The Campout

As children, one of our favorite things to do is spend time with our grandparents. So, when the opportunity arose to sleep in their bush, we eagerly accepted. Four years ago, our family moved into their house and lived with them for 10 months while they built a house just 1 km down the road on a 1 acre bush property. Now they live there, so Aunt Nicole, them, and us are all within 2 km of each other. But, back to my story.
After talking with our cousins and parents we set the date. We wanted to hurry up and do it before it got cold, so we settled for a Wednesday night. Late Wednesday afternoon, Noah, Hannah, Titus, Cassia, Moriah, Alicia, and I headed to Pake and Beppe's. They were gone but had said we could come and set up. So we set up our tents and then went back to get our stuff. Aunt Nicole kindly brought us hot dogs and chips, and we were all very excited to be able to eat supper by ourselves.

Here is the view of our camp. Boys tent to the left and girls to the right.

Titus making a hot dog. In the corner is our supper "table" filled with hot dogs and hot dog buns, chips, and drinks. Plus condiments. 

At 5:45 we got everyone together to start making our hot dogs. First though, we had to find sticks since we didn't have any roasters. We all gathered around the fire sitting on our camp chairs and Noah (as the oldest boy) prayed for our food. I did not expect him to do that, but he did and I was very proud of him! We ate a silly supper, and I'm afraid to tell you that our table manners all but disappeared. :)

In this picture Titus was telling me an exaggerated story of how he cooked a carrot on his hot dog roaster. It was a very loud and funny story, even though it was a little gross. Warning! Do not eat a fire cooked carrot on it if it has ash on it. Oh Titus!

Just after 6:30, Pake and Beppe arrived. They changed out of their fancy clothes (they had gone out to dinner) and came to join us. After supper we all went to the front to play Red Rover. Everyone played, including Pake and Beppe. They are such good sports! 

 I was playing so Hannah took some pictures.

After Red Rover we retired to the campfire, laughing and talking. But not before we took some fun pictures.

Me and Hannah

Cassia and Hannah

Me and Titus

Moriah warming up by the fire. 

Once it began to get dark and the mosquitoes made their appearance Pake and Beppe retired and we disappeared into our tents. But not before singing and dancing beneath the canopy of the trees.  We were loud children! At about 10 we fell asleep after talking in our tents for about an hour. I woke up once at 2, and then again at 6. But I was still tired and it was really cold so I told Titus to get up and make the fire. He did, and about 30 minutes later there was a roaring fire. After eating a traditional breakfast of Froot Loops and hot chocolate, we piled our stuff in Pake's truck and played outside for some time.

Alicia pushing Hannah. Some of us never bothered to change out of our p.j's.

Hannah looking at me. I was swinging while I took this picture, but it turned out pretty good.

Titus and I were playing tether ball and I must have gotten on his side! 😊 Sometimes I get kind of competitive while playing.....

There we are again.

Hannah took these pictures, since I was playing.

Moriah cheering us on. Hannah got a great picture of her.

As per tradition, Beppe drove us all home in the back of Pake's truck. After she drove the Burggraaf's home, Cassia and I laid down and I could have fallen asleep I was so comfy. I had my pillow, my stuffy, and everyone else's pillows and blankets. We got home, and Mom was nice to us and didn't make us do school. Instead we did some cleaning and just had a very relaxed day.

It was a whole lot of fun, and I look forward to doing it again next year!