Camp Piper

Our camping trip turned out quite different than expected. After a late start and a lot of traffic we found out that Huntsville State Park books up. Yep you heard me right when we arrived it was FULL. So we drove over to my parents house, admittedly disappointed, for what turned out to be a very fun evening.

We set up camp in their yard, with roaming horses, sheep and chickens. Before we began setting up the tent we collected all the eggs. My parents were shorted on egg as Ian decided to bang the eggs together (that doesn't have the best results)

Here is Darren begin the process of setting up a tent for 5.

Alex going for a walk. Where are all the adults?

We are making progress (although my dad felt we were not capable of doing it on our own)

Here Alex is. He caught a cricket and walked around holding it until my mother got a container to keep it in. (Don't worry we put breathing holes in it) I couldn't believe that he caught a cricket. Reminds me of the karate kid movie (catching flies with chopsticks)

Here is Daniel giving instructions.
Daniel, helping out (because apparently he too thinks we can't do it on our own)

Say cheese, Darren!

Then we went out to dinner. I decided that I was not eating beans out of a can when in my parents backyard. We came back to the house and roasted marshmallows (while chasing Daniel away from the fire)

Alex, Beba and Ian
Ahhh Grandma, Don't throw Alex in the fire!
"hot, hot" yes Daniel, it is hot- that means STAY AWAY!
Darren whittling the wood to make more marshmallow sticks.

Everyone roasting marshmallows.
Daniel eating his marshmallow. He was so, incredibly sticky when this process was over.
I love Alex's face in this. Such an intense marshmallow toaster.
Darren.
Here I am with my mom's dog Kugo.

All looked to be going so well until... midnight when Daniel woke up and decided it was time to play. Darren took him until 2am and then I took over- driving around until 2:30am and finally giving up to crawl in my parent's guest bed and go to sleep.

For future camping experiences we will go to Camp Piper for the three oldest boys, while myself and Daniel will begin at Hotel Piper :)

In the morning we ate eggs fresh from Farm Piper.

Ode to my new car.
How do I love thee, let me count the ways...

1.) You were large enough to fit the awesomely large amount of camping equipment we stuffed into you, in addition to the dog crate and two dogs (because we forgot to hire a dog sitter).
2.) You have a DVD player that is fabulous in a traffic jam (which also makes interesting background noise).
3.) You have a plug that works with my son's breathing machine (although wasn't necessary since we ended up at my parents house that also has plugs).
4.) You have a/c vents in the back so that my children are not covered in sweat before we arrive at our destination.
5.) You have heated seats for all those days where the temperature drops below 75 degrees.
6.) You are a beautiful maroon color in order to camouflage yourself at the A&M football games with all the other cars.
7.) You have a moon roof we could look through to count the 5 stars that were out last night (although technically we weren't in the car at the time, there were truly only 5 stars- although admittedly that is 5 stars more than could have been seen at home)
8.) You have cruise control that would have been fabulous if there wasn't constant stop and go traffic the entire drive.
9.) You have so many seat options that I can easily separate my children or move them close enough to me that I never have to yell "don't make me pull this car over" because I can reach them.
10.) You are everything I dreamed of and much more. If only I would take the time to read the manual I am sure I would discover the depths of your fabulousness.