Day two of Camping

As I mentioned, it was COLD the next morning! Yes, Ashton's feet are bare but they were warming quite nicely by the fire. We also had hot chocolate warming by the fire!

Amanda made some yummy pancakes for the kids, and Randy made a yummy skillet breakfast for the adults with potatoes, sausage, egg and cheese. It almost made me forget how cold it was! :)

Still with a smile on their face! Even though it was cold in the morning, it quickly warmed up...

and by the time our other friends arrived, it was sunny and warm. Typical Oklahoma weather... if you don't like it one way just wait a while and it will change! Here is Randy catching up with Russ and Emilie Vaclaw who came the next day with their kids. Clint and Tami Hansen and family also joined us that day for some camping fun.

Austin and Mack Vaclaw collecting the pellets that Randy was shooting at them????

Oh yes, I really said that! Randy bought a air-soft gun and the kids would run around while he shot at them. Surprisingly the kids had fun with it and would go around picking up the pellets to help him reload his gun!

Amanda had a great idea to bring playdoh for the little kids to play with. My kids loved it, especially since I don't allow it in my house! Here they could do whatever they wanted with it! The girls were excited that their friend Lucas was there to join in the fun.

And Avery and MaryKate were glad that Izzy was there to join in the fun too! Russ and Em brought their bikes for the kids to ride around on.

I love this picture of the kids playing in the leaves. Such freedom! Camping really was relaxing and super laid-back. Evie Vaclaw, Laynie Hansen, Addison John and Mack Vaclaw. Ashton is in there somewhere too! :)

We also went on a hike down to the rope swing that has been tied to a tree by the river for as long as I can remember! This camping trip brought back lots of memories of when Randy and I were dating and would come out to this park with our friends. We always had a blast!

Of course Oklahoma has been in a drought this year so there wasn't much of a stream for us to cross! In fact, I believe Tami and Mika Hansen (and one of Mika's friends) are sitting where the water is usually running!

It was a nice little hike, and I was super impressed with all the kids that walked it! Right now they are being spectators to the older boys who were being very entertaining.

The camera's were out (at least mine and Clint Hansens)! I think Russ and Randy were sitting there remembering the good ole days when they were the ones climbing that old tree with the rope....

That's right... we were all watching Nate Hansen and his friend climb the tree and try to get the rope swing. We didn't think they would actually jump for it- knowing how cold the water was underneath.

But from the splash in the water, you can tell that they tried and failed! It didn't help that the whole crowd of kids were chanting "jump, jump, jump". Oh well, at least we had a fire to go back to!

Emilie Vaclaw and myself, in all our "no make-up natural self" glory!

Awww.... the John family survived their first of MANY camping trips. That's right, we spent a fortune to get all the camping gear! We have to do this about ten more times to get our moneys worth! But we also had a lot of fun!

We hung out and played games and talked until dark and then decided last minute to not stay another night since everyone was just waking up in the morning and leaving. But we stayed until everyone was getting ready to go to bed. Here is Tami and Clint Hansen hanging out at the fire. So much fun... very relaxing! Everything was great until we got everything packed, got in the car and realized just how bad we stunk and how dirty all our stuff was! I think it took me a week to get everything cleaned up and washed. Yes, we will camp again but it will only be once a year! :)

Adventures in Camping

Randy and I are not real big on camping. In fact, as a family we have never gone camping! We've gone out to camp grounds and cooked hotdogs and smores, but then we always went home. So this year, for Fall Break, we decided to stock up on camping gear (we seriously had NOTHING), and take the kids camping.

We had a group of families that all went camping together, but our first day was just us and our friends Tyler and Amanda Vaclaw and kids. First thing we did was set up our tents.

Next priority, building the fire for hotdogs! I'll have to remember next time that when anyone felt like a snack, it was always hotdogs they were craving! We need to bring more hotdogs next time!

You can't go camping without them! And I packed a lot for lunch... just not for snacks all throughout the day! :) I'm not sure if this was round one or two for Randy, Avery and Austin!

There was a fun rock look-out point right by our campsite that the kids enjoyed playing at. This is almost the whole clan of kids for the first day. Jake is MIA, but we've got my four and the other three of the Vaclaws: Logan, MaryKate and Evie. Such great friends!!

And I had to grab a quick pic of the John kids on their first camping adventure!

This was a smart idea! We didn't want the kids going in and out of our tents, but they really wanted to play in them. Someone brought a kid size tent so they had something to go in and out of! The girls in pink: Ashton, Evie and Addison.

