father/daughter campout

Back in November, Ben and the girls attended our ward's father/daughter campout at Jordan Lake on what turned out to be an unusually chilly weekend. I think it was 25 degrees when they got up in the morning. But they had a great time and were all smiles when they returned home.

Pictures courtesy of Ben...

memorial day weekend.

We kept things simple and easy for Memorial Day weekend. Backyard camping, pancake breakfast on the deck, and a few friends over on Monday for a cookout (do not confuse a cookout and a bbq in North Carolina).

Relaxing with a book.

No need to go camping anywhere else when we already live in the woods.

Art projects on the deck and cereal for dinner one night.

camping: cabin edition

A few weekends ago we cashed in a groupon for a two-night stay at a nearby park (Bull Run Park...scene of the amazing Bluebells) in one of their rustic cabins. Our last cabin stay was incredibly cold at night so we were grateful for the heater. The cabin was small and cozy and had a mini fridge and a microwave. The only downside was walking down the street late at night by myself to get to the bathrooms. I was pretty good at freaking myself out. Aside from a few RVs parked in the distance, we were the only campers around which made it extra creepy.

There was an awesome playground right behind the cabin. It seemed to be adult size and was a little scary watching Elsa climb up certain parts. Luckily Oliver was too small to even get up anywhere. He just circled the playground searching for a way in.

We had a campfire Friday night and made s'mores. Saturday morning Ben cooked us a delicious pancake breakfast. It was a little chilly but we bundled up and enjoyed a fun hike. We ended up getting a little snow storm in the late afternoon and it was nice to watch the snow come down from inside our cozy cabin. The late night bathroom run that night wasn't as fun.

We spent the rest of our time reading, making Valentines, doing puzzles, playing games, eating, and watching movies.

I've been neglecting my big camera lately in favor of the smaller, more convenient iphone...

S'mores made with Petit Ecolier are dangerously delicious.

The mini snow storm.

camping: living room edition

A few weekends ago we did our annual winter campout in the living room. Tinfoil dinners in the oven, a YouTube campfire, s'mores, flashlight dance party, a movie*, sleeping in the living room, and a pancake breakfast in the morning. 

*We were looking for a family friendly movie that was streaming on Netflix. We settled on The Red Balloon, a delightful 35 minute (mostly silent) French film about a boy in Paris who befriends a red balloon. Pretty innocent, right? But the girls couldn't stop asking questions and were determined to find drama (bad guys) in the movie, even if it was a man just passing by on the street. The movie ended (spoiler alert) with the boy floating off happily with loads of balloons. And they were still concerned. "Where is he going? What if the balloons pop? Is he going to run into that?" It was kind of exhausting. I guess they didn't appreciate the artistic nature of the film.