Camping 2009!

I've finally gotten around to going through my pictures, so I thought I should actually post them as well. :) We headed up for a camping (cottaging, really) long-weekend at Cran-Hill Ranch a few weeks ago, and we had an awesome time!

Mom, Eli, Matea, and I headed out Thursday morning so we could get there, unpack, and get some afternoon beach time in. Matea and Eli loved the water, and they both also loved playing in the sand. The were digging all around in it - which meant they had sand in places I don't want to talk about. :)

Thursday late afternoon/evening Jeff and Lori came out, then Grandpa and Jon, and my Uncle Bob and Aunt Linda, and cousin Toni and Paul and their four kids as well. Friday started off with a hike to a spring where we could fill our water jugs up (clear, cool water, yummy) and then pony rides - Eli had no hesitation this year and was a pro. Then more swimming in the afternoon, and Jon I took Eli on a paddleboat ride where Eli did all the steering (he was proud as a peacock).

Friday night was tie-dyeing night, and Eli wanted a green, blue, and orange shirt. But the dye chart showed that orange with either blue or green made brown. Not what we were going for. Eli chose yellow instead of orange and wanted a spiral burst pattern this year. When we got the dye out though some of it splattered when Eli put the bottle down and the green dye went straight up and landed on Eli's hair. Oops! After our best clean up efforts we still had a kid with green hair on the side. Oh well! Eli's shirt turned out great again and he loves it (he wants to wear it every day, I'm serious).

Saturday Eli slept in until after 11 am and it was kind of windy, so we spent the rest of the day playing games, making pizzas in the fire, and then going on a hayride with our whole extended family. After the hayride Grandma, Uncle Jeff, Noah, Tori, Eli, and I went for a kayak trip around the lake, and Eli loved it. He got a chance to help paddle as well and did great. Eli headed back to the cottage after the kayak ride but, after seeing him safely back, the rest of us went for a swim and did jumps off of the dock. Tori and I started jumping together yelling, "Girl power!" and that quickly led to daddy/daughter, daddy/son, brother/sister, mommy/son/daughter, aunt/nephew, Koorndyk power and all the relationship permutations we could find. We ended with Tori's idea though - yelling "Jesus power" as we did our final jump. :) We had such a fun time in our after dinner swim. That was one of the highlights of camping for me!

Matea just kind of took it all in while we were camping. She liked playing with the kids the best, and the swimming and playing in the sand. She took really good naps while we were there which was nice, and for the most part she slept well at night (except the first night where she kept standing up and reaching over the pack-n-play to whack me on the head and then laugh).  I can't wait until next year when she can go on a pony ride and tie-dye her own shirt!