They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and with all the pictures on this post, I figure I'm saving my fingers a lot of typing!
Meet Marv... AKA Dad, Papa, Male Parental Unit... the brains behind the Lutterman campsite setup. With his step ladder and millions hundreds of feet of rope in tow, there was barely a square inch of our dwelling that wasn't kept dry for lack of tarps overhead. Thanks, Dad!
These two handsome boys are Micah and Ryan. How do you keep them out of
trouble the dirt while camping? Rides in the stroller with Auntie Rah, of course! We put on a few miles, I'm sure.
Callie, Ashleigh, Samantha, and Natalie entertained themselves with Barbies, group excursions to the bathroom, playing games, reading, soccer, and exploring.
Have I mentioned that McCarthy Beach State Park is our family's favorite spot to camp? Surrounded by beautiful tall trees, amazing sand beach, and brilliant stars at night, who can help but love it! But perhaps the best thing about our little piece of heaven is the gold mine we discovered down the road years ago. A small gas station that serves ice cream! Two scoops of the delicious, mouth-watering, icy treat in a sugar or plain cone will only set you back $1.25 (the single scoop price). The kids have learned that camping = ICE CREAM CONES!
Don't get me wrong... the adults love them too, although you wouldn't really know it by the look on Dad's face!
On Wednesday of our camping week, Ryan turned 2. Although the day was rainy and cold, we managed to have a party, complete with balloons, cupcakes, and well, of course,
ice cream! We also celebrated Samantha's birthday because we weren't able to be there for her party in KC.
Here are a few pictures of the week at camp... hanging out, playing games, cooking, roasting marshmallows...
This year we had electric hook-up in our campsite, so we made full use of that. Some things we brought... night lights, crock pot, electric cooler, icicle lights to decorate our sites, laptop with DVD player! Because we had a lot of rain during our camping week, the kids spent time in the tents watching DVDs to keep them entertained. It was a nice diversion for them, since the weather wasn't very cooperative.
For the last couple years, my sisters and I have exchanged tacky gifts. There doesn't have to be a special occasion to receive or give a tacky gift... just being together is occasion enough for us. Erin brought Samantha's swim goggles camping, and Becky found a gem at the dollar store to give Erin. The combination is beyond words...
I don't ever remember a time when we cut a camping trip short because of the weather, but this year was so rainy and cold that we came home a couple days early. Camping at Gramma & Papa's house wasn't too bad. We still had some of the ambiance of "real" camping, and we were able to stay out of the rain and cold when it hindered our outside fun. Here are Callie, Natalie, and Ryan playing trains with Papa. Who is enjoying it more?
Does this answer the question?
We did have a campfire a couple times, so we were able to roast hot dogs and marshmallows in between the raindrops.
Lutterman family camping wasn't complete without several games of baseball and kickball. I think the kids beat the adults, but we had a lot of fun.
Time at
Gramma's house isn't complete until the girls have had a tea party. Samantha was the host, since she was the birthday girl. A delicious meal of turkey, ham, cheese, dinner rolls, crackers, grapes, jelly beans, cookies, and of course
tea lemonade, served from Great Great Great
Gramma Minnie Randolph's tea service.
And with that, I end the Lutterman Camping 2009 saga... I still typed a novel, didn't I? If I didn't have the pictures, it could have been a series!
