Monday, October 5, 2009

Creative Camping


This weekend we set out on a new adventure, in our own backyard nevertheless! smile.gif

A family with seven children and chickens and goats and dogs (plus a parrot) does not travel much, or at least ours doesn't. wink.gif

So, we decided to take advantage of a very low cost method of family vacationing and entertainment, camping. Under our particular circumstances we had to be a bit creative...therefore...CREATIVE CAMPING.

Upon considering the choice of location for this camp out, we decided there was nothing better than our own backyard. After all, there would be no noisy neighbors, we could still see about the goats and chickens and it was free (free is good). We have a pond for fishing, woods for hiking, a creek for crossing and a ready made target range. Besides, I realized, minimal packing would have to occur and this was a VERY good thing. This left more time for fun and took a load of stress off my shoulders.

The next step was the putting up of the tents. Our youngest four children had never slept in a tent before and were particularly excited. Our new tent said 'sleeps 9', but it would have been a squeeze. Glad that the two oldest boys decided to sleep in their own tents. Each of the three tents had a dog, the parrot went back in the house to his cozy cage.

In this picture you see the youngest five all snuggled up in their pajamas and holding bears...well except for Jeremiah who opted for the family parrot (Jonah) on his shoulder instead.

We were also celebrating Henry's (dh) birthday and he was glad for the opportunity to try his new Black Powder Gun (his birthday present). So target shooting was definitely on the agenda! Here you'll see the birthday boy and his seven kiddos, my oldest two preparing for their turn and me as well, trying out my new toy, a Mosin Nagant, made in 1939 (91/30).

We also had a camp fire, which we sat around and sang Christmas Carols... biggrin.gif ,hey, that's what they wanted to sing!

We made smores, chili, hotdogs, and a huge breakfast cooked over an open fire. thumbs.gif

We played games around the picnic table using solar lanterns and today we're finishing up my attempting to make some moccasins (we bought a kit at Hobby Lobby. The rain has moved in and we took down the tents but continued the fun and activities inside. And that, is how you manage Creative Camping.

1 comment:

  1. How fun! And look at all those beautiful smiles from something so simple!

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