Busted Campout, plus Winners

I'm late in posting about this, but we had our 2nd annual Family Backyard Campout on September 18-19th.


The kids and I started the campout the way we start every visit to Freakin Eagle Mountain...in traffic! Granted, it was Friday evening rush hour but still, it took 17 minutes to go 1 mile due to construction and volume of cars. Serenity now!


As we sat in traffic we saw the wind get stronger and the sky get darker so we feared our campout was doomed. We pulled up at the house just in time to see the dismantling of the tents (we'd missed the set up because we were stuck in traffic, darn).


I thought the colors of the sky and the surrounding plants were rather beautiful and took a bunch of photos.

These clouds looked surreal and huge to me.

{Photo by Amy}

We moved all the gear into the porch and ended up eating dinner and chatting all evening out there. We love the screened in porch so much, it's really a more accurate indication of the way our family likes to spend time "outside".

{Photo by Amy}

The wind died down and it didn't end up raining, so we could have slept outside after all. Randy and Jared made a fire in the fire pit so the kids still got to make s'mores and hang out.

{Photo by Amy}

It's a good thing Amy went outside and took pictures by the fire because I was so comfy chatting on the porch I didn't take any photos the rest of the night!

{Photo by Robyn}

The girls set up their sleeping bags in one of the empty guest rooms (formerly Robyn and Jared's room), while Lori and Amy set up their sleeping bags in the other empty guest room (Adam was at home sick that night).

{Photo by Amy}

{Photo by Robyn}

Landon and Austin were the smart ones and claimed the couches in the downstairs family room, and Robyn and Jared claimed the den. My parents got their own cozy bed of course!

{Photo by Amy}

Ashley had fallen asleep on Robyn's lap while we were chatting on the porch and was able to make the transition to sleeping bag and giggly-girl filled room without waking up.

Randy and I got the raw end of the deal and ended up on our air mattresses (by the way Michelle I borrowed yours) in the exercise room. It was nice to have ceiling fans going, but as my air mattress lost air again (I have no idea why and really must find the source) I ended up on the very hard floor. It was a long, uncomfortable night for me and a rough one for Randy even though his mattress stayed inflated.


In the morning Lori and I were in charge of breakfast and made bacon, fruit and "The Guidry Special" (English muffins dipped in pancake batter and fried then dipped in powdered sugar--it's like dessert). Afterward the kids went back downstairs to play and the rest of us sat around talking for hours (except my dad who did yard work and Jared who was working elsewhere).

Edited to add: "The Guidry Special" was named after the family of Adam's best friend from first grade when we lived in Missouri. His last name was Guidry and his mom taught my mom how to make it.

Overall it was a successful camp-in, even though we basically sacrificed a good night's sleep and were tired all day Saturday.

**Have you ever had a camp-in?
Do you ever sleep well when you camp?
Can cousin fun ever be overestimated?
Do you like to just sit and talk with family?**

Congratulations to these good mail winners--please email me with your mailing info at stuart_jill@hotmail.com

20--Jodi
17--2 Green Eyed Girls
11--Alisa
14--Gail
35--Anita K.

Comment Window Tidbit: The leaves on our trees are changing color, apparently Fall is really here!