Camping Fun!

Earlier this summer, at the end of July, we went camping for a weekend (well, cottaging really) with our family to Cran Hill Ranch, along with some of my cousins and aunts and uncle. They camped for real, while we stayed in a cottage right next to the beach – Jon and I, Elijah, Matea, Grandma, Uncle Jeff, Aunt Lori, Noah, Lexi, Tori, and Nathan and Andrew. We had a great weekend, and it wasn’t as hard to travel with a baby as I thought it was going to be (of course, it helped that I had stopped breastfeeding by then!). The cottage was very nice as well, with a nice big yard for the kids to run all around the cottage and play.

Playing soldiers on the big stump outside. 

The ranch offered a “Buckaroo Basic” pass for the weekend which got the kids two ice cream cones, a tie-dyed t-shirt, a pony ride, and unlimited boat (kayak, rowboat, etc.) usage for the weekend when with an adult. Elijah loved the ice cream of course, but wasn’t too sure about the other things at first.

Superman ice cream makes my tongue blue!

I like chocolate too. :)

How exactly does a three year old tie-dye a t-shirt? Let’s see . . .

1. Start with a plain boring shirt in the correct size. Lay it on the table and look at Mom for help.

2. Watch Mommy fold my shirt and then stick rubber bands around it. Then swing the finished product around above my head (that’s the critical step).

3. Let loose with the dye!! And see how fast Mom has to scramble to keep up with a permanent-dye-wielding three year old!

4. Get the finished product back the next day and see that my excessive dye squeezing paid off! My shirt is awesome!

Elijah wasn’t too keen on his pony ride at first and though he didn’t say he didn’t want to go he also wasn’t jumping with excitement at the prospect. Then, at less than ¼ of the first lap he said, “I’m done Daddy.” He did get his full two laps in though, and said he liked his pony at the end. Her name was Ophelia, and now when we go to Meijers he insists on riding the penny ponies (he never wanted to before) and calls the horse Opehlia.

Pony spectating is more fun than pony riding.

Eli also held a bunny (reluctantly) and then just kept saying, “You hold the bunnies, Mommy.” He’s never been exposed to holding bunnies before though, so maybe next time he’ll like it better.

The look on his face says it all . . .

My Aunt Linda did a “Christmas in July” for the kids, complete with gifts. Elijah got a ride-on shark for the water and LOVES it! And he also got this light-up squishy ball with florescent “worms” inside. He loves his “wormy ball” as he calls it, though the texture grosses me out.

Slick and squishy! Eww! I love it!

Land shark!

Here comes Jaws! Better watch out everybody!

Jon and I took Noah, Nathan, Andrew, and Elijah on a rowboat ride, which was really fun. We even sang “Row Row Row Your Boat” to Jon. Cheesy, I know, but Andrew and Eli at least thought it was funny (I think Noah and Natey were rolling their eyes at me though).

And our whole family went on a hayride on Saturday night – we took up one entire wagon! Yes, that’s right, EVERYONE in the picture below is related to us!

Pepperoni! (Yes, that's what he was screaming)

Checking out the animals after the hayride. All those little buns belong our families kids!

We had a really fun time and maybe next year we’ll go for a whole week. It didn’t work out this year with the baby and all, but there was a lot to do and I wasn’t ready to leave when it was time to pack up. And we didn’t even roast marshmallows, so we need to camp longer next time!