A Camping We Will Go!: Coronavirus Week 70

Last week was a flurry activity leading up to a long awaited and highly anticipated weekend ahead. We did much of our usual in addition to packing and a few other things.  We picked blueberries on Wednesday morning - almost 26 pounds in an hour!  It brought us a huge relief from mosquitos that have been so bad at our house we can hardly stand to be outside, even with bug spray on.  They were not anywhere in the berries, thankfully, and we loved just being outside.

After picking berries, we were off to Great Grandma's for our weekly visit.  I also scrambled to get three more cabinet doors and the cabinet front stripped, sanded, varnished, trimmed and hung last week, and love the way the kitchen is coming together with this new look!

Friday morning, we gathered the final things we needed, packed the truck, and after a quick lunch we hit the road, catching up with some of our friends on our way to Lucky Lake Campground!  We were all very excited to finally be returning to this campground, which has become our favorite for so many reasons.  We were all set up and settled in by 3:30 and then took the kids to swim on the beach. 

For quite a long time, the kids splashed in the shallow beach area, playing on the rafts and boats and just loving the water - and the mosquito free air!

After a while, Elam and Tierney were ready to spend some time in the sand while the bigger kids kept playing in the water.

Sadie joined us, happy to be outside with us, but she was not at all interested in going into the water!

Back at camp, while we set to getting dinner around, the kids found fun within our site...

After dinner, we took a ride back to the other side of the lake to the fantastic playground.

Here, the kids (and adults) were happily entertained for a very long time on all of the awesome swings and fun places to play.

Later, we took a walk to find blueberries and black berries growing in bushes along the lake.

We found quite a few berries, heaped them all into one of our buckets, and enjoyed a forraging snack.

Then there was a race with a shoot out as we made our way back to the truck.

That evening, with some tired kids who had swam their hearts out for much of the day, we settled down with a fire, some S'mores, and watched the sun begin to set.  Once the kids were tucked in, Kathy, Alex and I enjoyed the fire well into the night.

Saturday morning, we were up bright and early, ready to play and make the most of the day, beginning with some fun on our own beach.

We also did a lot more swimming at the big beach, explored the sand bar, swam to the bomb dock and built sand castles.

When it was time for dinner, we returned to camp where some of the kids continued to play on our beach.

Travis and Ezri found the fire more appealing, and soon sitting there with the adults turned into shenanigans with Alex.

Pinecone tossing into his belly button was the game he invented, and it had everyone rolling!

While we sat and enjoyed the quiet and peacefulness, some birds who had also enjoyed the berries left their mark on our camp, hitting Kathy twice before she took drastic measures to protect herself!

Later that afternoon we went back to the playground again.

And we worked in our group photo.

Another pretty sunset awaited us that night, and I was ready with my camera.

Sunday morning we watched as a bald eagle soared over the lake before landing on the beach shore across the lake.  When disturbed by kayakers, it took flight again a while later.

After we had torn down camp, we put on swim suits and headed back to the beach for a final swim before it was time to go.  While there, Ezri discovered eagle tracks on the beach and in the shallow waters, and was shocked to find them the size of her hand!

Sadly, we had to leave much sooner than any of us were ready.  However, at the end of our trek home we had family photos with my parents, sister, brother and their families awaitng us that evening as my brother was in town for a week.  After everyone made it through photos, we celebrated with ice cream at the Fantasy Twirl!  It was good to see everyone again, and the kids loved catching up with their cousins over some tasty treats.