A Very Camp-y Birthday

Camping methods generally end up in two categories.

The first one involves bringing as little stuff as possible.  The stuff you do bring, you find microscopic and less useful versions of it--like freeze-dried pot roast and bivy sacks--and haul it on your back to some (hopefully) remote spot.  There, you'll have involuntary and realistic dreams of ice cream sundaes and being eaten by a large, toothy bear.

The second one, I like to refer to as Party Camping.  You go somewhere with nearly everything you think you might need or own.  You camp right where you park, along with all your new best friends who are camping right where they parked, which is right next to you.  You set up ten-man tents with a ridiculous amount of blankets and sleeping bags and air mattresses, even if there are only three of you in a tent.  You cook major meals three times a day over a fire and a propane stove and another fire (because it takes all that to get everything cooked) and you love every bite.  By the time you finish cooking and cleaning up one meal, it's time for the next one.  You are less worried about bears than you are about squirrels eating the corners off of all your bread if you leave the package out.

You can probably guess which category of camping we subscribed to for Noodle's birthday this year. We went to Torreya State Park, a long-time favorite of ours. In addition to the above activities, we also managed to fit in a few more:



We went hiking and geocaching.




We explored Weeping Ridge (a drippy waterfall-ish spot on our hike).

We brought lots of friends.

Ethan, Jeremy, Noodle, Kendra Miriam, Daniel,
Tabitha, Hopers, Tobianna (Not pictured are Me, Seth, Joey, Elaine, and Micah)

 

 

We played games in tents.

We rode around in the back of a truck.

We hung out.

We played on the playground.

We took advantage of adorable photo-ops.

We sat around the fire.  Noodle opened birthday presents.

And of course, what is a birthday without a birthday cake? (I love all those helpful faces in the background.)

I highly recommend Party Camping.  It's more fun than a bowl of freeze-dried pot roast!

Suwannee River Kids Music Camp

If you know us, you know we're always up for a camping trip. What? A weekend in the woods?  Yes please. A retreat by the river? Count us in. So when our new friends, the Boggs, asked us if we would like to go camping with them at the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park for a kids music camp, it didn't take much convincing.

They'd already been helping to inject some much needed musical fun in our lives--giving fiddle lessons to Noodle (and even me) and inspiring Hopers to want to try out the banjo. We've been really blessed by these "special persons" always willing to offer help, drop by to play, lend an instrument, share a meal, or just chat with.

So, when I say we were excited about a weekend of camping and music and hanging out with some new special persons in our lives, I'm saying EXCITED with a capital E.  And a capital X. And C...and you get the idea.

We arrived Friday afternoon to set up camp, spray on a two-inch thick layer of bug spray, and go to the instrument expo.  The kids listened to the instructors talk about and demonstrate each instrument before deciding what they wanted to learn to play for the weekend.  There were classes for guitar, fiddle, banjo, ukulele, mandolin, harmonica, drums, and voice.

Noodle and Amelia already knew they wanted to be in the fiddle class.  They brought their fiddles with them and were geared up to learn some new songs.

Hopers and George Wilder knew they wanted to play banjo, but Hopers didn't have a banjo.  No instrument? No problem!  The camp provides instruments for the kids to use.  Did I mention this camp was completely free?  It blew my mind.  The banjo teacher mentioned one of her instruments that had been named Frankie because it was put together from other banjo parts like a "Frankenstein".  Frankie was also her loudest banjo.  Hopers looked at me during the demonstration with wide eyes and said, "I really wanna play Frankie!"

Hopers and Frankie

The next day, lessons began at 10 am.  Each group met at a different stage or area of the music park.  I'd never been to the Suwannee Music Park and didn't realize how huge it was.  It's like its own town, with cottages and stores and a chapel... not to mention camping, multiple music stages, and a river.  Hippie paradise.

Amelia and Noodle were in a small group of kids who had already picked up a fiddle once or twice.  They had lessons at a ring of stump chairs.  The beginner group of 20 or 30 fiddler kids met in a barn nearby.

Hopers' and George Wilder's group met in a music hall behind a restaurant.  They had about 8 kids in their group.  The first lesson lasted about 2 hours and the kids were enthralled for every second of it.  We had to peel them off their banjos with promises of food and swimming.

