Chris & Amanda: Camp Trip

Chris and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary by going camping. It was hard finding a place that was open at the end of April since most places do not open until May, so when one campsite said they were open, we took it! We stayed at Merry Mac Campgrounds in Cabin C. The camp ground was nice and had a lot of extras that you could do for free (pool, board/card games, playground, etc) and other things you could purchase to do (mini golf, basketball on a trampoline etc). It was too cold for swimming but we still found ways to have fun.

The only draw back was that there were not any good hiking trails that started directly from the campground. We took the Merrimac ferry hoping to walk on ice age trail, but while there was a large sign saying it was there, we could not find the start of the trail and the trail markers were right next to the highway on the shoulder of the road. We decided not to walk that too far, and went to the Dells to do a short scenic walk there instead.

We parked in a side parking lot and did a walk on to the ferry in the day. The next day when we were leaving the campground we drove onto the ferry to take it back across.

Intermission:

Here are the robin eggs that were in the next above the door.

Unfortunately the nest is now empty. Something ate the eggs and left the shells all over the grass yesterday. RIP

Here is the game board "Quoridor" that I started to make around January and finally finished in April.

Back to Camping

This is the inside of Cabin C. Grown ups got that biggest bed. Kairi was on the top bunk, Kate on the bottom and Wesley on the futon.

Here is Chris and the cabin and his Vita.

Here is a s'more and a good place to put in some camping tips.

1. Just because you have four ways to cook does not mean you know how to cook. We had a fire pit, coals and grill, a propane stove and a microwave (provided in the cabin).

The first night we could not get a good enough camp fire to roast the marshmallows. So we used the coals. We went out and got some better fire starter stuff and that worked for the next night when we got the logs finally going.

On our last night we played a paper board game. Kairi was the winner! She is in the blue and brown coat closest to you.

It is required that cabin rentals pay for two nights. While we did so, we left early so really only slept there one night because we needed to get Wesley to school the next day. We drove onto the ferry to get back home, which was the longer way around, but if you're there you need to do it. That leads to camping tip number two.

2. It will take you forever to clean up camp!

I started taking down right after dinner the second night and we were not done until 9pm. That makes about three hours of camp take down because there were lots of interruptions and people who needed to use the outhouse and get more snacks and Wesley who needed a hug because he was sad and was going to "miss cabin c." If we had waited till morning to take camp down Wesley would have been late to school even though the campsite is only 42 minutes away from home.

Here is Wesley on the ferry during the day.

Here is the second day successful campfire where we cooked potatoes we had wrapped at home.

3. Double wrap all foil dinners.

Chris and I had our dinners double wrapped because we actually had BBQ sauce on ours. The kids did not and theirs got burnt. That means they ate left over pancakes and microwaved hot dogs.

Here is Kairi in the sand box at the playground right across from our cabin.

Here is the Dells River Walk we ended up taking.

Kate and Wesley.

Back of Kate's head and Wesley and Chris.

Here is Kairi walking up the wall in the Dells. This was near the river walk.

Wesley and Kate.

Kate, Wesley, Chris, and Kairi

Cars getting on the ferry.

Us on the ferry.

At the playground. Kairi and Amanda, Wesley and Kate.

I could not get the propane stove to work in the morning for breakfast because the matches kept blowing out. So we had pancakes and eggs for lunch instead when Chris got it to work.

Yup, pancakes are cooking!

Here the kids are doing coloring pages.

Here they are doing other quiet activities.

Wesley is playing in a house on the beach by the pool/lake. It was too cold to actually use the water.

But we did play giant connect four.

Fire!

You can see how close we were to the playground.

And look a fridge and microwave were included. We did use the fridge to hold the items in our small cooler.

4. The purchase of a two gallon water cooler was very handy as well as our purchased marshmallow skewers. Next time though I want to purchase actual camping pots and pans so that they will stack and not take up as much space. And for a bonus camping tip remember to bring something to wash your dishes with!

Bunk Bed party.

Playing in coats and gloves at the playground. It was around 50 Fahrenheit the first day and got up to 63 I think the second day.

Kairi in a baby swing.

Kate building a small hill.

Kate and Kairi

Kairi jumping.

Wesley, Kairi, Kate and Chris in front of the cabin.

Easter bonus

Here are the rest of the Easter pictures that I finally got off the camera. We hunted eggs at Epic in the desert this year with Uncle Allen and Aunt Michelle.

Here you can see Amanda in the purple sweater, Chris in the blue shirt, Wesley, Kairi and Michelle.