hungry horse

our first camping trip of the summer was to hungry horse.  o what a trip!  i am currently schlepping basket after basket of dirty laundry, dirty toys, and dirty dishes in from the camper to be cleaned.  this is the worst part of camping, the unpacking.  but even this chore is sweetened by the memories of the good times we experienced in dorr. each load is a reminder of an amusing campfire conversation, a beautiful baby moment or a cute bonding event. 

perhaps most memorable is bear's girlfriend.  their love connection began on wed, but i did not really witness the event until yesterday at the pool where bear blinked is his mile long lashes in her direction.  she is 10.  her name is trinity.  she considers herself more like a babysitter, but bear is smitten.  even now he is chatting away to me that he would have liked to stay with his girlfriend.  she is only ever referred to as girlfriend, never by her name. 

bear's girlfriend snuggled him on her lap while he dried off at the pool.  she watched movies with him in her camper.  she went on walks with bear.  brad and i felt very very awkward whenev she was around because bear was obsessed and it was embarassing.

lassie
part of the bedtime routine whilst camping invloves watching a show for a bit while brad and i sneak out to the fire.  each of the adorables got to choose a dvd from the librabry before we left, and ayla jo came home with lassie.  one night i plugged it in for the babes and they one and all adored it!  lassie is in black and white people.  and pretty much all she does is bark and run around.  we are talking a far cry from bolt.  however, they were glued.  at the end of the dvd is a bonus episode in color.  o how the cuties were thrilled when we saw that one.  lassie is beautiful they said. 

bouncy balls
we camped with the darling nyhofs and ellie, being the eldest of all the kiddos, came prepared.  she had an entire token holder from chuckie cheese filled to the brim with quarters.  as elle has an exceptionally generous spirit, she distributed quarters to my boys without reserve. the item that so captivated the kids were huge superballs.  they bounced high and came in different colors and patterns.  well, they were sold.  i think i counted 10 different balls we came home with.  that's $5 worth that we owe the nyhofs...

baths
there were none.  i mean i took a shower every couple days, but the adorables only used soap on their hands.  we left the rest of the cleanliness to the pool.  i know, eew.  but for real, the second they were clean maxer would literally set up his bike so it was stationary and could spew dirt when he pedaled.  head to toe dirt nuggets.  we frequented the pool, though it would only be for 20 minutes or so at a time.  the boys are both wild swimmers, going under and making up exceptionally dangerous and cool jumps.  baby blue love to jump in and would hold my hand and drag me in so she could "go undah". 

biking

hungry horse has a huge hill up by the office, and that was a big draw for all the adorables.  the boys would often bike or scooter themselves up the hill and practically fly down with speed.  cupcake would trot along in her flip flops "peenk ones" and make my heart skip beats in fear of a crash.  thankfully, there were only minor injuries this trip!

parks

our group had campsites all together in a little arrangement near two parks.  this allowed the kids to run back and forth all within view. maxer mastered the monkey bars with gusto.  bear became obsessed with hauling sand up the slide until he had a large pile at the bottom.  then the adorables all took turns sliding into the sand and making a sand sploosh.  the little dolly enjoyed swingning on the baby swing and managed to climb up the steps to the slide all on her own.  she was scared of coming down on her own though, so i would be sitting around the fire until i heard aylaroo screaming loudly "mommy! mommy!" she was not a big fan of allowing anyone else to assist her.

picnics
love was in the air.  check out this cutenss.  all on their own, maxer and aubrey gathered snacks and blankets and set up a little picnic scene for themselves. 

until the other littles bombarded their romance.  still, fun was had chasing and hunting down the lovebirds.

this was the first year ayla jo did not sleep in the pack n play.  she had the kitchen table converted into a bed.  the prinpress (princess) slept soundly and was fabulously sorrounded by pink and pillows, one night she did awake screaming because she could not find her ringworm on her arm.  drama mama. having our table otherwise occupied forced every meal to be consumed outside.  so much nicer of a cleanup.  and the birds loved it!

thanks for the memories fellow campers!  now i must drag the clean cutes from the tub so they can find some dirt to play with at our house.  home sweet home!