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."

Goodbye Cousin Arry

Some of you regular readers may recognize this face. This is Arry - my mother-in-laws dog. She was given to my MIL 2.5 years ago. At the time, my MIL was looking for a lab puppy. One of her friends talked her into rescuing Arry, a hound mix, instead. Arry was living with a large group of dogs and was completely overwhelmed by them. She had a very timid spirit when she first came to live with my inlaws. But no one could love a dog and bring out their best more than my MIL. In time, Arry gained confidence and became very affectionate.

When Arry wouldn't eat my MIL coaxed her into eating with scrambled eggs fed to her by hand. When Arry was hit by a car my MIL slept on the floor with her for weeks to keep her calm and comfortable.

Last week, Arry had the first of many seizures. As the seizures became increasingly frequent and intense and Arry's fear of oncoming seizures grew, my MIL had to make the heartbreaking choice to let Arry go.

Millie and Arry were the very best of friends. I wanted to include a tribute on my blog and went through pictures to find a couple to share. In no time, I had 50+ pulled. I did narrow it down some, but I apologizem I couldn't stop adding them. Seeing their relationship spelled out in these pictures was almost my undoing.

Sticks were their obsession. Racing to be the one to carry it back to be thrown again..

 Often they ended up bringing the sticks back together

  The explorers

Happy is my MIL's old lab (in the back). He didn't always have time (or patience) for the girls' antics. Happy is 10+ years old and slowing down. We have talked recently that he probably won't be around much longer. I am still in shock that Arry is gone first.

Arry encouraging Millie to come up the stairs to the "treehouse" or maybe daring her to try to pass. Hard telling with those goofballs.

 Begging for snacks together.

 Playing in the creek with my sister's dogs. The pack absolutely loved every minute of that day.

 

When Millie and Zommie play, Zommie is very vocal. It sounds like Millie is killing her (or she is going to kill Millie). But make no mistake, Zommie is the alpha dog and she could put Millie in her place at any moment. When Millie starts up with Zommie around Arry, Arry gets concerned and then tries to protect Zommie by "attacking" Millie. Her favorite move is to grab Millie's back leg (like in the picture below).

 Notice Millie and Arry playing in their own world as the campout happens around them.

 The joy.... Arry had a fantastic life with my inlaws.

Arry and Millie adored each other. I simply can not believe they will have no more time together. When we pull up the the farm, Arry will not race out thrilled that Cousin Millie is there for a visit. The first thing Arry would do when we arrived was race to the car and wait for Millie to get out then race off to grab a leaf or twig or something to entice Millie to chase her. I have a gazillion pictures and memories of them together, but when I think there will be no new ones and it breaks my heart.

Although, Arry was not the dog my MIL would have chosen, in her words tonight "Arry turned out to be the perfect dog for me."

Goodbye, sweet Cousin Arry. Millie is going to miss you.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

While out at the farm last night, my MIL and I took about a 15 minute walk with Millie and Happy. I still had half my Jedi time to finish. So when my sister told me that she had made some potato soup I decided to walk over to her house to pick it up (instead of hopping in the car). I generally, don't walk in the evening after dark. For some odd reason I am much more comfortable walking in the dark at 5 a.m. than 7:30 p.m. Weird. My sister lives a 1/2 mile away so it turned out to be the perfect amount of time to finish my 30 minute goal for the day.

I didn't see it, but I sure smelled that they had finally resurfaced that one stretch of road which has desperately needed it. I could also feel how much smoother it was under my feet. Next time I walk that way in daylight, there will be pictures :)

What are your plans for the weekend?  Tonight is my nephew's last regular season game...then playoffs!