Yes. I am continuing on with my camping recap. If you would like to catch up, here are the 2 previous camping posts:
But to save you time, I shall inform you that all that happens in the above posts is:
A) I am forced to help my husband set up his ridiculous parachute.
B) My parents truck broke down and I get out of making dinner.
Why did it take me two whole posts to speak of those two matters?
I have no idea.
But I do know that I confused everyone with The Breakdown post, so I am going to clear a few things up:
1. Yes. My parents were coming to camp with us. They had their trailer loaded with all sorts of camping fun-ness and were towing it.
2. No. The campground did not serve pizza. We drove through a small town on our way back to camp and found a pizza shop still open.
3. No. The pizza was not good.
4. Our camping group was: my family, my parents (Grant and Connie), David’s sister, Lisa, her husband, Jack, and their two little girls, and David’s brother, Alex, came for just the day on Saturday.
Alright. Moving on.
Saturday.
Saturday was a lovely, hot day, so we loaded up and drove to a little beach area on the river.
And, of course, since Alex was there, something had to be created.
Because it would be unheard of to just sit and relax at the river.
This year’s invention was: The Rope Swing.
And, in true Lumberjack-ish fashion, Alex just happened to have a spare rope in his truck.
But, I mean, really . . . who doesn’t?
It was at about this point where I began loudly announcing that none of my children were going near that thing.
Off he goes.
Crazy boy.
Yet, not to be outdone . . .
The Lumberjack decides to join him.
Cowabunga, dudes!
So, that nonsense went on for a while. Jack, my brother-in-law, did not join in on the jumping fun.
He, like me, is not blood-related to these crazy people.
He, like me, often sits back and wonders how he got involved with the likes of them.
Even though it was a really hot day, the river water was icy cold.
Did that stop my children?
No.
No it did not.
Daisy Mae
Sweet Pea
Handsome Dude.
Little Dude
Here are Lisa’s girls:
Little Miss
Sweet Baby
Of course, here is my dad . . .
listening to his 2-song IPod.
Fact Check: According to my dad, he has well over 100 songs on his IPod.
So, there.
Jack, AKA, The Butterfly Man
There is a butterfly on his shoulder and one hanging from his fingers.
It’s a long story.
Fun Fact: Both butterflies had perished, but I don’t know how.
Alert: We did not kill the butterflies! I repeat, we did not kill the butterflies!
Stand down, readers.
And, finally, what river trip would be complete without Alex taking his annual:
“Hey, guys! Let’s see how far I can drive my truck into the river!”
moment?
Ha! Don’t even try to see what state we are from by looking on his license plate.
He has a winch in place of the license plate.
But, I mean, really . . . who doesn’t?
Last year when he tried to drive his truck into the river, he ran into some minor issues because he had neglected to put the gas cap on and his gas tank filled with water.
I don’t know why, but apparently this is a problem.
This year he wised up a bit.
If you can call that wise.
I prefer to call it foolishness.
But that’s just me.
Happy Tuesday!
I noticed in the first pic of little dude his smile eerily resembled LJ’s. 😉
Taylor. You are owed a long trip to the mall with a stop by Target on the way home.
It looks like your kids had a great time though!
It appears the parachute has holes in it… what good is a holey parachute when it rains? I am very confused!
Well, it isn’t too bad, the rain just comes in a small part. He does have another parachute that has no holes but is not as big, nor is it as impressive.
Crudely-fashioned rope swings, river-submerged Ford trucks, unexplained insect deaths…I think my hubby may have found a long-lost brother. It’s a bit concerning, really. I think we should talk. The world deserves a solid plan of action.
🙂
Mindy
http://www.thesuburbanlife.com
Did he make all the kids wash his truck as long as it was in the river? ‘Cause that’s what always happened to me when I was a kid on camping trips – “hey, as long as the truck is in here, and I JUST HAPPENED to have all these sponges…”
Actually, maybe that was not so environmentally friendly back then. I wish I would have known.
