Weekend Camping

This past weekend, John and I took Thomas camping at Mohican State Park, a beautiful park only about half an hour from our house. Some of the guys John works with had organized a trip, and we enjoyed being a part of the group of eight who came. There had been a lot of rain all day, but everything cleared up as we left for the campsite that evening. We enjoyed some great Chicken Pa Thai that John made us for supper when we got there! We used our new camp stove for the first time as well. It was fun to be outdoors and enjoy a nice fire with some friends.

The cool night air made for perfect sleeping! The camp sites were more primitive than we've typically camped at and didn't have any electricity or water so it was really dark at night!

There is a really pretty stream right across the road from these campsites. It was awesome to hear the water flowing as we fell asleep!

The next morning, Thomas was ready to be awake bright an early so I took him on a nice level trail to the base of the dam. By the time we got back to camp, he had fallen asleep!

Thomas also enjoyed getting to meet a dog that some friends brought.

Overall the trip was perfect! A great time to relax in beautiful surroundings!

Here he is getting flown back to the car for a diaper change :) It was quite an explosion!

Our little boy is getting big!

Spring Camping 2009

We had a great camping trip last weekend! Being back in Alabama and seeing so many friends and spending time with my family was a wonderful vacation. We did enjoy some warmer weather, but it was also a very wet weekend with rain from Friday night until Monday with only a couple of breaks.

Ever since our fall camping trip, John wanted to make a camping meal. So, we packed up some ingredients in our suitcase and made an Indian meal for our group. Everyone seemed to enjoy the food!

John and I enjoyed camping together once again! This was John's 3rd time camping (and all have been with us in Alabama). I've gone camping probably for 25 years with my family. The last 13 years have mostly been with this same group of people in Alabama. We hope to go camping in South Carolina with some of John's friends in May and do some Ohio camping this summer as well. I'm quite thankful that John enjoys the outdoors as I do! Its a wonderful way to spend time with each other and our friends without the distraction of work or computers :)

The wet weather did change our camping weekend a bit. We didn't get to take any hikes on Saturday, and our typical endless games of volley ball were nowhere to be found. There were a lot fewer people this time, but those who came did enjoy themselves.

Friday night we had only a little bit of rain, but by Saturday afternoon, the ground was saturated. Several tents had been completely soaked and most of the rest of them were getting damp. So, everyone except my parents(!) decided to move into the convenient buildings. We spread out camping style all over the floors and had a nice dry night camping inside.

This camping trip was characterized by a lot of inside games: card games, ping pong, pool, Foosball, group games and more! I think this was one of our most unique camping trips thus far and will definitely be remembered for some time!

Going to Alabama for camping trips has been a lot of fun!

For those of you seeing this on facebook: Elijah showed me how to import my blog posts to facebook. I know that many of you are both blog readers and facebook people so just ignore one or the other. Some of my facebook friends don't check my blog so I want to try sharing it both ways for a while.

Spring Camping Trip This Weekend!

Early tomorrow morning, John and I will fly to Alabama for our spring camping trip. The weather looks rather bad this year, but I do see a glimer of hope. Just this afternoon, the rain forecast has decreased 10% on Saturday (now it's only 70% instead of 80% and only 30% on Friday and Sunday). The friends we camp with are pretty tough so there will have to be a lot of rain to keep them away. So far, a camping trip has never been called off due to weather. We'll see what happens this time.

Here are some memories from Fall 2008:

Happy Birthday Rob!

I hope you had a wonderful 40th Birthday Rob!

Trisha threw a surprise birthday party last weekend!

Rob had no idea about the Birthday plans! When his girls put on his hat and he begin to realize this was for his birthday, he looked at his watch to check the date (since it was a week early)!

We had to pull Rob away from an involved game of volley ball. It was hard to do as Rob didn't see the need for a break!

Rob enjoys games and is someone you would always want on your team!

He makes the games fun. It's intense!


Rarely, Rob will miss the Frisbee.

But more often than not, if you're looking for Rob, just look for the action!

What a catch! (Note- you know he's thinking hard, when he's got his tongue stuck out!)

This is a great picture - Rob's got it!

Rob and his family have made camping so much fun over the years! Thanks for camping and I hope you have another wonderful year!

Camping Today!

We are T-28 minutes until we leave for Alabama and camping! I can't wait to see everyone and am looking forward to enjoying an outdoor weekend with friends and family! If you're from Fountain of Grace church (or if you're local through some other group!), I would love to see you out there this weekend. No, you don't HAVE to camp (although you know the invitation is always open!). You can come out for the afternoon or day on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Just bring yourself and be ready to have some fun!

Camping Pictures

3/25/08 Update - The rest of Elijah's pictures are here!

2008-03 Camping Elijah Camera - Part 2

3/20/08
At last - I've uploaded many of the camping pictures taken last weekend. For those of you who were not there, looking through 300 or so pictures will probably not appeal to you. But for the rest of you, take your time and enjoy!

2008-03 Camping - Miriam's Camera

2008-03 Camping Elijah Camera - part 1

2008-03 Camping-Lydia's camera

Camping Statistics!

I don't have the camping pictures uploaded yet, but keep checking back since I hope to load them tomorrow afternoon. It's been a long time since I've posted on here. My main reasons have been the business of work (we're almost done with a physical plant move from one location 8 miles away to another plant), and the lack of internet at home (I use my neighbor's wireless connection and he doesn't know what's going on with his internet right now).

Camping was a lot of fun. I had a great time with the people who came and we had great weather as well. I took a lot of pictures which turned out really nice thanks to the new camera that John gave me for my birthday - thanks again! It has an awesome zoom which I greatly enjoyed while taking pictures of ultimate frisbee.

As goes with my nature and my genes if you consider how my grandma Lofgren used to count the number of socks she washed each week (so I've been told), I do like statistics. So, this morning over sibling breakfast, Anna, Jubilee, Lydia and I calculated the number of people who were a part of the camping trip. Here are the numbers:

66 - Campers who camped both Friday and Saturday night
19 - Campers who camped either Friday or Saturday night
85 - Total Campers

33 - People who came out for the day on Saturday or Sunday

118 - Total people associated with our camping trip this weekend!

28 - Different families represented with the 118 people!

Well, lunch time is over, so more camping info and other posts will just have to wait. I was pleased to see on my blog statistics today that not everyone has given up on this blog!

Spring Camping Countdown - Only 2 Weeks!

I can't believe how time has flown by! Two weeks from this moment, I'll probably be on my way to our spring camping trip once again. Camping (as those of you who know me realize) is something I do enjoy . I took a look at some of last fall's pictures and picked out a couple fun ones to share today.
Volley ball is almost a constant game while camping. I like this picture because in it you can see the "big kids" and "little kids" playing together. Look at the boy behind Ben - he's ready for that ball if it comes to him! Of course it's rare if a ball gets past Ben :)


This is another fun picture since it's girls (not the guys) who are collecting the daddy long legs. And they're having a great time with them!

Fun with family whether it's eating, hiking or hanging around on trees is something that always goes with camping.
Camping meals can be easy and still tasty. Our family prefers to play and spend a minimal amount of time cooking. Somehow we still end up eating well - doesn't food just taste better camping? Others take time to do some time-intensive meals which are also great tasting. Dad tends to be one of the ones that everyone knows is usually willing and able to help others finish up the left overs.
Each group is a little different. Last fall's group was large - over 100 people (not all in the picture) came last spring. It's hard to know how many we'll have this year. Many families are already making plans to come. I've given out invitations at church and work. I can't wait!