We got to go camping for the first time this year at Yankee Meadows - a beautiful area complete with mountains, trees, and even a stream running through our campsite. Uncles Heath and Seth constructed this nifty rope bridge that got hours of entertainment out of the myriads of kiddos we had in attendance. The stream was also responsible for 6 pairs of lost shoes I think.
The kids loved crossing the stream and most of them got wet in the process. Little Ayvri lost her pants by lunchtime each and every day and enjoyed true redneck camping in her panties.
This particular pair started out white, but thanks to the very black mountain dirt she had a lovely gray snuggie in no time. These very same panties also ended up in the bottom of the biffy (that's hick for port-a-potty). She wasn't sure how they got there but was thankful for the fresh pink pair that she got to wear after that. Such a cute little bum.
This was the kitchen area where Brig pretty much lived the entire trip. Good food was plentiful and the rows of coolers and boxes made perfect little tables for all the littles to eat on.
Camping hair has never been so cute as these two twinners. The second Ksenya saw the bandanas she decided she needed her hair like Aunt Jeri's and asked me a dozen times if she looked like her Aunt. I think there's a little mutual affection going on with 2 of the most beautiful funny girls I know.
Papa enjoyed tormenting each and every little and Ayvri, who has taken to calling him her "silly Papa" enjoyed being tormented. She especially liked being hung upside down. Don't worry - Papa got tormented too, Grandma tried to lock him in the biffy.
These are my happy campers the first night - it took a while to get them clean enough to put into their sleeping bags but they were happy as crickets and slept very well (albeit they all crammed into a big heap sometime in the night and poor Kabe got to be on bottom). The weather was perfect, not too hot and not too cold and we slept very well thank heavens!
Lots of hiking took place - mostly lead by Aunt Aimee (our resident educator) and Papa (our resident Boy Scout). Crossing logs and streams made the hikes adventurous enough for our most daring and darling campers.
Searching for wildlife droppings and bugs Papa had quite the audience. He is so much fun and they all just adore him.
There was lots of educatin' going on and the kids learned all about Poopine (lupine), Fluffy Flat Firs, Sharp, Square Spruce and Pokey Packet Pines.
We draw a lot of attention everywhere we go with the herd of littles - all within just a few years of each other and mostly blondies. Surprisingly there wasn't a whole lot of fighting.
Look - they're all the king of the rock!
Time to take a breather in "the meadow" . . . words cannot express how many references to Bambi we heard throughout the trip.
Back at camp Grandma organized the chairs in Sunday School format. Needless to say, there aren't enough chairs here for all the littles but somehow we managed to get them all fed anyway.
Another great adventure was the four-wheeling. The first day we were educated by the forest ranger on the rules and regulations of said recreation. So we sent Aunt Aimee to town to buy some helmets and enjoyed hassle-free wheeling for the rest of the time. This little guy never did want to get off the wheeler and every time someone left without him he punished his mother severely.
Uncle Heath's hammock was never empty either, in fact I rarely saw it with less than two or three kids piled on one of the uncles. Uncle Rich enjoyed having a little sing-along time with this group. We also enjoyed watching Uncle Seth dump a bucket of stream water on a sleeping Maji.
Here are the Mama's on the wheelers. Probably not the most daring, but definitely fun. I think I even impressed my little dare devil Ayvri with how fast Mommy can drive - while Ksenya dug her fingernails into my sides.
By day three my kids were getting pretty beat - Ksenya ended up with a whomping stomach ache and checked out for a few hours while Ayvri fell took a catnap in the shade.
Kabe enjoyed whittling for the first time (highly supervised) and carved himself this wooden knife which was then used to reenact the near sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham. Uncle Seth was Abraham and Kabe got to be Isaac. After the first performance he kept begging all the adults to sacrifice him. I guess it's another generation of likening scriptures :)
These two have a love/hate relationship - look at the one on the left, determined, persistent, but controlled. Now look at the one on the right, yep, that one's mine - completely freaking out about the possibility of losing his chair when there are 17 others surrounding him. He has a mother, she does occasionally bathe him.
