This week, my sister
Alyson and I took all the kids camping. Fun. Five kids 9 and under, wow! We had so much fun playing and camping, but we realized that we were inexperienced in the "incharge" role and it's lots harder to camp when you're the mom.
Everything Aly was in charge of turned out great. She was the fun one, taking the kids on fun walks, setting up the swing, climbing on logs, etc.
Everything I was in charge of was fairly crappy.
First off, I missed the turn-off to Mt. Graham. Whoops.
Next, we're setting up camp and want to get dinner started, and the stove I borrowed doesn't fit with the propane tanks I brought.
Not a problem, we'll just cook things on the fire... oh, wait, my "boof" (fire starting gun) runs out of boof. (Oh, don't you worry, there were friendly campers near by who let us borrow one.)
Next night, Hooray! I found the adapter to connect the camp stove with the propane tank - fires were getting difficult because I had told Aly we didn't need to bring the saw, and we did, but, the stove still didn't work.
Lastly, I thought it might be nice to pack up right after dinner and spend the night at home in our own comfy beds. That led to driving down a steep, winding road in the dark and 3 of the 5 kids getting carsick and throwing up, Oakley leading the way.
Regardless, it WAS fun and now I'm better prepared, and think I'll be better at it next time.
Sorry for that long monologue, here are the pictures:
I told you Aly was fun! (Oh, and she's one of those "pretty" campers.)

Rissa and her elf house. She had all sorts of camping neighbor boys wandering by to check her out.

Oak and Brynn. Brynn is a pretty camper too.

Oakley loving the lake, and garbage he picked up.

Bells demonstrating how to use the swing. She discovered how to kick off the retaining wall and tree to keep herself going.

Lizzie playing with "Fuzzy" the catepillar we found. BTW, Liz is hilarious to sit and listen to.

Brynn and Oak. I think Oakley looks like an Ewok here.

Oh, peach cobbler is delicious. I forgot that that did turn out.