Motorcycling in Camp

Camp Cooking Perfected

Despite the evening showers....the food was excellent!  Clay perfected his method on cooking bacon - he now prefers to cook it directly over the fire.  We got the dutch ovens to work magic with cinnamon rolls and potato cheese soup.  It was delicious!  And of course the kids devoured the smores!

A Tight Squeeze

Now that we are a family of 7, there were some concerns voiced about whether or not we had a proper vehicle in which to take our summer camping trips....some doubted we would fit in our current truck and stated we needed to purchase a newer BIGGER truck....but we did it... We ALL fit (ALL 7 of us!), nice and snuggly into the Dodge Dakota Sport!  And look...we even still have smiles on our faces!!!  Hopefully they last the next 4 hours!!  To help the trip along, we stopped and got our traditional camping donuts!  Now our trip can officially begin!  Onward.

Camping with Cows

Clay and the boys found the perfect spot to camp when they came to Cloudcroft in the spring for the father and sons campout.  So we decided to try it out!  It was a beautiful spot...open valley and trees to play cops and robbers in, clearing to ride motorcycles, and hiking close by.  We had thunderstorms every night that made things interesting... it freaked the kids out and rained cats and dogs!  But, we can't fault the kids too much...Laura also got freaked out on this trip... she heard a grunting noise outside her tent and she laid frozen in bed trying to muster up the courage to look outside the tent to see if it was a bear....thank goodness it was just a cow grunting his way through his morning breakfast of grass....whew.  Yes, we shared our camping spot with a herd of cattle they would join us every morning and every evening to get their daily water and a salt lick.  Needless to say, this camping trip was quite the adventure....and probably the last for a while... or until Erica sleeps through the night.  Sleeping with a baby (or not sleeping with a baby) in a tent is pretty awful....so after 2 days of high adventure with the cows, storms, and a sleepless baby we were ALL ready to go back home!

 
 Erica got her first skateboard lesson from Preston and Detric.

 

Preston and CJ staked out a chipmunk in a log and got out their big guns to try and take it out...unfortunately the little rodent outsmarted them on this trip...next time boys...next time!

Sizzling HOT Swimming Days of Summer

What is the best way to spent a sizzling hot day of summer?  At the POOL, of course!  We love water, the slide, the diving board, friends, fun, and cooling down!  The pool was a common playground for us this summer!  When all else failed - the Pool is always a great choice!  Everyone is happy, playing, and being silly!  Even little Erica enjoyed the water (for a little while...then she was usually so worn out that she slept for a good hour so Mom and Dad could play too!  Win Win!!)  Even Batman made an appearance at the pool this year!  All the kids thought this was fantastic - CJ was very popular at the pool that day!

Introducing...the cutest little bathing beauty ever!