Daisy Camping Trip

This past weekend Mikayla's Daisy (Girl Scout) group went on their annual camping trip to the Spruces. We had so much fun! The girls had a blast and I got to know the other Mom's better, who I must say are all great Moms and a lot of fun. This is how the trip went down and a few of the pics I took-

One week before the trip:
July 25th - "Mom we are going camping in 7 days, Can I start packing?"
July 26th - "Mom we are going camping in 6 days, Can I start packing?"
July 27th - "Mom we are going camping in 5 days, Can I start packing?"
July 28th - "Mom we are going camping in 4 days, Can I start packing?"
July 29th - "Mom we are going camping in 3 days, Can I start packing?"
July 30th - "Mom we are going camping in 2 days, Can I start packing?"
July 31st - "Mom we are going camping in 1 day, Can I start packing?"
August 1st - "Kayla we have to leave in a few hours are you going to help me get packed?" "No Mom I don't really want to, can you just do it?" Go Figure.

Friday afternoon, once I got us all packed and the truck all loaded up, we were off. We hit the drive up at Lonestar and got some yummy tacos to take up for dinner! When we got to the campsite we were officially greeted by about 15 'potguts' who spent the weekend hanging out at our feet. Each one had a name thanks to the girls. How on earth they were keeping them straight, who knows? Friday night was very laid back. After eating we picked out a spot for our small 4 man tent. (My memory of our tent from the one time we used it when we were first married) I was very excited to find out we had a decent sized (not nearly a 4 man), tent in perfect condition.
After getting the tent up and letting the girls play we sat around the campfire, made s'mores and cuddled. What a great night. Around 10:30, Mikayla said she was tired and wanted to go to bed. Strange coming from her but I took bait and we climbed into our zipped together sleeping bags, on a not so comfy air mattress, and passed out. The next morning after having breakfast we drove down to Doughnut Falls to take the girls hiking. Kayla and Grace are two of a kind and managed to find a 'photo spot' every 5 feet. It took some convincing to get them going.
We also tried convincing the girls to not walk in the water and try to stay on the rocks, you can see how well that worked.
Needless to say, this is what happens when wet feet run down a dirt path.
Speaking of running - Kayla and Tallie decided it would be fun to run the entire way back to the parking lot. I of course couldn't let them go on their own, so I also got to experience the joy of running down a mountain. When we got to the bottom they thought it would be fun to hide (for about 15 min) from everyone else. Here we are hiding behind a tree. Note the broken limb just above my head, it sure would have been nice to have noticed that before I turned and stood up straight. I have a large bump and scab on my noggin.
When every arrived back down at the parking lot a few of the girls wanted to walk back. Renee, 3 of the girls and myself took the scenic route back to the the Spruces. I just love that 'hike'. We then walked from the trail head to the top of the campground to our site. Just the campground walk alone was exhausting. The girls were troopers and made it with very little complaints. Just a few scrapes and bruises.

Once back, we got cleaned up, had a wonderful dinner (thanks to Brenda and Renee) and hung out. Kayla and Grace wanted to have a sleepover (and strangely enough chose the tent over the large, warm comfortable trailer) We climbed into bed and slept great. These girls slept so well, not one peep the entire night.
Sunday morning after eating breakfast we were all just sitting around the campfire, when we hear footsteps behind us. I turned to see a large brown hairy thing about 5 feet behind me underneath the tree. I jump up (mistakenly with Kayla sitting on my lap) to see what it is. Suddenly this large Moose stands up and Mikayla screams a blood curdling scream at the top of her lungs. I grabbed her, covered her mouth and threw her in Diane's trailer. The Moose must have been more scared than she was as it took off back up the hill. Too bad I didn't have my camera on hand or better yet a video. Poor Mikayla wouldn't come out of the trailer for about an hour. I tried a couple times to get her to come back outside to no prevail. Finally Diane used some sort of magic, and was able to get her happy, dressed and back outside.


Coming home was so bitter sweet!! It was sad to end such a fun, relaxing weekend with a bunch of great girls. But I sure missed my boys and my baby. Little did I know how much I was missing.


We walk in to find out Naia decided to take up walking while I was gone. Demitri got a new fish (which we refer to as our doggies and I was against adding any new members to the doggy tank) as well as a hair cut, which I was against but Nonda always manages to cut the kids hair when I am not around. My plants hadn't been watered (no big deal it was only 100 degrees all weekend) the house was exactly as I had left it (I know to some of you, you're thinking wow how wonderful) not in my case, this meant a thousand loads of laundry still piled up in the laundry room, toys still all over, even the tag to the camelbak I left on the counter was still in it's same spot. Life at that point was back to normal. With of course the exception of a walking baby and a new doggy to feed, oh yes and one last treat for bedtime. Naia decided to scream for 45 minutes straight at bedtime (she never, never does this. She goes straight to sleep when I put her in her crib) I tried playing with her, holding her, laying with her, picking her up, putting her down, nothing would work. It wasn't until I started the 'walk the entire house' routine and she points at something on the floor. "Phoof" she says, which is her way of saying bird in Greek and is what she calls all animals. All she wanted to go to bed was this....her pink teddy bear. Who knew, I didn't even know she had a pink teddy bear. It's so good to be home!