Annual Spring Break Camping Trip

We visited Pedernales Falls State Park a couple of weeks ago for spring break with several other families.  The weather was perfect in the day but a little chilly at night.  (75F and 40F)  We need to rethink out air mattresses for spring camping because they are just too darn cold!  Or we need better sleeping bags. 

We usually go to Huntsville State Park with these friends but tried something new.  Pedernales was very different.  The individual sites were very private.  The rocks and falls were beautiful and it was hilly.   Huntsville is better for a big group because it's quite open and you can call gather easily for games and fires.  But we had a lovely time and made some memories.  Oh wait, except for the last day when I totally melted down.  This will be addressed in another post. 

Brandi and I made cinnamon roll dough and froze it before the campout.  Then we let them rise overnight and cooked them over the fire in a dutch oven.  They worked pretty well but next time we will cook them out of the firepit and only using coals.  They got a little burned.  But they were good and it was fun to try something new.  I was really committed on this trip to having lots of interesting and fun camping foods.  Crescent Roll dough in a sandwich cooker with cinnamon was a big hit.  I also made a chocolate cake with whipping cream and it was simple and really good. 

The boys!  And check out the background!!

That's Isaac swinging on the rope swing in the freezing river water! Brrrr

The kids played Capture the Flag, Flag Football, Zombie Tag, Kiss Marry Kill and lots of cards and Bananagrams

TeePee

I have wanted to make a teepee for years.  I finally got really excited about it in December (I think I was hoping to put off other responsibilities by getting sucked into a project.)  But I only bought some fabric in December and didn't really get going until January.  LOVED this project.  I saw several great ideas on pinterest and settled on stripes, even though I knew that would be more expensive and lots more work. 

Browsing through fabric was half the fun.  I found some beautiful prints at JoAnns and several great geometric designs at Hobby Lobby. 

I made a paper template and kept laying down fabric in different combinations until I found one I liked.  I decided to sew a 5 sided teepee because I like the look of a more rounded structure. 

And done!

I don't have a serger so sewing all the seams and then going over the raw edges in a zigzag took some extra time but it wasn't too bad actually. 

I knew I had to embellish with real feathers and LOVE the ones I found at Hobby Lobby.  I decided to use PVC instead of real wooden dowel because it was so much cheaper ($10 instead of $60 total) and I painted the PVC gold and used a little washi tape for decoration. 

I used bias tape for the door.  Happy to report that Lucy loves it and in fact she slept in there for the first 3 weeks!  It's a fun addition to our playroom and will hopefully last for a long time. 

Daniel

Daniel is participating is Destination Imagination this year.  It has been a really terrific experience. We have never done it before and I'm still a little foggy about exactly what it is.  But basically a small group of kids work together to create something that moves (like a robot) and they need to create a back story, set and props to use while presenting it (in February).  They do a lot of improv activities at each meeting and they also dance.  Daniel has loved it and I suspect it's largely because of his team leader, an awesome parent who is patient and fun and willing to allow the team of kids to figure things out for themselves.  That must take such self control and I'm sure there are many groups with adults coming up with all the ideas.

Okay I wrote that a few months ago.  Daniel's team finished their project and competed and had a wonderful time!  Here is their presentation.  It was adorable and for a first time team they did terrific!

Daniel has become a much better eater recently, even though he does occasionally have to hold his nose to get those pesky quinoa tacos down.  :)

 Daniel and Curtis at the Pinewood Derby- our last one.  sniff. 

 Daniel requested cookie cake for his 11th birthday.  It was so easy to make and way cheaper than buying one.  I would definitely do that again. 

 The boys played Telestrations and they had me laughing so hard.  Boys crack me up.  Lots of references to ninjas, toilets and tacos.  Adorable.

 Jonah helped to referee a game of Poisin, a basketball game they play in PE.  It is a lot of fun and they had a great time. 

 Daniel and Lucy heading into church on a Sunday morning.  He loves his bowtie and suspenders.  We love Daniel.