Our Big Weekend/Staycation - Lots of Pictures

We thought about going camping this weekend, but I nixed that idea since we haven't been able to find our big tent and all we have is the small pup tent. There was no way that I was going to fit all five of us in that little tent. So, we decided to have a camp out weekend from home. We put up the tent in the backyard and Thomas and Letty slept in it all weekend. Well, actually, they slept in the tent for a few hours on Friday night until I was awakened by Letty screaming bloody murder outside. I ran out to find that the sprinklers had come on (Dan had forgotten to turn them off - Woops!) and it was spraying the inside of the tent and getting them all wet. Letty was screaming "I don't want to get rained on, I don't want to be wet." After several minutes of me fumbling in the middle of the night trying to get the sprinklers turned off, with no success, Dan finally got them off. We got the kids inside, got them changed into dry clothes, pulled out some dry pillows and blankets for them and put them to bed in their own beds for the rest of the night. Thomas had actually pulled his blanket over his head inside the tent and didn't want to come out, but Dan made him, the tent was full of water and he would have been freezing if he hadn't come inside. After the excitement of that night, Letty didn't want to ever sleep outside again. We had to promise her several times that the sprinklers would absolutely not come on again before she would agree to sleep out there the next night. We spend the evenings by the fire (we got a firepit for Christmas a few years ago and have never used until this weekend) roasting marshmallows, barbequed our dinner and watched the stars. During the day we all hopped into the van and drove to a couple campgrounds that we hadn't been to before and explored them and the surrounding area.

The following is a picture summary, with a few tidbits of information, of Our Big Weekend. Enjoy.

Before we could start this big extravaganza of a weekend at home, we had to stock up on marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers, drinks and propane for the bbq. We grabbed refills of pop at Harts and after got home Jacyn took one of the drinks over herself. She proceeded to pull out the straw and try to drink it from the opening where the straw goes. Well, if you've ever seen a baby try to do this, you will know that it spills all over them, but it was cute watching her and then when I pulled out the camera out came the smiles from her. I must take too many pictures, because she's already got that down pat. I don't care if I take too many pictures, at least I don't have to try very hard to get a smile out of her, ha, ha.

This is the smile that always kills me. She will always give us this smile, but I usually have a very hard time getting it on camera.

She was so proud of herself for getting that drink all to herself.

Then this picture in the backyard, with her blue eyes, I just love it.

Dan's getting the firewood ready for the fire. The kids are so excited watching him and learning how to get a fire going.

We had some sparklers left over from the Fourth of July, so we let the kids play with them.

After we got a little fire started Jacyn was so excited to see the chairs sitting there that she couldn't help but jump right onto one of them and watch the fire.

All three of the kids sitting by the fire, having so much fun.

After everyone got into their pj's we roasted some marshmallows.

And then we made S'mores. This is a picture of what the perfect S'more looks like. It was so yummy.

Saturday morning we woke up and took the kids fishing at one of the many fishing ponds they have around town. The kids didn't catch anything, but it was fun.

We then went home and packed a lunch and were off to Pine Mountain. Jacyn and Letty took a little nap on the way, they looked so cute sleeping in the same position that I had to take a picture.

Then I looked back at Thomas and he just looked so cute and happy.

We walked around Pine Valley Reservoir and took some pictures.

Here's a picture that you will rarely see, Dan and I both together, alone. I love it.

Here's a family picture in the same spot. See, Jacyn is smiling and no one is taking the picture, it's on auto mode. She's got this picture thing down I tell ya. Then there's Letty, her face here just shows you her attitude lately, the little stinker.

We walked around the side of the lake and took another family picture. This time Letty was a little more cooperative and gave the camera a smile.

We got around the back side of the lake and had to cross the stream that was feeding it and Jacyn just ran right into the water. She loves water.

She wouldn't get out by herself, she actually started walking down stream and the water was getting deeper so I had to wade out there and pick her up and carry her the rest of the way or she would have ran back into the water. It was really cold water too, but she didn't seem to notice.

When we got back in the van to drive around the campgrounds in the area we immediately saw this fawn right off the side of the road eating.

Then we saw this deer on the other side of the road eating.

I turned around to look at Jacyn and this was the face that she was pulling. This was a first for her.

One of the campgrounds had this great little area where the Santa Clara River was running next to it and the rocks were perfect for the kids to sit on and pose for me.

While I was taking pictures of Letty, Thomas and Dan found this dead bug. They put it in the van trying to scare me but it didn't work.

That night we had another fire and roasted more marshmallows. Then Thomas brought out all his musical instruments and they played with them. Jacyn is a really good Kazoo player.

Sunday morning Dan made us all a big yummy breakfast and we headed up to another campground that we hadn't seen before, Oak Grove. It is beautiful up there and really close to home. I'm so happy that I finally got a great picture of the kids together.

This is in the same area of Oak Grove.

On the dirt road up to the Oak Grove campground we noticed this little sign and decided to stop by and check it out on the way down. It was pretty interesting. There were little signs made by children along a little path telling about the different shrubs, trees and plants in that area.

This is the Kiln at the end of the trail. It was a lot bigger than I had expected. Pretty cool. It was made in the 1800's to made coal for the silver mine nearby.

This is how Jacyn was carried around our little hike.

On the way to Oak Grove you have to drive through Silver Reef, a little town. Apparently Silver Reef is the only place that silver was ever found in sandstone. There is a little museum and shop there, but since it was Sunday it was closed. We plan on going back so we can see inside the shops. These pictures were taken just outside the museum.

After such a long, fun day I guess Jacyn was just pooped. This is how I found her when I came home from my evening walk. Dan decided to leave her there for me to see because it was so cute.

Finally, and this has nothing to do with our weekend but it's a picture I took today, I found these little foot prints on our subwoofer today. I guess Jacyn's feet were just a teensy bit dirty, huh?