Camping...

Last weekend, the Olson family (minus Ron, Trish, Delaney, and Olivia) went camping at KOA in Hayward. We arrived around 1:00 on Friday afternoon. The first thing we did, after setting up our tent, was visit downtown Hayward with Chad and Kristin. The girls begged to get something in EVERY store, but we settled on candy - caramels, taffy, rock suckers, jolly ranchers, bit-o-honey, tootsie rolls, and gummies galore - from the local candy store! We went back to the campground and waited for the Annis's and Lundquists to arrive. After Chad and Kristin's delicious spaghetti and meatball sandwich dinner, the guys enjoyed bean bags while we sat around the fire. THEN, the wind picked up and the sky darkened...AND we all scurried to tie Mandi and Isaac's GIGANTIC tarp (and I mean GIGANTIC!) overhead to the trees. I took cover in the tent, watching a movie, with my girls. Ava ended up sleeping in Chad and Kristin's camper that night while Harper and I snuggled on one mattress, TRYING to stay warm and dry. We (Jamie) failed to seal the seams on the tent prior to our trip. Our 15 year old tent was a hurtin' unit! During the night, I soaked up some of the water with our sheets and some towels. We managed to stay dry, but there were puddles EVERYWHERE. Check out the pic of Jamie soaking up a puddle with his shirt :) The guys managed to stay up til 3 A.M. playing cards that night! I was wondering how Mandi was going to get Isaac up to make their pancake breakfast?!? :)

Isaac was able to get up and the pancakes were wonderful! After hanging everything out to dry and airing out our tent, we headed to swim at the pool, jump on the giant pillow, and play mini golf. It was our turn to make dinner, so Jamie and I grilled homemade pizza over the fire- yummy! Who eats like this camping??? Hope everyone else enjoyed their hot dogs :) That night we played the name game. It was hilarious! Everyone writes down a name, and then we have to guess who wrote each name. You really had to be there, but some of the names included Shaggy, Dicky Lilly, Olivia, Smell E. Gibson, Ruth Schaefer, Uee Fritchey, Rose E. Ola, Supercharge...among others - I couldn't remember the names then, so why would I now??? And then the wind picked up and it began to sprinkle...Phewww - it did NOT rain Saturday night!

Sunday morning, Sara and Sean made a great french toast breakfast. Then we packed up and headed south. It was a long, but wonderful weekend with family. We're looking forward to another...ok, we won't go there, yet...

We slept great in our own DRY, WARM, CAMPFIRE SMOKE-FREE beds Sunday night :)