Pinecrest: A novel

Aaahhhhh, a shower, clean clothes and a clean bed- the basics feel so good after a week of camping. Part of me didn't want to leave the mountains so soon. We camped at Pinecrest Lake for a week and it went by so fast that I could have stayed a few more days. The kids and the Mister felt the same way. We borrowed keys to Lauren's parent's cabin (thank you!) to shower and stay there at night, and planned to hang out at the lake and family campsite during the day. We only slept in the cabin the first night and went back several times during the week for showers. Sleeping in a tent and hanging out in the dirt with the chillies went surprisingly better than the Mister and I thought. I guess my most vivid memory of tent camping before this year was with a 4, 2 and 4 month-old without a husband to help me. That was not an enjoyable vacation, so I didn't want to repeat the experience. Dave hated our last adventure in a tent with a crappy air mattress that went flat in the middle of the night. This year went so much better. Our kids have such great memories of camping every year with the family and this year didn't dissappoint. Here's some of this years funnies.

Logan playing with Aunt Denise said, "When are you going to have some children for me to play with?"

Toby looking at the bright stars with Dad pointed to one and said, "I think that big bright one is Grandpa's star." (Great-Grandpa Bennett)

Toby, Logan, Aunt Tori and I walked to the Lake with Tori's dog, Sasha. While on our way Logan asked, "Why does Sasha have a curly tail?" I said, "because that's the tail God gave her." Logan paused for a second and asked, "because he ran out of straight ones?"

Dave taught us a new campfire game called Mafia and the kids love it. Toby while hanging out with Tori said, "If you're the mafia (tonight) kill me, okay?!"

Sydney couldn't stay away from the puppies (Tori's and Uncle Sam's dogs). One of her favorite things to do was walk up to Sasha and stick out her tongue. Sasha would give her huge puppy kisses and lick her face. Syd then giggled, wiggled her tongue and did a little happy dance every time. It was disgustingly funny.

Sydney learned to talk while we were camping. She said quite a few words before we left, but her language exploded last week. The language light went on in her brain and she tried almost every word we asked her to say. Top two memorable ones were 1). she woke me up at the crack of dawn (literally) by shoving a box of licorice in my face that she had found in the diaper bag. I was too tired to care, so I gave her a piece and asked her to lie back down next to me in her bed (in the tent). She promptly said, "ank ooo, Mama." It was the first time she put words together. So cute. 2). Since Syd was almost always the first one up with the birds and squirrels, she would go around to everyone in their sleeping bags and say "wake up!" She also learned to say Aaa Lita (Aunt Lita), uh Mark (Uncle Mark), pa-pah (Grandpa), cracker, cookie, tried all of the kids names, and many more along with her regular vocabulary. I use past tense because now that we are home she won't talk at all. Something about that mountain air had her chattering all day, yet now she is quiet. Just adjusting, I guess.

Logan has really come into his own the past couple months. His own being a loud, jabbering, sound-making, always talking or singing in Loganese, chattering, crazy boy. We always knew where Logan was and he really didn't stop making noise all week. He loved playing games around the campfire, eating chocolate instead of smores, swimming at the log and playing in the sand, swinging in the hammocks, fishing and going fast on Uncle Mark's boat and playing in the dirt. The last day we were in camp, I found this caterpillar in the tent and gave it to Logan to watch. He latched on to that critter instantly. He named him Friendly, took him all over the camp and played house with him on his finger. I overheard the following while Friendly was on Logan's finger- "Okay, now it's time for you to go to work. Let's play a game first. Tag, you're it, Friendly!" *wicked giggle* The giggle at the end was the best part.

Toby has grown up a lot since his toddler days of wandering out of the campsite every 2 minutes. He was content this year to listen to Aunt 'Nisey's iPod in the hammock for some chill time. His favorites of the week were swimming at the log, playing Mafia around the campfire, bike rides and climbing rocks around the campground with Dad, and fishing. Toby could often be found hanging out with the puppies and liked to give them tummy rubs. He was a great helper all week and took care of gathering all the woodchips and dry pines needles we needed to start our campfires. Toby, along with all the kids, relished the one-on-one time with their Aunties. Toby even cried when Aunt Tori and Denise left a little earlier than we did on our last day there.

