After planning the trip for a few weeks after our Cabela's shopping spree, Scott and I checked the weather forecast almost daily hoping for some sunny, "warmish" weather. And, this past week it looked like Sunday and Monday would deliver! yea! We were especially hoping for good weather because we are officially "tent campers" as of a few weeks ago after selling our pop-camper with all the bells and whistles including a shower and potty! I'm starting to think that we bring the rain with us because every time we go the farm the weather there is rainy and gloom and it is usually nice and sunny back at home.
We did see the sun on Saturday intermittently as we set up camp, but we also experienced down pours, drizzle, and rain clouds. We made the best of it as we had planned to have several covered/indoor areas where we could all get out of the elements especially the boys. We even set up a tent specifically for the boys' toys so they could get out of the rain and play, and the toys would be out of our main sleeping tent. It was a lot of fun to set up "the compound" around the campfire with our two tents, our canopy, and the RV that Britt & Helen borrowed for the weekend.
Our tent was great, not a drop of rain inside all weekend but I have to say the cots and captain chair loungers were the best investment of all the gear we purchased. The cots were amazing! When we picked them out, I was skeptical but Scott assured me that we would be so comfortable and we were -- they were even better than the mattress we had in our pop-up! Although despite the comfortable cots our nights were rather rough. I haven't slept in a sleeping bag in awhile and found it a bit claustrophobic. Also, the boys did get up quite a bit both nights for bottles, potty, etc... And, we did have an extremely cold first night even though we came prepared with our oil heater from home. We actually ended up with two oil heaters on the second night and were warm and toasty!
Colby did really well despite still having a little cold/cough. This was his first official camping trip and he went with the flow as usual; although he was eager to scoot around on his own. We held him a lot, pushed him in the Bob for his naps and had him in his portable high-chair or walker that we used as a activity chair. He loved watching Chase goof around most of the time. He had so much fun giggling at him blowing the dandelions. Chase had never done this before and Colby just thought it was hysterical and Chase loved blowing on them and making Colby laugh!
Chase loves the farm! He loves to go down to the river and throw rocks, and is now starting to love "fishing" or rather reeling in the bait. He had fun this trip helping Grandpa Britt pick out the bait (real worms!!!!) and reel it in. Although several times the fish stole the bait and they didn't catch anything! Chase also loved riding in the Mule/Cat ATV that our friend Roy brought over to ride all over the property. I think he will be our little explorer!
Scott and Mike had fun fishing, too. Scott brought his Dad's old fly-fishing rod and waded into the river to practice casting. He had fun although I think I saw him get caught in the line a time or two.
On Sunday, Grandpa Britt brought Great-Grandma Nederhood all the way from Sunnyside. She spent a few hours with us sitting by the campfire eating hotdogs and banana boats (a new camping dessert similar to S'mores I just learned about from Helen -- these will become a tradition at McDaniel family camping trips from now on!) despite the drizzle. She's such a trooper. It was wonderful for her to visit and see everyone at the farm. She enjoyed sitting in our Captain's chairs, too, and said it felt just like home!
We also got to do a little work for Grandpa Britt, too. It is a rare occasion where they do not work when we are altogether. It was fun to see Chase wanting to watch their every move and try and "help" them with their work. The job on this day was to lay pipe for irrigation to the top of the property.
Towards the end of the day it was evident due to their cranky/fussiness that the boys needed a little road trip away from camp to help them fall asleep for their afternoon nap. We ventured up to White Pass, approx. 25 min. from the farm. I was amazed, there is still so much snow on the ground their and the temp was about 40 degrees. Brrrr!!! They fell asleep just as we reached the top of the pass so Scott and I had a nice relaxing drive back to camp in peace. :) After returning to camp, we had a fun visit with Uncle Mike by the campfire while the boys slept then we're off to Packwood to Cruisers for Pizza.
We did make it to the annual Memorial Day flea market/garage sell/auction event that Packwood is known for during this weekend. We toured the various booths but the only one to find a treasure this trip was Uncle Mike who purchased an African drum. We then ended our camping adventure with lunch on our way home in Elbe on an old train which was a lot fun and they had one of the best mushroom/swiss burgers I've ever had!
For me, the fun I had this weekend was hanging out with my boys, all three of them. :-) Although the weekend was a bit of downer due to the weather, I think we made it through okay and had fun with our family. I'm hoping for better weather our next trip. My dream is to sit on the river reading a book (in my captain's chair lounger :) in the sun while watching my boys fish with their daddy. Maybe one day, if we're lucky we'll finally get some sunshine during one of our trips to the farm! I certainly hope so because Chase LOVES the farm especially the river so I bet we will be there often this summer and for years to come!
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