CAMPING -with 8 children-

The plan:

Go camping Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday at the Great Sand Dunes!

What actually happened:

The little ones got sick so we wanted to wait till they felt better to leave...and we did not want to drive 4 hours to the Sand Dunes. So Jon, Josiah, Ethan, Kellen, Tarin and Brennah went camping on Friday night in the mountains. They got to the desired road to take them to the campsite (back country) at 10 p.m. The road was closed. So they began looking for "real" campgrounds to crash at for the night...and everything was either closed or full. At midnight they found a campground...pitched the tent, slept, awoke the next morning and backed up to find another place.

Noelle and I (and the 4 smallest ones) met them Saturday morning...still no campground. We drove till around 3 p.m. when we found a great place on Lake Granby. We set up camp, planning to stay till Monday night. Saturday night was SO COLD that we were worried about the babies...so Sunday afternoon we packed up and went home.

We were on the campsite less than 12 hours.

But it was still fun with a TON of great memories!!!!

Enjoy!







A camping we will go!!!!!!!!!! Maggs, Pres, Finn and Laz (and Noelle and I ) loaded up the kids early Saturday morning to go meet with all the guys/gals to continue the camping adventure as one big happy family.











8 kids later.

Yeah, we are hot.  :)













At the campsite, gathering wood for the roaring fire.








A great idea! Draw elaborate pictures on cups so that everyone knows which cup is theirs and they can use it all weekend!

Reality: elaborate pictures do not help if you LOSE the cup 10 minutes later.










Tarin-Bo-Baron













Where we picniced.













Yes, the actual sign from our campsite.









"YES! We finally found a campsite!!!!!"










"Yummmmmy"












Quite possibly the cutest children E-V-E-R...from a non-biased person, of course.











Noelle layed an egg.






Jon and the boy










Maggs did not want anyone to mistakenly drink from her water bottle.









Josiah and Laz











Which is more beautiful....us or the sunset?

Hummm.....






















Yeah.  We are.

HOT.

I LOVE this picture!!! Noelle, Brennah and Finn.







Josiah thought it would be a better idea if Laz and I slept in the van (he took a seat out) instead of the tent so we would not get cold.

Riiiight.

A nice plan....but it did not go so well.


Breakfast....after a rough night of no sleep...crunched on the floor of the van with a baby in 30 degree weather. Pancakes, eggs, bacon (pork even!!!) and cherries!







About 7 a.m.









About 5:40 a.m. This is my "I'm gonna kill my husband" picture...because for some reason at 5 a.m. it was his fault that I was stuck in the van all night with NO sleep during sub-zero temperatures...and I kept thinking I was falling forward...sleep deprivation, perhaps???







All bundled up for sleepy-time! The daytime was hot at 85 degrees and the nights were COLD in the 30's.

















While at Lake Granby we encountered some tribes indigenous to the area and only found on the tiny peninsula we were camping on. Thankfully they were a friendly bunch, wanting only one thing: SMORES.











I seriously wondered all night if I was going mad...I felt as if my head was lower than my body and Laz and I kept slipping forward.

The next morning I discovered I was correct in my estimations.

And somehow that was also Josiah's fault.









Noelle was attacked by a rabid mountain lion while trying to rescue our children from it's grip of death.

Welllll....sorta.

She WAS attacked.......by a wee Scottie dog. And bitten. It was horrifying to behold. Thankfully Josiah had the gun or I *might* have gone hunting for Scottie.







Hiking!!! Laz enjoyed the ride...asleep on Dadddy :)







The next American Idol!!!








Beautiful Maggie

A gorgeous hike....








...on a CDT trail (that is Continental Divide to you lay folk)...









...that got VERY steep.....







...and although beautiful, it was not kid-friendly. Maggs doesn't seen to mind!












So we headed another direction and found the river that flowed into the lake.

















































All the poor pine trees. It was seriously awful....the entire landscape was littered with dead/dying trees because of some stupid beetle.















































The universal sign of FUN......feet so dirty you can see the Chaco outlines!!!!  :)


After the hike we headed home...which was thankfully only about 2 hours away.

Yes....we DO live in Paradise  :)