Fall Campout

One of my favorite traditions is our fall (and spring) campouts at my in-laws' farm. They have a perfect spot down in a valley by the creek to set up camp.

Since my niece and her friends had all day cheerleading practice we wouldn't all get to the farm in time to have everything set up before dark. My husband and I decided to go out Saturday to prepare the camp site. Yes, we used the riding lawn mower and wagon to carry all the gear down - several trips. Poor old Zommie is starting to slow down, so we took pity on her and didn't make her to trek up and down that hill  - we settled her in the wagon for each trip up and down the hill. For the record, I walked up and down each trip :)

Millie even took a turn in the wagon, but that didn't last too long. Evidently, she had too much to investigate outside the wagon.

Between rides up and down the hill Zommie worked on her tan with a little Indian summer laying out. She is still mostly gray :)

I am not really a big fan of getting my hands dirty, but I was forced to help move some dirt from the pit my husband dug for the fire.

 Millie wandered in and out the creek while we worked.

She also spent quite a bit of time trying to convince my husband to play fetch with the firewood we had gathered.

My Eagle Scout got to work on his fire masterpiece. We did swipe some kindling from his dad's wood shop this time.

 First the teepee...then the log cabin....

 And back to teepee.

And up it goes with a single match!  The good looking guy in the plaid shirt is my baby nephew who will be seventeen in a couple of weeks. Seriously, where does the time go??

My niece had mentioned not too long ago that she had never bobbed for apples. I surprised her and her friends with some apple bobbing at the campout.

 My nephew is a go-for-it kind of guy!

 Even my husband got into the action. I tried it, kinda, not a big fan of sticking my face in the water.

We had the typical campout food for dinner - hotdogs, chili, smores, etc. We played a few games. My niece was recovering from a back injury so we didn't play our usual hide and seek tag. We played sardines (one person hides - when you find the person you get in the hiding spot with them). The last one to find everyone is "it". We played a new game around the campfire - Assassin. One person is the assassin (we passed out cards - the person who got the ace of spades played the assassin). If the assassin winks at you, you slump over "dead" in your chair. The goal is to figure out who is doing the "killing." It worked out really well as long as we kept the fire high enough to keep people's faces lit :)
My husband doesn't believe it sleeping in tents. The tent do put up is just used as a changing room. We pile up the blankets and sleep by the fire.

It was a big night for Millie. Her first time sleeping outside under the stars. When she was about 8 months old we took her camping, but I made her sleep in the tent with me because I was nervous about her being loose. She did very well this time and didn't freak out when the coyotes were howling up a storm. There were a couple of random barking incidents. She stayed pretty close to us and kept our feet warm :)

My husband and I love our time early in the morning before everyone else wakes up. We sit by the fire and watch the sunrise.

A couple times during the night I thought I heard a cat meowing, so while we waited for the kids to wake up we went hunting for the stranded kitty. Evidently, Moonshine is great at climbing up trees... Our rescue plan worked perfectly. The cat got into the chair and my husband lowered him down to the ground. Unfortunately, Millie ran over just as he got to the ground and he went right up the next tree...

One of our favorite camp breakfasts is french toast made from bread sliced Panera bagels. Super easy and super yummy. We also had pre-cooked sausage links we basically just had to heat.

One of the many things I love about my mother-in-law are her fun holiday decorations. She is great at putting fun inexpensive things together to make cute displays around the farm. This crazy witch is hanging on her barn door.

A simple bunch of pumpkins and butternut squash arranged around the pump was begging for a Millie portrait.

Campouts becomes increasingly tricky to get scheduled as the kids have grown and become more involved in activities, but it is totally worth the effort. We have built some wonderful memories.

Although we did this campout when I was in my blogging slump it didn't feel right leaving it out completely. Thank you for letting me share "old news."