Dalzell Camping

It's that time of year again! Our annual camping trip with neighbors to the Dalzell, IL Rod & Gun Club. This year had a significant improvement - Sam & Lach joined us for the first time! And we stayed for 2 nights.  (Alice calculated that in the car herself when I said "Saturday to Monday", which made her very excited with anticipation....)

We arrived Saturday to rain and 62 degrees.

 

Thankfully Sam is not old enough yet to notice or complain about wearing Alice's hand-me-down boots that are light-blue-with-cherries..... 

In case you ever thought that we were up for "Parents of the Year" or some such thing, here is Sam wielding an axe he found on a table.  And I, of course, paused to take a photo before returning the axe to the rightful owner.

And then it pretty much kept raining all afternoon.  But as my friend Sarah pointed out, "Sam seems to be pretty good at making his own fun."

And there were other kiddos enjoying the rain as well!

As a reward, we got a rainbow and a dry evening.

Many children roasting enormous marshmallows!

Attack of the icky fingers!!

Sunday we got up to MORE RAIN.  Luckily our camping trip includes arts & crafts.

Another project - roasting a banana and then stuffing it with chocolate.   Verdict?  Kids = Tasty.  Mom = High degree of mess. 

An overcast visit down to the creek.

Similar to an empty cardboard box, it is surprising how long a large pile of gravel and a muddy puddle can keep kids amused and entertained!  (even as they take turns falling off it and getting hurt!)

Finally!   After some 50 MPH winds and a severe thunderstorm warning, we got a break in the weather!   The Dads used this opportunity to...... well, shoot some guns.  (Aussies, you may email Lach separately if you need to see additional photos of guns, discussion of guns, information about guns and US shooting ranges, etc)

Kids like to watch shooting.

Stylish ear protection while watching skeet shooting.

Those are some muddy pants...

Isabelle and Alice - 3rd annual camping trip.

This is how much RAIN we are talking about.  That was dry land when we arrived.

An afternoon fishing excursion.

And an afternoon drive.  Look out!  Kids at the wheel!

A classic moment of parenting.  When someone comes up to you and says, "Alice is over there reading a book.  Sam is down at the swingset and seems to have taken off his pants and underwear."   Well of course he did.  There were children laughing and egging him on.   Sam's always one to please a crowd.  (that won't cause any problems in the future, will it???)

Who? Me?

The nudity theme continues!!  Back at the creek Sunday morning.  It is now 90+ degrees and the only way to cool off is to get in the water.   Alice stripped down and walked in....

Sam discovered a "dinosaur tooth".

Skipping the usual group hike (due to 95 degree heat & humidity), we instead stopped at the Tastee Freez on the way out of town.

Until next year!

If you want to look back.  Click here for camping 2010 (tornado), or here for camping 2009 (bear).