Really, that just proves it. Boys do not grow up. They still play with trucks, they still do naughty things, they even still try to make the mommas around them shake their head.
Very true. Them boys are naughty.
I hope that’s deep water they’re jumping into. I once did a deep dive in shallow water and it did not turn out so well.
Maybe someday you should have Alex to a special guest post on your blog explaining to us why he feels the need to drive his truck into the river. I just don’t get it.
When we were in Mongolia we had to drive our little honda type minivans through the river to cross it as there was no bridge. Seriously, why build a bridge when you can just drive THROUGH the river. Unfortunately, the river was a bit flooded so one of the beloved minivans stalled in the middle. Maybe even 2 of them. The guys in our group had to get out and push it (or them depending on how many actually stalled. It was 9 years ago and before children). While most of the guys were being manly and pushing the stalled van through the river, our good friend who is MUCH older than us (like our parents’ age) decided he would be funny and dive into the river. Okay, so it wasn’t THAT deep. He hit his head. He came out of the river with blood flowing down his face because he had a very deep head wound. “Lucky” for us, we had a doctor from our church in MN with us and he was able to stitch it up right there in the river. Okay, maybe not in the river, but it WAS right next to it. Nothing to numb it. Just right there with the suture and “thread.” Blech and yet kind of cool. So now whenever anyone drives through water, I think of Lee’s head wound. you know because those 2 things ALWAYS go together!
You live in a different universe than I.
Diversity is grand!
I don’t get the whole swing/truck in river thing, either, though. Can’t that put a bunch of nasty chemicals from the truck’s inner parts into the water?
But I suppose that if a vehicle is taken care of, it shouldn’t leak.
I don’t know. We’re such environmental nuts up here it’s hard to tell the difference between being kind to the earth and over reacting to every drop of human-ness that enters the outside world.
But my guess is that if Mother Nature had to get around, she’d need a 4×4, right?
and a wench. To extricate stranded badgers and help the beavers with their work.
Looks like a fun camping trip!
We raised four children. Most of our vacations were camping trips.
We all survived. Some of us still actually love to camp.
Being the Lumberjack wife and all, I thought you might like to know that I am in HAYWARD – – – where the lumberjack world competition will be held next weekend. I grew up here.
Lumberjacking is in my blood. Last year I bought a t-shirt in this very coffee shop where I’m blogging which says: “Lumberjill, don’t send a man to do a woman’s job!”
Oh, sounds like my husband would love your neck of the woods!!
hehe sounds like you had quite the adventure camping!! glad you enjoyed yourself and everyone came back in one piece!! =) had fun “catching up”…sry i haven’t been around much…..this is our busy season!!! things are slowing a little now for a bit though, hope to be able to “come by” more often!! =)
I agree with Mindee. Mall… Target… and I’m not even a shopper!
What’s this camping nonsense??? 😛
Oh my, the rope thing looks a little scary to me. Actually it looks very scary to me. But, what a great picture. Funny thing is growing up, I lived by a river. There was a train bridge with a rope hanging from it for jumping. My sister and I were just talking about this yesterday (really, really). We were wondering how we made it to adulthood.
Classic camping fun. Sorry the pizza was no good, but that’s not that much of a shocker, is it? A poky town with good pizza? Doubtful, but glad you got out of making dinner! I’m so jealous of your WHOLE family camping together–it looks like so much fun!
How nice of the family to allow you “married-ins” to sit by and watch. My in-laws try to bully me into trying things. I have way too much sense, though, and so now I am the “wet blanket”. But while I may not swing from a rope attached to a bridge, I can so outdo them in a mall! Natural habitat, people. That’s what it’s all about.
I love that in the second to the last pic Sweet Pea is not even concerned in the least that there is a pick-up in the middle of the river! 🙂 And I have to agree with earlier comments that boys just never grow up… My hubby thought the rope swing was a great idea…he is currently looking for a high bridge!!