Gone Camping

While Dani was in in Cody, I decided to join the Schaffers and a bunch of others camping at Silver Falls State Park.  

The kids spent quite a bit of time running around inside the tent - it was funny watching the lumps in the sides of the tent as they ran from end to end and back again.

The kids all played a bunch of different games, including SPUD and ghosts in the graveyard.  Liam was definitely part of the game as well.  Everyone would run away from the tree with all the big kids, then would run back toward the tree with all the big kids.

We had bratwursts and pasta salad for dinner and made banana boats for dessert... mmm!  At one point, I realized I hadn't seen Liam for a couple minutes, so I looked for him for a few minutes, and wound up finding him in the neighboring camp site (just a couple feet from ours) playing with a friendly, but very big, black dog.  The woman that was with the dog was quite enamored with this friendly little boy!

The sunset was pretty to watch through the trees.  It was pretty to watch the sun setting and the moon rising through such thick green trees.

One of my co-workers, Justin, brought his camera and got some great night shots.  I love this picture (of me... Kate, not so much!)

We also played pictionary with an open-exposure camera and a small light.  There were some great drawings!  I didn't realize that the canvas was as big as it was, so my house was pretty small.  There were some very creative people!!!

When it came time for bed, Liam wanted none of it.  I put the babies in the tent first and hoped they would fall asleep.  They didn't, so I put the kiddos in there with them.  A few times I went back to put them back in their sleeping bags.  Once, I was met with Liam, who had opened the door but not the screen, and his forehead pressed out against the screen.  It was pretty cute, but I knew that my adult time was pretty much over at that point.

I finally did get people to sleep, and we slept pretty well that night, though Liam was convinced that my mattress pad was actually his mattress pad.

Claire and Jacob were a little chilly, so they kept close to one another to try to keep warm in the morning.

We had a pretty fancy pancake breakfast in the morning, complete with berry pancakes, different syrup options, and whip cream.  Yum!

In the morning, we went for a hike to see some waterfalls.  There were lots of kids!!!

I had a lot of helpers.  In the end, I went further than I planned, so I definitely needed the help!  There were a few very steep areas that I wouldn't have been able to carry 2 babies up!

Kate and Liam were pretty enamored with one bridge we came across.

We came back a little dirty!  It left quite a ring in the tub!

It was a very busy time, but it was well worth it!