Labor Day Camping

We finally got to take our first family camping trip this year! Daddy spent about 4 weeks away this summer while he worked in Houston and we also took our trip to Disney. So, no other weekends really worked out for us.

This was the first time that I got to take my bike along camping. Mom and Dad somehow squeezed it in the camper. I was glad they took it but was unhappy when Nathan decided that it was his turn to try to ride it. His feet didn't even touch the pedals but he insisted on trying it out. Mom says that Nathan just wants to try and keep up with me.

We hiked the Shades of Death trail with a Park Ranger one night. She showed us lots of plants and trees on the trail. One of those trees was a White Birch tree. She took one of the leaves from the tree and folded it in half. There was a very sweet smell to the leaf and she told us that this tree's leaves were used to make birch beer.

So, the next afternoon, we went to the camp store and bought a can of birch beer. Nathan and I had it with our lunch and we loved it.

Grammy, Grandpa, GG Pa and Helen came to visit us on Sunday. Grammy brought plenty for us to do. First, I got to work on a pirate character. I had to stitch all of the pieces together.

After this, we created an assembly line around the fire and put together some folders for her new class. And, of course, we walked to the lake to try and catch tadpoles. I let Grammy take one home so that she could show her class. I left mine outside that night and you'll never believe what happened. They both grew legs over night, tipped over their bucket and hopped away.

Nathan showed one of his many talents...hooking a Frito to his nose.  He's really good at this little trick but he's really selective about which Frito to use.

Nathan and I got grandpa Bob to play with us for quite a while.  I think that we wore him out.

But, not for too long. It wasn't long that I had him chasing me up and down the road on my bike. They thought it was a great idea to take off my training wheels and see if I could ride without them. I didn't quite like the idea but I didn't have much choice. I didn't do too badly. I fell a few times but had a good time trying and watching everyone chase me to make sure that I didn't hurt myself.

 

Grammy and Grandpa brought the chopped up Christmas tree for Daddy to burn.  Since we don't get real trees anymore, we haven't had a tree trunk to burn in a little while.  Daddy was excited when he found out that he could play in the camp fire a little more.

 

The next day, it was back to riding with my training wheels.  So, Mom and I rode down to the big rock near the bathroom and I posed for a picture.

It was a great weekend.  As you can tell by Nathan's actions on the way home, we were worn out.  Must have been all that running around we did and all the caterpillars that we were catching.  (Nathan has 4 right there in his bug catcher.  He didn't want to let go of them.)