This weekend we’re going to go to the town that roasts my very favorite brand of coffee and CAMP!! Brent and I have never gone camping together even though I got all this amazing camping stuff from my family at my bridal shower. So we’re FINALLY going to put it to use and enjoy our massive tent and our massive ice chest and camp stove and whatever else my Grandma packed into the ice chest.
I’m SO stoked about this. We’re actually having a cousins reunion so all my siblings will be there…other than Juliet. And some of my cousins will be there too!! So I get to see family I haven’t seen in well over 10 years. And I get to see JILL AND CORNELIUS!! Oooo I can’t wait to squish my smelly nephew. And my smelly brother as well. (Does it sometimes sound like I have a million siblings?? there’s 5 of us 🙂 )
Anyway, this camping thing is pretty important to me. I grew up camping a lot and never ever ever in a camper, always in tents. My favorite trips were going to Vancouver Island and camping on the beach, driving through Oregon and doing a loop through California and Nevada and Montana…and something else…ha ha. We saw the grand canyon and stuff. Annnd also going to Bella Coola and fishing. They surprised me and brought Courtenay (did you know she was my best friend in high school and we hardly ever spent time without each other?) along. It was WAY too much fun. We were in these funny rain jackets as we climbed Perkin’s Peak and we pretended to be making a documentary and, for some reason, saying “as we ascend the Peak of Perkin…” was really funny to us. I think we drove my parents nuts though ha ha. We jumped into the glacier lake at the bottom and mom made us go back in because she didn’t get a photo…it was FREEZING!! I can’t wait to bring my own kids on those trips.
Mark and I would put up these massive tarps so our whole campground was covered almost. We’d stick them as high as we could into the trees and then we’d all be dry from the rain. That was so much fun. Mark also made the best camping breakfasts in the whole wide world. YUMMERS.
When our kids are old enough to appreciate it, we’re going to pack them into the car in the morning and drive through the night to California, not telling them where we are going. I did that once on my way to Mexico on a missions trip. You wake up around Malibu and the kids will be like “AHHHHH PALM TREES!! How exciting would THAT be? Although, driving through Malibu can make anyone feel slightly inadequate as a person ha ha.
We’re also planning on driving to Manitoba and camping along the way very often. Perhaps next summer we’ll finally do that.
Anyway, I’m stoked about camping and seeing my kids enjoying the lake and the sunshine all day long. I’m expecting to be fairly filthy and to be very tired from them sleeping horribly. I’ll enjoy sleeping beside Silas though :). Our tent has two rooms so Ikey can have his own. I’m sure they’ll most likely think sleeping is an option.
I have a question about sleeping though, there’s going to be SO much going on. Ikey usually naps at 10 am until between 11 and 12 and then they both go down at 2 and Silas will sleep until 5 and Ikey sleeps until about 3. I’m wondering if I should forgo Isaac’s morning nap and put them both down a little bit earlier?? I would love to forgo Silas’ nap but Ikey needs to nap then anyway so we might as well do both of them.
Here’s a photo of Silas and I from just now that I took from my webcam. He’s watching songs on youtube. There’s like loads of kids songs on there…and The Wiggles…oh The Wiggles.
So, please let me know your favorite camping traditions or trips. Perhaps some of them will be good for us to pick up for ourselves!
PS don’t forget to enter the draw a few posts down. Only one person has emailed people about it. You should do that to get an extra entry!! Do it for Zaza!
Silas looks pretty serious considering he’s watching Wiggles! LOL Have a great camping trip. Sounds like it will be totally awesome!
Good luck and have fun on your camping trip. Hopefully a much better time then when we took your Mom on her first camping trip. We camped around the “loop”, the road around the Olympic Penninsula. Our most significant memory is that your Mom CRIED ALL NIGHT LONG IN THE TENT. Have fun and take pictures.
Good luck and have fun on your camping trip. Hopefully a much better time then when we took your Mom on her first camping trip. We camped around the “loop”, the road around the Olympic Penninsula. Our most significant memory is that your Mom CRIED ALL NIGHT LONG IN THE TENT. Have fun and take pictures.
Hey, Cool! We’re going camping next week! I’m really excited about it, too. I think this time we’re going to take our pontoon boat. Should be interesting. 😮 But one of my favorite camping traditions is to make “Pioneer Patties.” I’m betting you’ve had those, since it sounds like you’ve camped a lot. I’ll explain if you haven’t….YUMMY! (new subject: I sure am enjoying my ZaZa bag!)
I don’t know what those are MM, you must tell me!!
I’m glad you’re loving your Zaza bag! My sister is an excellent sewer!
Okey dokey! Here’s how we make ’em…first, on your camping stove, cook some potatoes, carrots, green and red peppers, onions – not totally cooked, just tenderize them a bit. Then, shape some ground beef into a pattie/burger, season as desired and place on alum foil (large enough to make a pouch). Put all your tenderized veggies on top, seal the pouch well, and place directly on your camp fire… Viola, Pioneer Patties! And if there’s anything listed that you don’t eat, I’ll bet you could come up with substitutions. You sound like a creative chef!
And YES, she IS an excellent sewer! (Looks like it runs in the family, ’cause your bag looks great, too.) My girls ask me almost every day when their bags will get here…so cute! Glad I got them before the bidding war ensued…BUT I hope she makes tons of money for ZaZa.
Okay, I’m comment crazy now! I’m excited tho, cause I just added a link to BagsforZaza to my blog too! (hope it’s okay I used your pic… :o)
Oh I’m glad you did that!! I should give people the code for that. Jennie made that as a button so you didn’t steal the photo…I want MORE people to steal it!!
Oh, good! It was really easy, just right clicked and save image as… then hyperlinked it to Jennie’s site. I also made a montage of my girls (finally) at notablypink.blogspot.com if you’re interested.
dont remember crying ‘all night long’ but hope you have better sleepers and enjoy the camping stuff. The tent is a little complicated to put up so don’t get frustrated!!!
Mommmm. I’m like the tent assembly MASTER! Who do you think you’re talking to here?? Jill?? he he he
I love camping!!! Have fun! We always sliced potatoes and onions into a pan of butter and cooked ’em til they were crispy. Ooohhh.
And if you saw the Grand Canyon… you also hit AZ!!!
Manolin Mom, your Zaza bags were put in the mail on Tuesday morn. :o)
Camping is fun, but do you know what else is better …. oh the Wiggles! teehee And we wonder why they won’t sit still and not wiggle … Also for all you Wiggles fans out there, here’s an interesting site. Very splashy.
http://wiggles.littletoons.com/
My favy camping trip was with you Leah!” …as we ascend the peak of perkin”…hahaha on that trip was the one and only time Mark ever got mad at me, but I was completely inconsiderate and left everything out in the rain over night, so It was very deserved. I also caught a 4 runner with my fishing line. Snagged a HUGE dead coho salmon, smacked my face into a tree and then the car. We had to stop so everyone could finish crying laughing at me. I played my guitar in the canoe and we have 6 million awesome pictures to prove it all. I think I need to blog that trip. It was too good!
I’m laughing my face off thinking about it.