Our Annual 4th

So, I've decided to start a blog. I have no reason to start one...I'm just curious if it will catch on. I've never been one to start a journal..."why waste time writing my thoughts if nobody is gonna read them?" Blogging is an interesting phenomena...like reality TV. Real life is so much more interesting than fiction...we get to see a bit of what other people are really like and compare it to ourselves. Most of the time we realize that we are all very much the same, and it's comforting. I'm a huge fan of the show "Jon and Kate Plus 8". Watching them struggle through life gives me the motivation to keep striving for perfection. Even though I only have 2 kids and they have 10 we share the same frustrations. Besides, Kate is truly amazing...if she can do it, so can I!

Well, enough rambling, and on to blogging...here goes!

We just got back from our annual 4th of July camping trip, and it's sad to be back home. Camping is one of my favorite things. Sitting around the campfire doing nothing is probably the greatest "non-activity" ever. Back in my childhood days, we would go to Fort Stevens (probably 3-4 miles away from my home). We would take up probably 10 spaces and fill them with family and friends and stay for one whole week every year. It was great fun! Since we were just at Fort Stevens, people didn't have to get time off of work to go on a big camping trip...they still went to work each day. That tradition finally ended shortly after my grandmother died and we wandered around like lost puppies for a handful of years when 4th of July came around. It wasn't until my lovely parents decided to purchase a little piece of heaven over in Naselle, WA that we gave our annual tradition another go.

Now our camping trips are better than ever! Their property is conveniently located near miles and miles of logging/private trails perfect for motorcycles and ATVs, AND is right on a creek. There is no electricity or water out there, so we charge up our trailers with generators and pump water from the creek. Over the years, my dad has done his fair share of tinkering out there and has built an out-house, shower, woodshed, and a HUGE shelter. Every year there is something new. This year my dad wired the shelter with lights and and plug-ins that allows everything plugged into the generator be switched on and off by a simple flick of a switch. Now, taking hot outdoor showers is a much less arduous job. He even has it set-up so that we can take showers at night. He's thought of most everything.

Here's how it works: We arrive at the property and dad unloads ALL his stuff. He's got 3 motorcycles, 2 ATVs, Synnove's mini-ATV, chain-saw, line-trimmer, generator, extension cords, pump, buckets, hoses, BBQ, propane tanks, large gas burner for 10-15ish gallon pot, plus all the stuff required for camping. He then takes the pump down to the creek and feeds it into a HUGE 300 gallon 'tote' that Adam (my husband) acquired before he left his job at a "high tech company in Hillsboro." Once it's about 1/2 full they retrieve the pump. Then, when someone wants to take a shower, dad fills a large pot with some of the water from the tote and heats it to the desired temperature. He then flips on the generator (if it isn't already on) and the lights come on (including the one that lights the shower behind the shelter). He then sticks a pump that's connected to a hose that feeds a 5-gallon bucket hanging in the shower into the pot and flips it on. The person who will be taking the shower then hollers at dad when the bucket is full. Then the shower is ready! A shower spicket is connected to the bucket and water trickles out of it when it is turned on. It's not a full-blown stream, but it works well enough. The shower is actually quite large; built out of wood-scraps, old doors, and corrugated tin and is equipped with shelves, hooks, and a dressing area. You can see the tote and the pot in the background of the picture with Soren and the sparkler.

There are a few other camping traditions we have adopted over the years as well. One of my favorites is what we like to call "cowboy breakfast." Every morning we all have breakfast together cooked over the campfire. My talented cousin Daniel built a cooking grate for the fire, and my Uncle Don uses his seasoned cast-iron pans and griddle. We eat farm-fresh eggs from my Aunt Alice and Uncle Don's chickens (and recently ours as well), 4-H auction bacon (often smoked by my dad), hash browns, and blueberry pancakes (cooked on the BBQ). Every morning is something different...and it's really good!!! We ALSO plan a huge dinner where lots of people are invited...not just people camping and we bury and huge hunk of meat in a "pit fire" that cooks for several hours in the ground. My uncle Jack is usually the mastermind behind that...it's a 2-day process.



There is never a dull moment when we're camping. There is always something to do...4-wheelin', paint-ballin', crawdad catchin', critter trappin', target shootin', sun bathin', creek wadin', smutty magazine readin' (ie, People, US Weekly, Star Magazine, Seventeen, and others), Sudoku figurin', Pictionary playin', and LOTS of junk eatin' =)

Here's a few pics from camping the in the last 4 years...

The first "full" paintball crew in May 2004

Cousins take a ride September 2006
Jessica and I in 2004, I'm pregnant with Synnove



Novie with Grandma finding rocks in 2006



Finally caught some crawdads! 2006

Synnove's first camp chair 2006

And the race is on! 2006Soren on Daddy's back 2007
In 2007 my cousins Kamille and Heidi painted a rock for everyone in camp...this pic was taken a few days ago =)