Anderson Cove Camping

Things I learned this past week: Family is very important, you never get sick of S’mores, family is very important, kids don’t burn with sunscreen, I love my family, doing homework on a vacation is a bad idea and I REALLY love my family.

Wow did we need this week mini-vacation! (Our first time camping at Pineview for the year.) We got there early afternoon on Sunday and had plenty of time to set up and let the kids play before anyone else got there. After a couple of hours there it was really hot so we decided that we needed to cool off in the water. After an hour of swimming we went back up to the camper and got ready for dinner. Gary had planned family dinner for that night so we had spaghetti. The Ludlows came up and so did Steven’s brother and his wife and her nephew. Roy, Emily and the kids came up for S’mores. My wonderful husband is the assigned fire starter now and he does it quite masterfully. It was a great night the kids had tons of fun playing with the cousins and roasting marshmallows. More chocolate was eaten than marshmallows. That night Julia and Connor stayed the night with us in the camper. They went to sleep without any major problems but Matthew, Jeffrey and Christopher had huge problems. By the time we got everyone settled down it was about 11 pm. Matt and I were exhausted!

Matt woke up with Mike at about 7 am and went fishing. Julia and Connor woke up about 7:30 but stayed quiet and in bed until 8:30 am. That’s when Connor woke up Christopher and that was when Christopher woke up Jeffrey and Matthew. We ate breakfast and got dressed. We were getting ready to turn the generators on and watch a movie when Matt and Mike walked up. They didn’t catch anything but small fish so they were tired and bored. Mindy was sick the night before so she came up when she woke up. When she got there Mike and Matt took the big kids on the boat to fish and jump in the lake. Mindy and I took the babies down to the water to swim and play in the sand. After about an hour in the water Mindy and I came back to the camper and cooked lunch and waited and waited and waited for the others to get back. Finally about 12:30 pm they got back and ate lunch.

We put the babies and Matt down for a nap and took the kids to get ice cream at the “ranger station”. The kids played until Matt and the babies woke up. Then we all went down to ride in the boat and the inner tube. The older kids loved the tube! Christopher not so much and Jeffrey is very cautious. Matthew couldn’t get enough. Matt and I rode and so did Mike. The cool thing was that Gary had a dr.’s appt. so he let Matt and Mike drive the boat. That was fun! They were great drivers and very cautious. We rode until past 6 pm and had to force the kids to go back for dinner. Another night of dinner and S’mores but still the same amount of fun. The Ludlows went back home and the boys were a lot easier to settle down. Cindi came up and spent the night with Mike and so we told them they could have the couch if they didn’t want to share the couch of my parent’s camper with the dogs.

The next day was great. Emily and the kids were coming up after lunch and so before lunch we just basically lounged around. The first thing was that we needed gas so all of us drove to get gas and then we went to Eden for some more S’more stuff and ended up getting some squirt guns and cookies for the kids. After that I was trying to do homework but the kids were making it very difficult. Wesley and Sherriann showed up and wanted to go on the boat. Cindi said that she would take Jeffrey and Matthew down too and Matt and Christopher would take a nap and I could get homework done. Wow that was a good idea. I got all my homework done and about 30 minutes of a nap.

Emily and the kids showed up so we all went down to the boat and went for tube rides. Little Ana is Emily’s niece and she is a daredevil! She wanted to go fast and lots of bumps. She only egged the other kids on to be daring. It was cute. At the height of the riding Matthew stood up and said he had to go potty. We threw him in the water and told him to go. This is a shot of him going. He was so cute, he concentrated very thoroughly. Mike was making fun of him so this is Mike “peeing” in the water.

After tubing we went back to the beach and swam for a bit then went up for dinner. It was great Mindy and the kids were there, Mom and Gary, Mike and Cindi, Wesley and Sherriann and us. It was like the good old days just missing a few more family members. We roasted S’mores again and ate hot dogs and chips. And alas the fun was over we had to go back home that night so we left the camper and went home.