Camping at Stone Mountain (Day 3 of 3)

After some instruction from Uncle Paul, Derek starts chopping some wood

Success!

Sly little look from Brooke

The girls wait for Daddy to get their fishing poles


Donuts and hot chocolate at the pavilion

Adam messing with the fire again

Adam didn't want to be left out of the wood chopping. The little task master chopped all morning long.

Helen breaking down our tent

Gear is staged for loading

Feeding the geese near our campsite

Helen relaxing around the campfire

Lindsay and Poppy enjoying their lunch

Brooke glamming it up

Adam's first...

Sunday October 24, 2010

Adam snuck onto our air mattress and found his favorite spot - next to Mommy. Everyone seemed to sleep well.

Derek and I got the early morning fire going and then Adam took over as soon as he woke up. After packing things up we went up to the pavilion for donuts and hot chocolate. There was a church service going on and the non-church goers like us were arriving looking for the donuts. We were all getting a little antsy for them to wrap things up and put the dang donuts out. I don't know why we can't have donuts and do our thing while they're doing their thing?

We piddled around some more at the camp. The boys were really into chopping wood with Uncle Paul's hatchet. The weather was so beautiful and the campsite setting next to the lake was so peaceful. Most of the campers were long gone. We all met at Uncle Paul's campsite for lunch and some smores before saying our goodbyes and heading out.

Camping at Stone Mountain (Day 2 of 3)

Helen cuddles with Adam in the chilly morning

Love a fresh new morning...it represents one of my favorite words: opportunity

After some morning visiting I went back home to play in my ALTA tennis match. People always say I try to have my cake and eat it too - why wouldn't you?

Derek stops by to say good morning to Lindsay in her tent

Aunt Agatha and Brooke enjoying the brisk morning

Brooke strikes a pose after feeding the ducks

Adam and Derek relaxing at our campsite

Loading up for the hayride

All aboard!

Visiting the pumpkin patch

Derek and his pumpkin

Brooke's not scared of the scarecrow

Adam, Helen, and Derek

Helen's parents

Back at the campground pavilion for more fun

Uncle Paul helps Brooke decorate her pumpkin

Lindsay and the Quig girls

The pavilion was nice with fire, refreshments, and activities

The kids enjoyed the magic show

Waiting in line for SkyHike

No loose articles, including cameras, were allowed past a certain point so this was the last picture of SkyHike that we took

Mini-golf is always big fun for the kids

Everyone gathering on the lawn at the base of the mountain for the laser show under a beautiful sunset

Our big group

Nice picture of Helen and Derek

Me and Adam

Saturday October 23, 2010

We woke to a brisk morning after a chilly night. I visited a little before heading back home to play in a tennis match. Everyone piddled around. The boys rode their bikes up to the pavilion and had donuts and hot chocolate. Everyone met at the campground pavilion for a hayride around noon and then went back to the pavilion for pumpkin decorating and refreshments.

The tennis was fun - winning, beautiful weather, beer, food, and hanging out with the guys. It was just one of those perfect fall days. Helen didn't think it was fair that I went home after my match and got to take a shower since she wasn't going to get one at the campground.

Everyone was just finishing up a late lunch when I got back to Stone Mountain. Thankfully, all the families were splitting up to do their own activities. The boys were anxious to get things going and they really wanted to do the SkyHike ropes course. The line was pretty long, but we caught up on our day and the wait seemed to go quickly.

Waiting in line and watching all the people doing the course, I didn't really think much of it. But once we got up there - it was pretty high! It took some time, but after a little while you get used to it - except for Helen. She kept saying she was scared and was very tentative (and slow), but there was a spunky lady in her 70's in the group ahead of us and she was going at it with gusto, so it made Helen feel like she should be able to do it. All in all we really enjoyed the experience.

The boys' second choice was miniature golf. It was pretty crowded and moved kind of slow, but they didn't seem to mind. After golf we walked over to the lawn where our group was spread out for the laser show. The weather and the sunset were beautiful - just a great atmosphere.

After the laser show, we all met up at Uncle Paul's campsite for a campfire and smores before heading to bed. What a great day!

Camping at Stone Mountain (Day 1 of 3)

We had a full house for the campfire on Friday night

If there's a fire Adam is guaranteed to be right there - poking, prodding, and generally messing with it

Helen is on smore duty waiting for the next toasted marshmallow

Adam brought along some books to read to cousin Lindsay

Derek hanging out with Lindsay, Brooke, and Aunt Agatha

Derek played "headless horseman" with the girls


Adam and I finish getting the bedding ready in our tent

Derek helps Uncle Mike put up his tent

Derek and Adam snuggled up and ready for a chilly night

Friday October 22, 2010

This past weekend we went camping at Stone Mountain with Helen's family. I packed a bunch of stuff Friday morning before work, but it still took us longer than expected to leave Friday evening (and I was getting a little cranky). The traffic had died down, but we were hungry and not looking forward to setting up camp late at night.

Helen's parents have a motor home and we all gathered at their camp site for dinner and a campfire. Agatha's sister's family joined us with their 4 beautiful girls so we had a full house. We didn't get back to our campsite and start setting up until around 11 pm. We're getting pretty good at setting up camp, so with the boys help we had everything ready to go pretty quickly.

It was a chilly night. We had not planned to use the boys sleeping bags but I put them in the tent just in case. We were all cold and huddled under our flannel sheet and comforter, but when Adam woke up during the night and said he was cold I got out the sleeping bags, which have a warm flannel lining, unzipped them, and covered everyone up. Aaahhhh - much better.