My parents are in town for a week, from last Wednesday to this coming Wednesday. Katie is floating with the clouds. To her there is simply no one in this world better than Grandma and Papa. It is a special thing to see her face, and my parents faces, light up each time they see each other. They stayed at a friends house for the last few nights, and helped them with there garage sale. Katie spent Friday and Saturday over there with them, and quite simply had the time of her life.
Family is a great thing. We miss my parent, they moved to Florida when they retired, but as we have learned quickly, absence makes the heart grow fonder, and each visit now contains a hugely special memory that we can cherish.
We are going to dinner in Mexican Town with my parents, my brother and his girlfriend, my aunt and uncle, there son and his wife, another of there sons and my Grandma (or Nana as we call her.) My aunt and uncle and cousins all live in Canada, and Nana lives in Florida, not to far from my parents, so we don't get to see each other as often as we'd like. I plan on taking lots of pictures today, and I'll post them once I get them developed.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Camping
I thought that it would be fun to post about all the camping trips that we have taken, and from here on out I plan to blog about each individual trip. The memories we are making are great and will be remembered forever.
Our first camping trip as a family was June 29, 2008 to July 4, 2008, at the Monroe/Toledo KOA. We took Katie and her cousin Aurora both on their first camping trips and we had a blast. Since this was our first trip together it was also our first trip in our new tent that we spent weeks and weeks shopping for. We got an 8 person tent from Target and we love it. It's mostly blue with some gray and a few orange accents. It has a small screen room on the front that is perfect for storing things in and relaxing under the night sky after the kids go to bed. We had a screen room with us that we had gotten for Dan's dad for Christmas. It was great to have a bug free place to sit for meals and cook under. We did a lot of swimming and playing on the beach, plus we did som art projects with the finger paints and crayola magic marker things we had brought along. We had a little bit of rain one day so we made a trip a few miles up the road to Cabelas and spent a day at the 'inside zoo'. Later in the week we took a trip a few miles to the south and spent the day at the Toledo Zoo, which is amazing and we HIGHLY recommend. The trip was a huge success and we look forward to many more trips in the future.
Our second Camping trip was over Labor Day weekend, 2008, again at the KOA, for 3 nights. This time it was the 3 of us and Dan's mom and sister, and our dog Yoshi. By this time we had managed to find a screen room of our own but still had to borrow a second tent from Dan's dad for his mom and sister to use. Again, we spent a lot of time at the lake/beach and we also took Katie's new fishing pole down to the fishing lake, we didn't catch anything, but it was fun. Again, the trip was a lot of fun, it was our last trip for the year, but the plans for 2009 are HUGE!!
Our first trip of 2009 was May 8-10, again at the KOA. We again took Aurora along with us, and we were joined for the weekend by our friends Stef and Scott and their son Hunter. Dan's mom and sister looked after the dogs and cat. We had bought another tent as we always seem to have extra people with us, while it was a roomy tent and it kept us dry it simply did not live up to our expectations and was returned as soon as we got home. It was pretty early in the season, and it was still pretty chilly but we had a blast!! Before the trip we had picked up a few new camping games, we got ladder ball and horse shoes, and we got an automatic bubble machine, all of which kept the kid entertained for HOURS!! We took another trip to Cabelas, had a blast, took lots of pictures. We were sad to go, but knew we would be returning soon.
May 22-25, we are KOA bound again. Dan's mom and sister joined us again, as did Aurora who had been with us for almost two weeks at this point as her family was in the process of moving and welcoming her new little brother to the world. Dan's dad watched both of the dogs for the weekend. We had purchased another new tent by this point and we were excited to try it out. Katie stayed in the tent with Dan's mom and sister, and Dan and I had the new tent all to our selves. It was a fun weekend, but it came to an end too soon.