Jessie would have lived at the Lake all day, every day if we let her. She wanted to swim at the logs every day and was always the last one out of the water. Dave and I got pretty sick of the water the last 2 days but the kids were relentless. Jessie made a new friend, Danielle, while playing on the logs and they got together numerous times the rest of the week. Danielle has family that live in town, so the girls have arranged some Friday playdates in the future. Besides swimming and playing at the lake, Jessie loved campfire games, riding around the campgrounds by herself, arts and crafts with Mom, Aunt Tori, and Aunt 'Nisey, and tubing at Don Pedro. J

was also a star Kubb player this year because of her practice pitching a softball. She could take on any adult so be warned if you come play Kubb at our house.

Meet Mr. Fuzz (Toby's), Poof (Logan's), Bugsy (Jessie's), and Creep (Mom's)- our camp mascots.

Aunt Tori did yoga every morning in a clearing of the campsite. She taught Jessie some poses one morning and J asked to do yoga every day after that.

I am so thankful that Dave was able and willing to take the entire week off of work. We are still trying to catch up after buying a new car, and I know that week with no money coming in was a stress for the Mister. Our young family really needed that time together, and we had a wonderful time.

Dave and I made it a goal to have an individual "date" with each child during the week. They are my most memorable moments from the trip and I know the kids will remember them too. Both Toby and Logan wanted to go play at the log with me for their dates. We took an afternoon while Dave and Jessie were tubing with the big kids and I spent alone time there with the boys. (Thanks Aunt Lita for staying with sleeping Syd while we played) Toby and I worked on his swimming, and Logan got attacked by the Mommy Lake Monster. Jessie and I painted and got crafty then walked to the snack shack for an ice cream cone for our date. Sydney loved swinging in the hammock and singing songs for her alone time. Some of my favorites from the trip were watching Toby and Mr. Cooper freak out in the best way when Uncle Mark turned up the speed in his boat. Both boys laughed and leaned way out to feel the spray from the big wakes. Here I thought they would have been too scared to go tubing because of the speed and big bumps, but it turns out they LOVED it! I was so bummed I couldn't go tubing this year, but it just didn't work with the littles. Next year we are all going tubing! I also loved watching Up at the outdoor theater. Dave and I both had sleeping littles on our laps to keep us warm. What a cool atmosphere it was to watch a new movie under the stars. Chillin' in the hammocks, reading bedtime stories by flashlight and smores around the campfire are also top on my list this year. The only thing we didn't get to do that I really wanted to was rent kayaks and go around the lake. It is top of the list for next year for sure!

Here is a picture of the logs. There are a series of huge logs chained together that float out into the lake. Kids big and little try to walk all the way to the end without falling in, which can get tricky because the more people on a log the faster it sinks. Dave would swim next to the kids while they walked to the end and back. Sometimes, J would get in the water and swim back with Daddy.

Last but not least are Dave's favs. In no particular order, Dave liked swimming at the lake, sleeping in the tent (with an awesome air mattress this time!), playing Mafia, dirt and rocks, bikes, smores, and tubing with Jessie. He was pretty sore and tired the day after tubing, as were all those who went, but Dave still took kids to the lake and went to an awesome animal show the next day. We saw a spider monkey, a huge iguana, a beaver, a crocodile, and a kangaroo to name a few. One lazy afternoon Dave took the boys on a bike ride around the campgrounds to find big rocks to climb on, and it is one of the boys favorite activities. And NO, Syd did not actually ride on the bars like that. \/

Most people know my Man is a game guy. He loves to play games and is naturally good at them. It frustrates me to no end that he is pretty much the luckiest guy when it comes to games of chance and is an excellent strategist for other games. Sure, he loses, but not often. So he didn't disappoint this year by bringing up some pretty cool game. Everyone got hooked on a new game called Munchkin. I would say it's for young adults and above, but even our young kids liked teaming up with an adult to play.

We ate at Sonic on the way up the first day and the kids insisted we stop there on the way home. That was fine with me, their cherry limeade is awesome! I suggested the kids go outside the car to stretch while we waited for our food, and Jessie promptly took it upon herself to teach the boys her new found yoga skills. I think she's hooked.

Now it's back to life at home. I'm already missing the fact that the boys could go pee in the plants anytime instead of having to clean up a dirty toilet, or that I didn't have to sweep and mop the floor after mealtime all week. It is nice to sleep in my own bed and not worry about Syd being too cold at night after kicking off all her blankets. She kept me up a lot because of that. It didn't take the kids long to realize our camping adentures were coming to an end the last day. Of course, they all asked, "when are we going to go camping next?" And so the long wait begins..........