Campout at Gram’s

Gram had a great idea this year to have a big campout in her backyard with all the grandkids.  Camping with that many kids can be a little chaotic and I must admit I was a teeny bit worried no one would sleep a wink, but it actually turned out to be a wonderful time.  We should do it again next year!

We came over on July 3 and Gram had this great table (?iron) out with charcoals on top.   It’s the perfect way to roast hot dogs or anything else for that matter and the kids all loved it.  The best part is obviously s’mores at the end. 

After dinner, the kids ran around and played with each other for hours.  I  think the activity of choice was the tennis court and its plethora of wheeled vehicles.  Owen couldn’t resist a good tennis ball throw which seemed innocent enough until I  realized that boy can really wing it!  I had him throw a couple of them at me for a test and it was a little firmer than I thought.

Nighttime came and we went down to a nearby parking lot for a little firework action thanks to Steven.  It was a good show and no one got burned even though we had sparklers (I got a double burn as a child so I have a little inherent anti-sparkler bias).  At that point I think it was around 11PM.  The tents were set up so we  headed back to the lawn.

While we were gone, Grandpa had set up a big screen TV outside complete with DVD player and “Ella Enchanted”.  I thought we’d have some kids pass out during the show, but they pretty much all made it through and went to bed around 1AM.

So you’d think going to bed late would mean a leisurely late morning.

No.

The kids woke up (some of them…Beth slept  until 10AM) bright and early for Grams next culinary feast (breakfast) with some amazing dutch oven cooking (nothing better than dutch oven desserts!).  Some of the brothers/sisters that didn’t sleep over came by and we did a little tennis.  There’s some serious  talent in that group.

We then shuffled off to our various 4th of July activities, but what a great time we had.  See everyone next year!

More photos here.