What an amazing, wonderful, exhausting adventure. Can't wait to do it again . . . . . next year :)
The kids loved crossing the stream and most of them got wet in the process. Little Ayvri lost her pants by lunchtime each and every day and enjoyed true redneck camping in her panties.
This particular pair started out white, but thanks to the very black mountain dirt she had a lovely gray snuggie in no time. These very same panties also ended up in the bottom of the biffy (that's hick for port-a-potty). She wasn't sure how they got there but was thankful for the fresh pink pair that she got to wear after that. Such a cute little bum.
This was the kitchen area where Brig pretty much lived the entire trip. Good food was plentiful and the rows of coolers and boxes made perfect little tables for all the littles to eat on.
Camping hair has never been so cute as these two twinners. The second Ksenya saw the bandanas she decided she needed her hair like Aunt Jeri's and asked me a dozen times if she looked like her Aunt. I think there's a little mutual affection going on with 2 of the most beautiful funny girls I know.
Papa enjoyed tormenting each and every little and Ayvri, who has taken to calling him her "silly Papa" enjoyed being tormented. She especially liked being hung upside down. Don't worry - Papa got tormented too, Grandma tried to lock him in the biffy.
These are my happy campers the first night - it took a while to get them clean enough to put into their sleeping bags but they were happy as crickets and slept very well (albeit they all crammed into a big heap sometime in the night and poor Kabe got to be on bottom). The weather was perfect, not too hot and not too cold and we slept very well thank heavens!
Lots of hiking took place - mostly lead by Aunt Aimee (our resident educator) and Papa (our resident Boy Scout). Crossing logs and streams made the hikes adventurous enough for our most daring and darling campers.
Searching for wildlife droppings and bugs Papa had quite the audience. He is so much fun and they all just adore him. 
There was lots of educatin' going on and the kids learned all about Poopine (lupine), Fluffy Flat Firs, Sharp, Square Spruce and Pokey Packet Pines. 
We draw a lot of attention everywhere we go with the herd of littles - all within just a few years of each other and mostly blondies. Surprisingly there wasn't a whole lot of fighting.
Look - they're all the king of the rock!
Time to take a breather in "the meadow" . . . words cannot express how many references to Bambi we heard throughout the trip.
Back at camp Grandma organized the chairs in Sunday School format. Needless to say, there aren't enough chairs here for all the littles but somehow we managed to get them all fed anyway.
Another great adventure was the four-wheeling. The first day we were educated by the forest ranger on the rules and regulations of said recreation. So we sent Aunt Aimee to town to buy some helmets and enjoyed hassle-free wheeling for the rest of the time. This little guy never did want to get off the wheeler and every time someone left without him he punished his mother severely.
Uncle Heath's hammock was never empty either, in fact I rarely saw it with less than two or three kids piled on one of the uncles. Uncle Rich enjoyed having a little sing-along time with this group. We also enjoyed watching Uncle Seth dump a bucket of stream water on a sleeping Maji.
Here are the Mama's on the wheelers. Probably not the most daring, but definitely fun. I think I even impressed my little dare devil Ayvri with how fast Mommy can drive - while Ksenya dug her fingernails into my sides.
By day three my kids were getting pretty beat - Ksenya ended up with a whomping stomach ache and checked out for a few hours while Ayvri fell took a catnap in the shade.
Kabe enjoyed whittling for the first time (highly supervised) and carved himself this wooden knife which was then used to reenact the near sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham. Uncle Seth was Abraham and Kabe got to be Isaac. After the first performance he kept begging all the adults to sacrifice him. I guess it's another generation of likening scriptures :)
These two have a love/hate relationship - look at the one on the left, determined, persistent, but controlled. Now look at the one on the right, yep, that one's mine - completely freaking out about the possibility of losing his chair when there are 17 others surrounding him. He has a mother, she does occasionally bathe him.
What an amazing, wonderful, exhausting adventure. Can't wait to do it again . . . . . next year :)
2 comments:
Thanks for such a great weekend..it was so much fun to see you guys and to let our kiddos run wild..in the wild..lol!! :D
Okay, I guess I can see why you were so happy about going back to Utah! Looks so great!
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