Camping

Rookie Campers

Well, camping was interesting to say the least. We borrowed Josh and Julissa's camper and set it up at Country Acres Campground along Route 30 in Gordonville. Our friends Randy and Diane live at the campground and Randy is on staff. He works another job during the day but is on call most evenings and weekends for any camper that has (or thinks they have) a problem.

We started out with the four oldest grandchildren-Alexis, Lydia, Mark & Awstin. Of course the two days that we chose were the hottest days of the year. The heat and humidity were suffocating. It was so bad that no one wanted to go outside. We had planned to eat all our meals outside but that just wasn't possible. Steve couldn't even bear the thought of making a fire. Being novices when it comes to camping, we naively thought everyone makes all their meals over the fire. (Later, I asked Alexis what they usually have for breakfast when they go camping and she said cereal! I learned from that and took cereal along for the next 4 grandchildren.) So, Wednesday morning when it was too hot to make breakfast we went to Plan B and took everyone down the road to Dienners Restaurant. It was definitely more expensive but oh so nice and cool!

We did have a very nice time in spite of the heat. Swimming was a popular activity. We also went mini golfing, played games, decorated caps (this was my friend Diane's idea and the kids loved it), and ate a lot of food. During the very hottest part of the day when the camper was a little crowded with six of us, we opted to watch a movie. Although I didn't intend to go camping to watch a movie I will admit that it was nice to have a quiet activity to do in the camper where we had air conditioning. We did make a fire the second night and enjoyed hotdogs, marshmallows and mountain pies. Overall, it was a good experience and nice to spend time with the grandchildren. 

Here are some pictures of camping with the oldest grandchildren.

All lined up with their new shirts

Mark

Alexis & Awstin

Mark & Awstin

Lydia eating her mountain pie and wearing her decorated hat

Awstin wearing his hat

Two weeks later, we packed up again and did just one night and two days with the next four grandchildren--Hannah, Clara, Bryce and Janae. The weather was so much nicer for which we were very thankful. We did pretty much the same activities--swimming, mini-golf, hat decorating, and games. These four also enjoyed just spending time at the playground which was really nice. We had fun roasting hotdogs and marshmallows over a fire along with some mountain pies. Again, it was just nice to spend time with the grandkids.

Here are some pictures from the second crew.

Proudly wearing their new shirts

Showing off their names on the back of their shirts

Bryce

Clara

Hannah

Janae

Playground

Steve making mountain pies

Overall, it was a very good experience and I think we might do it again next year as long as we are still in good health. Being able to use Josh and Julissa's camper was wonderful and we really appreciated their generosity and allowing us to use it. We would definitely make some changes but for not really ever camping before I think we did all right. The grandkids seemed to really love it and that is why we do it--to make memories with them. I think Alexis and Lydia will probably always remember and laugh over Grandma calling mountain pies, mud pies!