This is going to be a busy camping season!! Outing # 3 occurs during the weekend of June 18-21, again with the KOA, can you tell we like it?? It was a celebreation of sorts, as I had just finished the classroom portion of my education to become a Medical Assistant. We are accompanied by a large crowd this weekend. It's us, my aunt Dar, our friends Stef & Scott, there son Hunter, and Scotts brother, his wife and his two kids. We also have a few day time only visitors. There is one other HUGE difference to this trip. We are no longer tent camping, we have purchased a new to us pop-up camper and are pretty excited to take it on its maidan voyage. The weekend was great, lots of swimming, eating and relaxing by the fire. There was a scary moment though, Katie and Hunter were hanging out in Stef and Scotts camper watching a movie, and in a moment of craziness managed to lock themselves and the keys inside of the camper, with all of the adults on the outside, they couldn't figure out how to unlock the lock that they had just locked, so it took a lot of talking, and a frantic call home to locate an extra set of keys, before we were able to walk Katie through opening the emergency exit window and passing the keys through so that we could let them out. Katie was really happy to be out of the camper, but I was so proud of her, she kept her calm and pulled through in a really nerve wracking situation, she's turning in to such a big girl!!
Trip # 4, 4th of July weekend, again, at the KOA. This time we have Dar with us, and my cousin Anne and her son Aidan. Another great trip, made even better by the fact that the campground put on a SPECTACULAR fireworks show to celebrate our nations independence. The campground had a bunch of activities planned for the weekend, including red white and blue tie dye, which we opted to participate in. We did a lot of swimming and eating again, along with many hours spent around the campfire. A great weekend!!
Trip # 5, July 31-August 2, a rare treat, Dan and I are alone on this trip, Katie is spending the weekend at my aunts house. We have also ventured to a new ccampground, precisely 6 miles down the road from the KOA we usually go to. We did a whole lot of nothing, honestly. We took the flat screen tv with us, and the xbox 360. We hunkered down inside the camper and really only left to walk to the bathroom. We watched movies, we slept in late, we relaxed. We celebrated me being done with school for good. It was one of the best weekends I've ever had, sure we missed Katie, but we also really enjoyed the adult only time.
We have two more trips planned for the year. One for Labor Day weekend and one for a weekend in October. Both will take place at our regular spot, the KOA. I'll blog about each adventure after we return home. Next year we plan on going once a month, from April to October, then for the 3 summer holidays, those early month will be easier with the handy little furnace that our camper houses, great little thing this pop-up of ours is, so glad we got it, it will probably be with us for many years to come (although I can't promise that, as a slightly bigger one would also be more than welcome!!).
To anyone reading this I say, go camping, you will make some of the best memories ever! If you have young kids you will have a new favorite family activity, if your kids are older, get them started now. Some of my best memories from my child hood are of us camping even after we upgraded to a huge motor home, the fact was that we were there together, and the burdens and stresses of every day life were not, if only for a few days. Katie LOVES camping, and I hope she will for the rest of her life, we plan to do as much to influence that as possible!!
Our first camping trip as a family was June 29, 2008 to July 4, 2008, at the Monroe/Toledo KOA. We took Katie and her cousin Aurora both on their first camping trips and we had a blast. Since this was our first trip together it was also our first trip in our new tent that we spent weeks and weeks shopping for. We got an 8 person tent from Target and we love it. It's mostly blue with some gray and a few orange accents. It has a small screen room on the front that is perfect for storing things in and relaxing under the night sky after the kids go to bed. We had a screen room with us that we had gotten for Dan's dad for Christmas. It was great to have a bug free place to sit for meals and cook under. We did a lot of swimming and playing on the beach, plus we did som art projects with the finger paints and crayola magic marker things we had brought along. We had a little bit of rain one day so we made a trip a few miles up the road to Cabelas and spent a day at the 'inside zoo'. Later in the week we took a trip a few miles to the south and spent the day at the Toledo Zoo, which is amazing and we HIGHLY recommend. The trip was a huge success and we look forward to many more trips in the future.
Our second Camping trip was over Labor Day weekend, 2008, again at the KOA, for 3 nights. This time it was the 3 of us and Dan's mom and sister, and our dog Yoshi. By this time we had managed to find a screen room of our own but still had to borrow a second tent from Dan's dad for his mom and sister to use. Again, we spent a lot of time at the lake/beach and we also took Katie's new fishing pole down to the fishing lake, we didn't catch anything, but it was fun. Again, the trip was a lot of fun, it was our last trip for the year, but the plans for 2009 are HUGE!!