After a short break and some lunch, we took off in search of a place to get in the water.  Being May in Florida, it was hotter than two cats fightin' in a wool sock.  Sadly, the swimming access in the park was closed because of high water.  We didn't let that stop us though.  Five minutes across the street from the park was another Suwannee River swimming hole.

We were in hillbilly heaven.

Canoers, Kayakers, and Boaters paddled by

Great fun was had for hours tossing small people into the air

The river is tea-colored from the tannins in the leaves of the trees surrounding its banks.

The camp then fed us all an awesome (and again, free!) barbecue chicken dinner prepared completely by volunteers.  Wow. 

And soon it was time for more music lessons.

What did the adults do while the kids were becoming little music geniuses, you might ask?

We relaxed.  Elisha and I had a great time sitting in rocking chairs and chatting.

We entertained ourselves with the unique art around the camp.

I took lots of pictures of the ever adorable William.  Isn't he scrumptious?


By Sunday morning the kids were a little tired but still jumping for joy to get to their lessons.  We swam some more in the afternoon and then prepared for their final concert.  We gave the kiddos the option to cut out early and head home if they were too tired.  They looked at us as if we'd suddenly sprouted green tentacles from our heads and asked them to get on our spaceship.

So, concert we did.

Amelia and Noodle at rehearsal

George Wilder strummin' a G chord

Hopers crankin' out a chord on Frankie

These are some serious musicians.  By 2:30, Hopers and George Wilder could barely keep their eyes open, but they were determined to play their songs.



Amelia and Noodle, center.  Our friend, George, on the left bravely helped with lessons when their instructor, Kayla (right, purple shirt) couldn't be there.  Both teachers were AMAZING!  Noodle and Amelia were AMAZING too!

The groups played songs they learned and also several songs as one big band together.  Parents cheered and felt proud (I know I did).  Children were proud of their accomplishment, too. We left the Suwannee River Music Camp that day feeling glad we went and talking about the next one.

The next one is in August, but unless there's some freak cold snap happening that weekend, we won't be back 'til November. 

Meanwhile, we are all incredibly inspired by our adventure in music with our new friends.  Noodle, Hopers and I jam on the banjo and fiddles every afternoon.  Even Seth is learning to play the egg shaker.  He's very, very good on that egg.

Thanksgiving Camping

For the last several days, I've been living in a tent, cooking over a fire, and not bothering to brush my children's hair. No, we didn't suddenly become vagabonds.  We celebrated Thanksgiving!

Our tradition, going back since I was a kid, has been to pack up and slip away to the woods for several days during this special holiday. No one has to worry about hosting a fancy dinner at their house (or even cleaning it for that matter).  No one has to answer work email or phone calls (no cell service).  Nothing but God's creation, plenty of play time, and of course, lots of food!

This year the involved families were: ours (Me, Seth, Noodle, Hopers, and Poppy the dog), my parents' family (Amie, G-Daddy, Tobi, Tabi, Teegan, Tate, and their 5 dogs), and Seth's sister's family (Jena, Dave, Kirsten, Katelyn, David and their two dogs).

We went to Aiken State Park in South Carolina. Originally, I was skeptical because 1. it wasn't booked up for Thanksgiving like every other state park in America, and 2. most of the reviews I read said it was "quiet", which in my mind translated to "ugly and boring."

My skepticism was for naught.  It was gorgeous. The landscape reminded me of the rolling, hilly woodlands of North Florida. The park boasted of two small lakes and a winding little river passing through it.  We soon discovered that, yes, it was quiet, and no, it was definitely not boring.

I think we were the loudest ones there.

Tate, Teegan, Katelyn, and Jena

We played a few games of impromptu football and soccer.

Hopers, Tabi, Noodle and Tobi

The kids roasted marshmallows pretty much any time they thought about it...which was whenever they were awake.

Dave and Seth

The guys channeled their inner manliness and spent lots of time hunting down wood and chopping it for the fire.

Seth and Poppy (left).  Poppy and Kirsten (right)

Poppy enjoyed camping as much as the rest of us because she got lots of attention.

