying the day.

The 4 of us were out until I was too hungry and in need of a shower to take it anymore. We showered ate and went to bed quickly.

If you wanted to see a picture of something that did not make the site let me know and I’ll add it. 

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