Our first trip of 2009 was May 8-10, again at the KOA. We again took Aurora along with us, and we were joined for the weekend by our friends Stef and Scott and their son Hunter. Dan's mom and sister looked after the dogs and cat. We had bought another tent as we always seem to have extra people with us, while it was a roomy tent and it kept us dry it simply did not live up to our expectations and was returned as soon as we got home. It was pretty early in the season, and it was still pretty chilly but we had a blast!! Before the trip we had picked up a few new camping games, we got ladder ball and horse shoes, and we got an automatic bubble machine, all of which kept the kid entertained for HOURS!! We took another trip to Cabelas, had a blast, took lots of pictures. We were sad to go, but knew we would be returning soon.
May 22-25, we are KOA bound again. Dan's mom and sister joined us again, as did Aurora who had been with us for almost two weeks at this point as her family was in the process of moving and welcoming her new little brother to the world. Dan's dad watched both of the dogs for the weekend. We had purchased another new tent by this point and we were excited to try it out. Katie stayed in the tent with Dan's mom and sister, and Dan and I had the new tent all to our selves. It was a fun weekend, but it came to an end too soon.
This is going to be a busy camping season!! Outing # 3 occurs during the weekend of June 18-21, again with the KOA, can you tell we like it?? It was a celebreation of sorts, as I had just finished the classroom portion of my education to become a Medical Assistant. We are accompanied by a large crowd this weekend. It's us, my aunt Dar, our friends Stef & Scott, there son Hunter, and Scotts brother, his wife and his two kids. We also have a few day time only visitors. There is one other HUGE difference to this trip. We are no longer tent camping, we have purchased a new to us pop-up camper and are pretty excited to take it on its maidan voyage. The weekend was great, lots of swimming, eating and relaxing by the fire. There was a scary moment though, Katie and Hunter were hanging out in Stef and Scotts camper watching a movie, and in a moment of craziness managed to lock themselves and the keys inside of the camper, with all of the adults on the outside, they couldn't figure out how to unlock the lock that they had just locked, so it took a lot of talking, and a frantic call home to locate an extra set of keys, before we were able to walk Katie through opening the emergency exit window and passing the keys through so that we could let them out. Katie was really happy to be out of the camper, but I was so proud of her, she kept her calm and pulled through in a really nerve wracking situation, she's turning in to such a big girl!!
Trip # 4, 4th of July weekend, again, at the KOA. This time we have Dar with us, and my cousin Anne and her son Aidan. Another great trip, made even better by the fact that the campground put on a SPECTACULAR fireworks show to celebrate our nations independence. The campground had a bunch of activities planned for the weekend, including red white and blue tie dye, which we opted to participate in. We did a lot of swimming and eating again, along with many hours spent around the campfire. A great weekend!!
Trip # 5, July 31-August 2, a rare treat, Dan and I are alone on this trip, Katie is spending the weekend at my aunts house. We have also ventured to a new ccampground, precisely 6 miles down the road from the KOA we usually go to. We did a whole lot of nothing, honestly. We took the flat screen tv with us, and the xbox 360. We hunkered down inside the camper and really only left to walk to the bathroom. We watched movies, we slept in late, we relaxed. We celebrated me being done with school for good. It was one of the best weekends I've ever had, sure we missed Katie, but we also really enjoyed the adult only time.
We have two more trips planned for the year. One for Labor Day weekend and one for a weekend in October. Both will take place at our regular spot, the KOA. I'll blog about each adventure after we return home. Next year we plan on going once a month, from April to October, then for the 3 summer holidays, those early month will be easier with the handy little furnace that our camper houses, great little thing this pop-up of ours is, so glad we got it, it will probably be with us for many years to come (although I can't promise that, as a slightly bigger one would also be more than welcome!!).
To anyone reading this I say, go camping, you will make some of the best memories ever! If you have young kids you will have a new favorite family activity, if your kids are older, get them started now. Some of my best memories from my child hood are of us camping even after we upgraded to a huge motor home, the fact was that we were there together, and the burdens and stresses of every day life were not, if only for a few days. Katie LOVES camping, and I hope she will for the rest of her life, we plan to do as much to influence that as possible!!
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