Friday, June 26, 2015

Camping with the Maynes

We got to go camping with our favorite people again this year. I really hope this is an annual thing now because it's so fun. We got up there on Thursday afternoon. We got our camp all set up and the boys started a fire.
 Almost as soon as we got there Kate got an owie on her leg. At least it matches the one that was on her other leg!
 Will was content to sit, eat grapes, and tell us which way to go.
 Trav took the kids on a little hike and they all came back with some "sticks" to throw in the fire. Some were a little bigger than others.




 It was a really smokey fire.
 
But that makes for some cool pictures!

 William really liked camping this year too!

 That night some of the boys went fishing so everyone else stayed back to do tie dye shirts. So fun!
 Will carried his "bagged shirt" for like a half an hour everywhere he went until I finally convinced him I'd keep it safe and it wasn't quite done yet.
 When the boys came back they had had luck! Daddy caught a huge one and Josh even caught one!
 I couldn't even watch the gutting and cleaning. So gross! But the kids loved eating the fish.
 
The next morning we ate some breakfast....

 We brought our portable kitchen which is awesome and makes camping life so much easier.
 Will got into trouble with the fishing stuff.
 Then we decided to go for a hike.

 BFF's Kate and Erika.
 I was there too!
 Here's a group shot (minus Trav who was the camera man)




 Doesn't this look like a magazine add or something? Rach has the whole smoulder thing down.

 Kate's always ready to pose too.


 The hike was fun but HOT! We knew the lake was calling our name!
 So down to the lake we went! The water felt good but it was SO cold!


 It was at this time that our camera battery died and our back up battery was dead too. So no more pictures for the Maughans. But, luckily for me, Christa took a ton of pictures too. Thanks Christa. You're the best!!

 I did go into the water up to my knees. That's as far as I wanted to go. Do you see Josh pushing me in deeper? What a punk! I don' t think he went past that spot either.
 Will froze after not too long. I love these pictures of my snugly baby.




 Rachel and Kelly
 Our old air mattress has a hole in it so since we aren't going to sleep on it anymore we thought it would be a perfect raft. Great idea!

 The kids had fun being pushed around by brave daddy's that were willing to go in the freezing water.



 Josh and Noah are good buddies....




 One by one they all froze out and tried to get warm in the sun.
 That night after dinner some of the boys wanted to go fishing again. Christa and I and all the other kids were just relaxing by the fire. We heard some rustling noises not too far away but the Maynes had their dog so I thought no wildlife would get THAT close to us. Then Charity came over and said she thought she saw a moose! I went over and sure enough there was a moose like 20 feet away!

It was getting dark and we didn't have very good lights (except for my totally awesome flashlight) but the kids were getting a little scared. I've heard moose usually leave you alone unless you bug them but never mess with a mama moose. We had all the kids (and the dog was was more scared than anyone else) climb into the suburban for safety.  My camp wasn't too far away so I thought "I'll go down and get our lantern so we can see the moose." I took about 4 steps and I heard this loud noise from the moose. I didn't know if it was running or shredding the Maynes tent or tarp, but it was loud! I ran back over by the car with Christa. We decided to turn the headlights on just in case they crossed the road.

About a minute later we saw this.....
 A mama and a baby! They just stood there and looked at us for a while. It was kind of scary but we were trying to send the mama happy vibes so she knew we were there in peace. They sauntered down through our camp just as the men pulled up. I ran to tell them to stay in the truck because the moose were right there! The men grabbed their flashlights (that actually were bright) and went searching for them. I went to check on the boys in the back of the truck and they were all laying flat in the bed, trying not to be seen. It was pretty funny.  We didn't see or hear the moose again but that was quite the adventure!  They had walked over by the outhouse so it took some courage to "go" later that night.

The next morning we ate, started packing, played a game of Rollick which ended in a kid pyramid (kind of)







 After getting packed up we headed back over to the lake for a little bit. Rach wanted to get the raft out again but there weren't as many swimmers this time. Some people wanted to fish but had no luck. We had a good time but knew we'd have to get back to reality sooner or later. We had one last lunch then made the journey home. If it weren't for the pain of packing, unpacking, packing, unpacking, and the mountain of laundry...we'd probably go camping more often.
 I do love getting away from it all though. The simple life is where it's at!

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