Everyone was helping out! During the day the weather was perfect, but the nights were cold!! We didn't want to have to worry about the fire ever going out! We sent the kids out lots to look for wood. Avery and MaryKate did a great job here!

Camping is great because the kids find their own things to do! Here they are exploring... I caught them right before they jumped the fence!

We also brought a few games... like Ladder Golf.

Here's Jake... working on some soccer skills!

And the big boys, Randy and Tyler, playing a little horse shoes.

It was so much fun camping with our friends! Our kids get along so well together and Randy and I always have some great laughs with Amanda and Tyler. Thanks to Amanda and Randy, we camped in style! Amanda grilled some great steaks for dinner and Randy cooked up some amazing skillet breakfast the next morning!

Like I said, at night is was super cold! We bought a couple of heavy duty sleeping bags and doubled up in some to keep warm. We also bought a tent warmer that helped out a ton! It still made me nervous to have it in the tent so I opened the top vents to keep the air flowing. Amanda ended up taking some of her kids into their minivan to stay warm because they didn't have a warmer in their tent. Maybe not for some people.... but for us, this was an adventure!!!

Addie's Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Addie's class took a field trip to the Pumpkin Patch again this year. And you know me, if it's to the Pumpkin Patch, I'm there!! Addie's class was first on the hayride to go pick out their special pumpkins! She is always so sweet with Ashton when we come to meet her at a school event.

Here is Addie's perfect pumpkin she picked out to bring home.

So then, of course it was time to pose for the camera!

Ashton didn't get to pick a pumpkin to take, but she did find a couple to take pictures with! After that we went back to the playground and let the other classes pick out their pumpkins.

Back at the playground, we played on the monkey bars, (which I was completely amazed that Addie went across it all by herself)

and swung on the swings,

and stood in line for turns on the pumpkin bounce! This was a big hit, we did this a few times!

There were also some baby goats and pigs to feed. We spent a lot of time here, Addie loved feeding the animals!

Ashton wasn't quite so sure! She would put a piece of grass through the fence but once the animals came over to eat, she would just drop it.

Then we headed back over to the playground area for a few more cute pictures. Addie the scarecrow...

and Ashton in the Pumpkin Patch Jail! She looks a little too happy to be in jail! It was a fun day and I'm so glad that Ashton and I got to join Addie in the fun!

Bruin Mile

Like I said, the Bruin Mile was after school the same day as the National Walk to School Day. Randy came home early and we all went over to the Mid-High to support Avery and Austin in the run. Look how focused Austin looks!

Each year we tell our kids not to sprint, just give yourself a good pace. But every year all the kids start out in a sprint, even ours!

The Bruin Cross-Country team helps with this event, and we have a great friend on the cross-country team, Ivan Ahlert. He was so awesome and stayed with Austin the whole time, it really made me happy. Austin didn't do as good this year in the race, in fact I think he walked for a while. But I'm happy he finished and we will try again next year!

Next was Avery's turn. She looks all focused too! She always gets so nervous but we just tell her its for fun and all we care is that she finishes.

Just like her brother, she started off too fast. But it didn't hurt her as bad as it did Austin. Of course being on the Competitive Soccer team has really helped her out with conditioning.

Avery ran her mile in under 8 minutes. She said she missed one cone or something so she went back to correct herself which made her time a little slower but she did awesome! She came in 8th place out of all the elementary schools. And I think at least 5 of the girls in front of her were on her soccer team! :)

Here is some of the John cheering section! :) Addie wore her shirt to show support for our school, but her friend Megan actually ran the mile! We told Addie she could run it but she was too shy. Maybe next year! Great job Avery and Austin!! We are so proud of you!!

National Walk to School Day

After over a month of living in our new house, we finally have internet service!!! I have so much to catch up on... starting with this year's Walk to School Day! Of course, we were walking from a different house this year, so once again it was all new to us. We left with plenty of time on our hands. I borrowed my friend Megan's stroller so I wouldn't have to worry too much about Ashton. We had another busy street to cross, but not quite as busy as the highway we crossed last year. And we lucked out! No cars when we got to the intersection, we walked right up and crossed the four lane road. Ashton and I weren't so lucky coming back, we had to wait quite some time to safely cross. When the kids arrived at school the PTO was waiting outside to hand out prizes for all kids who walked to school that day. It was a beautiful day to walk and the kids did great. Avery keeps asking me if she can walk to school now that she has done it, but it is definitely not something I would want them to do on their own! But it was a great warm-up for the event to come after school... the Bruin Mile!!