Labor Day Weekend Camping

Every Memorial and Labor Day weekend we go camping.  It is a cherished tradition and something we look forward to all year long.  This Memorial Day weekend was no different.... despite the craziness in our lives at the moment.

Camping for us is usually a pretty smooth experience.  I have perfected my camping list making/shopping/meal prepping/and packing processes.  Usually I am packed and ready to go a few days before its time to hit the road and all I have to do is clean the house and a little food shopping/prep that can't be done until the last minute.  We usually arrive at the campground 3-4 hours before everyone else in our party.  We enjoy setting up our tent in the daylight (everyone else arrives after dark usually).  We unpack everything and the woods quickly turns into an oasis with luxurious cots, a spacious tent, tidy storage bins, and camp chairs around the fire.  For the first time ever, this beautiful scenario was not the case......

We planned to get to camp earlier than ever before.... since Aaron isn't working.  We thought we would enjoy hiking the Quechee Gorge as a family, something we have always wanted to do but never have enough time for.  But Aaron ended up having an interview that day in Rhode Island.  All of a sudden we weren't sure if we would arrive at camp on Friday at all.  It was a sad possibility but we aren't in a position to pass up job interviews so a sacrifice had to be made.  Aaron having interviews all week also made shopping and food prep difficult for me because he took our only car.  I had to do all my shopping on Wednesday which forced me to have to rethink some of our meal plans because fruit salad berried bought on Wednesday most likely would be bad by Saturday.  Aaron arrived home on Friday at 5:00.  We knew if we wanted to get to camp before it was pitch dark we had to leave by 5:30.  I had everything in the driveway waiting to be loaded.  It was more stressful than normal, more chaotic.  The house was a horrible mess, and I knew we were forgetting things.  We were all tired.  But we were determined to get to VT.  Aaron and Amelia stood in the back of the truck and I handed them up our stuff to be carefully worked tetris style into the bed, back seat, and side boxes of our truck.  And then, in a split second we heard boom.  I was running around the side of the truck and Aaron jumped down the side.  Amelia had somehow fallen head first over the side onto our paved driveway.  She is okay but it was terrifying for us.  There was a lot of blood and a big egg on her head and her nose and cheek looked like they were swelling and bruising a little.  We couldn't comfort her.  It was horrible.  So Friday night was spent in the Franklin Emergency Room.  Luckily it looked much worse than it was.  Just some abrasions which are healing at lightning speed.

She was such a trooper.  After the ER we made a pit stop at McDonald's for a Milkshake and Chicken Nuggets.

Saturday morning we hit the road.  It was a very long drive.  We had a cranky/hurt toddler.  A bad navigator, a vomit incident at a rest stop, and a very cranky wife who was frustrated with the bad navigator.  But we did finally arrive at Silver Lake State Park (our favorite place to camp) in Vermont at 10:30 AM.  We quickly unloaded, set up nothing, and hit the road to meet our friends at Sugarbush Farm.  Every year Sugarbush is at the top of our to do list.  We love the animals, but mostly we love the homemade cheese, syrup, and old fashioned sodas.  Once we were there all the unhappiness was gone and the weekend we had been looking forward to for months finally started, albeit late.  Amelia loved seeing the animals.  There was a baby cow, goats, and horses.  But the only one she would touch was the pony.        

Aaron was like a little kid petty the animals.  He wanted to make sure I took his picture.

Goats

Beautiful Horses.  They were so people friendly.

Amelia, Kyle, and Travis petting the pony.

The Pony was the only animal she would touch since it let her pet its back instead of its face.

Happy girl to finally be in VT.

She liked the baby cow.  Born April 2015.

Saturday afternoon the men and kids had fun down the like while Kandi and I snuck off to King Arthur Flour.  Sadly there are no picture because the wives weren't there.  But I'm told it was a fun time and a soaked and dirty Amelia were evidence.  We had chili for dinner and S'mores.... or in Amelia's case just the chocolate.  And I think kyle set the record for most roasted marshmallows eaten.  

Sunday we always attend church in the S Royalton Ward.  The church building is on the grounds of the Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial.  We love attending this ward every year.  After sacrament meeting we spent some time seeing the monument and touring the remains of the Mack Family home foundations as well as the original parts of Turnpike Road.  Its so much fun to be in the thick woods and see an original stone foundation, bridge, or stone wall dating back hundreds of years.  

It is an impressive monument.  Solid granite.  The story of how they got there is amazing.

Best looking kids around. (Kyle, Sam, Claudia, Amelia, and Travis)

Our weekend Selfie

Family Selfies are always funny.

Best part of camping is quality time with my bestie.

Amelia loved running the length of this arrow.

The rest of Sunday was spent at camp relaxing.  Some people napped, some read, some went for a walk.  I finished the book What Would A Holy Woman Do? by Sister Wendy Nelson, which was a great and simple book that I will being enjoying for the rest of my life.  It was a perfect day.  We enjoyed tin-foil dinners, s'mores, watermelon, taking Myers Briggs personality tests, playing ball with Amelia, playing in the dirt, and more.

Sam and Amelia are precious together.  Here they are looking up at the trees and other things.

Monday we had breakfast and packed up.  It is always sad when camping comes to an end.  Amelia especially loved all of the attention.  There was always someone to play with her camping themed toys with her, to run around with, to play ball with, etc.  She has not enjoyed being home with just Mommy today.  We love camping. We love Silver Lake State Park and that area of VT.  But we especially love our Victorino's.

The traditional end of camping "kids" picture.  It took a miracle to get Amelia in this picture and without tears.