Camping

What a fun camping trip! Freddie, Ruben and I, met Jeremy, Aerielle and Aeden at the lake on Friday afternoon. We were constantly under the threat of rain but Friday was cool and clear, and Saturday was warm and cloudy.  A few drops fell Saturday evening and we decided not to risk camping again Saturday night, but we stayed late for campfire fun.  I played a song about everybody on the guitar, and we told scary stories.
Freddie was a big help with the packing and unpacking, and he didn't even get to stay with us at night.  He was doing sound for some shows in town.  He has to keep his ear sharp... After the show he went back to moms to keep her dog company.
So Ru and I cozied up in our tent by the water, and Jeremy and his kiddos bunked down in his nylon mansion by the trail.  He wasn't too worried about the rain, he said at the first drop he'd go sleep in his van. I on the other hand drive an entirely impractical (but fun) car and hung tarps just in case.

Friday after the unpacking and snacks the kids all went for a swim.  Ru inflated his little boat but soon discovered how fun it is to climb around on half submerged logs.  The campsite I picked was in the very back or the campground on a little cove with a trail right to the water.  It couldn't have been more perfect for the kids.  We could see them playing in the water while we played music at the picnic table.  (Hooray for life jackets)

The pictures tell the more of the story.

Ruben in the boat he got for his birthday last year.

Freddie's tent. My tent wasn't as nice so we used his. Since we're married I suppose its now our tent...

More fun to make than eat, Jiffy Pop is now a camping staple for us.

Freddie playing guitar.  Sadly for us he only got to stay for a while in the afternoons because he was doing sound for some bands at the Axe and Fiddle both Friday and Saturday night.

Ruben, with Jeremy's kids Aerielle (10) and Aeden (8). They found a log that was more fun than the boat,  we saw them playing from our perch at the campfire.

Ruben and Aeden wouldn't leave the fire alone. Fortunately nobody got burned (much).

Jeremy bought a charcoal grill which was more complicated to put together than a circuit board. 

Although he was asked not to ignite living things, Ru had fun making large clouds of smoke burning wet moss. 

The weather was mostly sunny and cool on Friday, never getting above 70. Saturday was much nicer with highs at about 80. 

Saturday morning we went to the boat with our new towable and a kneeboard.  The lake was fairly calm . Every one got a fun tow ride except Aeden (he was too light to make our new towable work) and myself as I am the only one who could drive a boat. 

Jeremy on the kneeboard, Aerielle's hair blowing madly in the wind. Jeremy did great for not having been on one for 15 years!

My favorite picture from the trip, that's Freddie on the red towable.  It gets going so fast it becomes airborne at times!

4 weenies roasting on an open fire.

The boys mastered the art of weenie roasting and quickly asked for seconds. 

Selfie

Our tent and its view of the lake from site 32.

Ruben on the monkey bars.  Jeremy and I took turns taking the kids so we could each take a nap.

Aeden looking adorable, he was about to launch a tickle attack at me. Fortunately for me and unbeknownst to him I am a tickle master. Nearly impervious to tickling, yet highly skilled in tickle delivery. 

Jeremy and Aerielle relaxing after a bike riding lesson.  Aerielle has been trying to learn to ride a bike so we brought Ruben's for her to work with.  She had a hard time but tried hard!

Three happy kids about to get wetter. 

The Gibson family on the front of the boat

Freddie lounging

Its hard not to look cool driving a boat.

Due to the imminent rain we packed up on Saturday evening and stayed to enjoy the campfire.   

We left at about 10pm and headed home.  It didn't rain much, but it was still nice to not have to panic when those few raindrops fell.

The new towable is cool, its round like an inner tube, but its middle is inflated so its more like a flat disk.  When towed, it either flies over the water in a super fun and exciting way, or the front pulls under the water trying to sink and drown whoever is on it.  Unfortunately it seems you need to weigh more than 80 lbs to make it fly, and poor Aeden didn't get to ride much.  Ruben had one great pull on it where he was airborne several times, and one total drenching/dunking which he took a few minutes to recover from.  Fortunately its easy to recover when you have marshmallows.

In our family we like to toast the marshmallow quickly so the outside turns brown but the inside is still solid, then pull of the skin and eat it and re-toast the rest.  My mom is the pro, I think her record is seven toastings and skin eatings or so. Ruben won the marshmallow skinning contest this time, he came up to me and said mommy I skinned my marshmallow four times.  I was so excited I nearly yelled "Ruben that's awesome you got FOUR SKINS!" Then I realized what I said and we all laughed like idiots for a long time.