I woke up w/ my alarm at 7 on Saturday. I ate some breakfast, packed and prepped some things, watered the garden and then took my packed truck to the brush drop off site. I got in the line of trucks waiting to start dropping off at 8am. The line looked giant but at 8:13 I was driving away with an empty truck. Once home everyone was still asleep so I drove the truck back to the far corner of the lawn and got another load. Heath came out and helped as I was smashing in the last few sticks.
Then I ran this second load to the free drop off as the kids were getting up and getting some breakfast. Heath headed out to a food truck deal. I got the girls dressed and we headed over to Home Depot to make some picture frames.
They are really getting the hang of building now and even getting pretty good at keeping big globs of paint off their projects.
After the workshop we went home and the girls played in the house as I got a bunch of stuff loaded in the truck. I also made up some lunch and then we went out to Longview Lake. I knew I wanted to camp but not where until I was taking the loads of brush and saw it was just 1 exit farther. In no time we were there, had the 2nd closest site to the playground and our tent was up.
I actually brought 2 tents just in case I could not get the big new one up on my own. I needed Pumpkin to hold a few things but otherwise it went up really easy on my own. The kids were staving so as I set up our air mattress and sleeping bags then ate some PB and J sandwiches.
Once the site was all setup and we were fed we checked out the showers and the playground. After playing for a bit I dove us over to the bike trail on the other side of the lake and we went for a ride.
It turned out to be about 6.5 miles one way and back mostly on that little gravel stuff. I was nervous it would start raining on us but we never got more then a few drops. We only stopped for a few little quarrels or things getting thrown out of the trailer.
After the 13 miles my legs were pretty beat. We drove back to the site and drank all the water in the truck. Bean fell asleep and had a nice nap in the truck at the site.
Pumpkin was starving again so we got out snacks.
We almost made some ramen noodles but it started to sprinkle and I started packing things up and then it stopped. A bit later Bean got up and we walked back over to the playground. While we were playing Heath showed up with a lighter and beer.
Pumpkin worked really hard gathering lots of sticks for our fire and was thrilled when i finally started it.
While we were making some coals we went for a little hike in the woods behind our site.
We found a little pond.
But the grass was itchy so I had to save the girls.
When we got back to the campsite the girls were starving again so we cooked up some dinner.
It was one of the simplest meals ever. A can of pork and beans mixed with a can of spaghetti O’s warmed on the fire next to some turkey dogs. We had canelope, the girls had juice boxes and we had some beers.
We ate everything we cooked and even made some more hot dogs. Then it was time to get dessert started.
We threw down a bunch of gram crackers, iced them with chocolate peanut butter and added bananas to 4 and chocolate bars to 4.
We added wood to the fire and the girls got cooking.
They are kids and were not doing it right so we took over.
And cooked them to perfection
They all turned out great.
It was pretty rough to eat 2 full ones right after dinner but I managed. Then we had to walk around the campsite to get things moving. The girls were getting tired and it was getting dark fast.
So Heath headed home, we put on pajamas and told stories by the fire. Then we moved into the tent. The plan was to read a book on my phone and then take everyone to the bathroom and tuck them in and enjoy some scotch.
Instead we all passed right out midway through the story. I woke up after midnight and took Bean potty and went back to sleep. The 3 of us shared an air mattress and it worked but it was a little snug. I got up at 8 (after about 11 hours) and the girls kept sleeping. I peaked in at 8:30 and Bean was waking up.
I got her up and dressed and we made hot coco and oatmeal.
15 minutes later Pumpkin joined us all dressed and excited for the day.
After eating I started packing up all our stuff and the girls looked for treasures in the woods by the campsite. Pumpkin actually found a dollar. Once I had the site all packed up we left. We went to a 4 mile hiking trail on the other side of the lake. We put Bean in the backpack and got going, it seemed good at first but after a while it was seemed like we would be in knee high grass alongside fields forever.
We were not really enjoying it so we left. We went home, unpacked, started laundry, showered, changed and went to see Heath at the food truck. She was working an art fair down the street and hooked us up with tacos and mac and cheese.
We ate and wondered around a bit but I could tell the girls were tired so we headed home. They both laid down and went to sleep and I headed outside. I hauled 2 more truckloads of brush out of a pile in the corner of my yard but instead of dropping them off I burned them up. I got lots of laundry done and moved all the leftover wood from my woodshed to a stack in the yard. I also had another pile in the front yard I stacked up in the back. The girls didn’t sleep for all of this and eventually joined me.
Once Heath texted she was headed home we went inside and got cleaning up. The end of the week was so chaotic we had lots of cleaning up to catch up on. By dinner time everyone was pretty worn out. We had some leftovers and made a big salad and watched a dinosaur movie while eating. Bean was particularly grouchy so she went to bed after dinner and the rest of us had a bit of ice cream before going to bed ourselves.