On day 2 we found a big tree to play in.  It was my dad's idea: create a zip line for the kids.  You know whenever my dad thinks about trees, it means my husband will end up in the top of one.

Dad brought all kinds of climbing ropes and gear to play with.  Everything was super-duper rated for holding up huge things.  Like Tabi.

Me making a harness for Katelyn (left).  Seth trying his own harness (right).

I learned how to make a harness out of a single strap, some knots and a carabiner (Dad researched it and taught me). I became the harness queen, tying and untying straps on children as they took turns on the zip line. Seth thought it would be faster to use a ready-made harness, but after OW OW OW PUT ME DOWN he decided not so much.

Noodle, takin' a crack at it.

Everyone took a turn flying through the air and loved it.  Well, not Teegan and Tate.  They declined in favor of staying close to the ground.

Hopers

Katelyn zipping toward Tabitha. Aghhhhh! Tabi moved just in time.

I decided I needed a turn on this crazy contraption. I whipped up a harness for myself (I knew all those hours of knitting would pay off!) and clipped in.

Me, David, Hopers, Katelyn, Tobi, Noodle, and Dave

The kids thought it would be a breeze to pull me up to the highest point.  (They ended up needing a little help.  Darn you, apple pie!)



Wheeeeeeeeeeee!

Next to our zip line trees was one of the lakes.  Did I mention this place was gorgeous?  I managed to hold down a couple of girls for photo ops.

Noodle

The girls.  Aunts. Cousins.  Tobi (9), Noodle (11), Hopers (6), Kirsten (13), Tabi (7), Katelyn (10).

On day 3 we found the other lake and decided to do some fishing there.

It was pretty, but the only thing we caught were frogs.  I think someone lied when they said the lake was stocked with catfish.  Either that, or the catfish were smaller than the frogs.

Hopers enjoying herself while Noodle pouts about the fishing.

We hung up our fishing poles in favor of a little canoeing.  There were canoes for rent to either paddle around the lakes or to take down the river.  My gang, plus David, were the only ones brave enough to travel a river in 55 degree weather, so we rented two canoes and jumped in to our little adventure.  We brought Noodle's i-pod with its waterproof case with us to take pictures.

The river was beautiful, the water was freezing, and Noodle was REALLY nervous about the boat tipping.

Me, Noodle and Seth were in one canoe.

David and Hopers were in the other canoe. 

Being split up, we lost sight of David and Hopers for a while, as they were the first ones in the water.  As it turns out, Hopers wanted to race us, but they spent a good amount of time getting stuck in low branches!

Every night, we settled around the fire after eating (way too much food).

Noodle, Seth, Tobi, and Kirsten

The kids took to drawing and playing hangman in the sand by the fire and singing songs...

Tate and G-Daddy (left).  Hopers (right).

...and making silly faces....

Jena and Teegan

...and telling stories....

...and giving the doggies some love.

Even with the temps getting down into the 20's on the last night, we all stayed cozy in our tents thanks to the great invention of the space heater. 

G-Daddy with Tate's frozen pants that had been left out to dry.

The kids all got along amazingly.  The food was out of this world.  We had our feast, of course, on Thursday, with turkey, fried fish, ham, sweet potatoes, broccoli casserole, macaroni and cheese, winter squash casserole, baked beans, rolls, green bean casserole, and pies.  Then, on Saturday night, we had a chili cook-off between the three families.  Jena made Green Bay Chili, which is a sweet and tasty beef and bean concoction served over macaroni noodles.  Mom made vegetarian chili with a side of "Noodle's Chili" to please my picky daughter who doesn't like onions and bell peppers.  I made venison chili, which has become a mainstay around my kitchen in the winter.

It was a really great trip. One of my top favorites ever, I think.  The kids are all begging to go back there again next year.  However, today is Monday. I am home and in the throes of a two-ton-truckload of laundry.  The kind of laundry saturated with campfire-smoke-knees-in-the-dirt-playing-hangman-loving-on-doggies for five days.  I am inclined at this moment to ban all camping forever! 

Good thing my laundry memory is short and my love for tradition is tall.

Happy Thanksgiving!