Monday, October 19, 2015

Southaven Family Camp Out

"Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation..." Psalm 51:12  It is such a JOY to be with our church family and this year's family camp out was the best and biggest yet!  We went down Thursday about 1pm and left Sunday after "camp church" around noon.  (That is what the kids called our morning worship service later that night, because they wanted to have worship outside again instead of in the building at Southaven.)  This camping trip was the longest camping trip for us so far and we LOVED every minute of it!
 Packing for camping is hard and very time consuming but I strangely kind of enjoy it.  I always pack each person an individual bag of trail mix for each day.  Every year they are just a little different, this year we had Golden Graham Cereal, Pretzels, chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, M&Ms, mini marshmallows, peanuts, and pecans.  Each member's bag is different, for example AJ's had no nuts, pecans, or peanut butter chips and DH's had no marshmallows, mine had no pretzels, and HI's had EVERYTHING!  Weston had his own little mixture of cheerios, trip, vanilla wafers, and M&Ms.
 I like to use these bins for packing.  Every year we get a little more organized and buy a new camping item to make life easier.  This year we had 1 bin of snacks/food/picnic stuff, 1 bin of cooking supplies, 1 bin of kids clothes/bathroom, and 1 bin of parents clothes/bathroom stuff.  We also use empty diaper boxes to carry stuff - lol - but sadly the days of having those are coming to an end :(  I also realized we won't be carrying our portable high chair with us next year either :(  This year we took 4 coolers!  1 small cooler had all the frozen meats that I had previously thawed, marinated, seasoned, and re-froze in individual baggies.  1 cooler had canned cokes, water bottles, and Cream Sodas.  1 cooler had a gallon of sweet tea, gallon of unsweet tea, and a gallon of whole milk for Wes.  The last cooler had the eggs, cheese, butter, etc.
 This was our set up this year.  We LOVE our instant tent and instant screened canopy (our new item for this year)...having the instant up tent and canopy really came in handy this year because I did set up all by myself.  Bobby got to the campsite just in time to take a nap with Weston while I did the "decorating."  But it did make for a really sweet picture :)  I already know what I want for next years NEW camping item, a foldable/portable table for food prep work!
This is what the kids were doing while the parents were setting up camp, actually while their mommas were setting up camp - lol - none of these kids dads showed up till later - lol :)
 I tried to get a picture of our tent and canopy at night but it didn't turn out.  Everything I do for camping pretty much comes from Pinterest :) Most of our food meals, all the packing solutions, and all the decorating ideas.  New this year we tried the solar lights staked into the ground around our tent and on our picnic table and a string of Christmas lights inside the tent and around the canopy.

The kids were so excited the first morning that they were all up at 6:30, so we walked down to the lake and watched the sun coming up.  It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL!


 Then the kids gathered up some firewood and carried it back to our site for the fire.


Weston Camping:



 Aylin Camping:


 Hilton camping: 
(I didn't get any pics of just him until he came home, showered, and crashed on the couch - lol)



 Roasting Marshmallows and anything else we could find:
 On Saturday, we left for a while for soccer games and our annual family trip to the pumpkin patch where the big 2 got their faces' painted, but we made it back in time for the big fish fry! :)
 On Friday night there is a big devotional which is ALWAYS AMAZING, especially the singing!  But I had to miss it this year because somehow I had left Aylin's jacket at home and it was going to be a cold couple of nights so I had to drive back and get it.




Sunday, October 18, 2015

Annual Pumpkin Patch Trip

Every year since Aylin was born we go to the pumpkin patch at Cedar Hill Farm with my family.  This was the first year we had to go without my sister, brother-in-law, nieces, and nephew :( ...can't believe you guys moved to SC!  We still had a lot of fun:

Pony Rides



Pig Races




Tractor Train Ride


Giant Tunnel Slide







Corn Pit


Hilton had the best quote of the day: (In a very country accent) 
"You know I love me some corn mom!"

 Petting Zoo


Hayride/Corn Maze/Pirate Ship


Pumpkin Patch





Face Painting