The first weekend in June we went camping with a group of our friends from church. Friday was the last day of school for the kids and after packing up we picked Kris up at work and drove to Petit Jean State Park about an hour away from here. The weather was very questionable for the weekend and so we debated all day whether or not to even go. Several couples backed out because of the weather, but we decided to brave it. I was pretty nervous about camping in a tent in a thunderstorm, but we were actually pretty lucky.
When we got there we set up our campsite. Our tent was on the right. The Rainbolts' was on the left. The Neese's came a bit later and they were on the sight next to ours.
The Hausteins and their camper were across the way from us.
This little thing came in quite handy as we were able to cook/eat under it while it rained a bit during our weekend. We were supposed to have brought the kids' bicycles, but I wasn't able to fit them in our car with everything else. The kids were bummed about that and next time I will make sure to put them in first and pack around them. So, they just borrowed Ivy and Paul's bikes. Layton had so much fun riding Ivy's tricycle and Lincoln was a speed demon on Paul's bike!
After setting our stuff up, we hiked a short distance to a little amphitheater for an animal movie. After a few minutes I could tell Lincoln and Layton were not going to sit through it, so I took them and we headed back to camp.
The men had gotten a fire going and so we all made campfire cones and smores. The campfire cones were interesting. You take a sugar cone and put all kind of stuff inside it like marshmallows, chocolate chips, nuts, toffee bits, caramels, whatever your heart desires. Then you wrap them up in foil and put on the fire to melt. Yummy!!
I don't remember what time we went to bed, but it took the kids a while to settle down. Being inside the tent was just too much fun! Oh, and it was HOT! We definitely need to invest in a fan for our next trip!
The rain started around 6:00 that morning. I was SO glad we didn't have any thunderstorms during the night!!! Kris cooked breakfast under the screened-in tent. We had scrambled eggs, pancakes, and bacon. Since we knew that it was going to rain for a while, we all decided to go hang out at the Mather Lodge. It was super nice. Fortunately I brought a few cards and a new game I had just gotten the kids called Farkle. It was a HUGE hit with the kiddos and Leanne and I enjoyed it too!! We went and got our sandwich stuff and had a little picnic inside the Lodge for lunch.
Layton needed a nap so Kris took him to a couch and it didn't take long for them both to be out! We left them like this and the rest of the group decided to go hike to Cedar Falls around 2:00 when the rain finally let up.
Ready to go on our hike!!
So, this is the sign you see at the beginning of the hike. I'd done this hike before back in college and vaguely remembered it being a pretty hard hike, so I was wondering how the kids would do. Bless Lincoln's heart. Bless my heart because he about gave me a heart attack!! After probably 5 times of falling down or tripping, I lost count. He wanted to go too fast and was constantly falling down. Fortunately we didn't have any bad boo boos. I made him hold my hand through about half of the hike because I was so nervous.
We finally made it to the Falls and they were so beautiful!!
That is Lincoln and Paul way up there!
The Rainbolts. I didn't get pictures of the Hausteins and Neeses for some reason!
We finally made it back!
Apparently Layton had slept the entire time we were gone and came running out to meet us! Sweet boy!
By this point, we were all hungry so we headed back to camp and had a great supper of burgers, hot dogs, baked beans, Oriental Salad, chips and homemade salsa, and brownies. Layne and Casey made a DELICIOUS blackberry cobbler in a huge Dutch oven and cooked it over coals. They also made some homemade vanilla ice cream with an ice cream maker that you had to hand turn. We all took turns turning it including the kids. :-) So nice to camp with people who know how to cook camp food!!
Here are Eden, Hannah, Paul, and another kid listening to the park ranger talk about Turtle Rock. We hiked over these big rocks that looked like turtles backs down to a cave and saw old Indian art on the walls. It was really cool!
After our hikes we went back to the camp and had Walking Tacos. I wish I had taken a picture of these. I had pre-made the taco meat and we just heated it up in a skillet and threw it into individual bags of Fritos with all the fixings like lettuce, tomato, cheese, and homemade salsa. Super yummy and hit the spot!
The Rainbolts had to leave but Angie and I loaded the kids up and went to the pool while Hans, Kris, and the Neeses finished packing up. The water was freezing! After a bit, the Stephens showed up and the kids played with them for a little while. We had a wonderful fruit salad that Stacey had made and intended to bring up the day before for our hamburger cookout. They had decided to stay home due to all the rain that day. Anyway, Kris got finished loading the car and we headed our tired selves home! We thoroughly enjoyed our camping weekend with friends and hope we can do it again soon!!!
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