Flashback Friday...

early 1980's

Harold Ambuehl Brownie troop bridging up into 

Jr. Girl Scouts.

Dorothy Sisola and I had this same troop from when they were Brownies

until they left Juniors for middle school.

great memories of Camp Sherman

Cookie sales, campouts, Disneyland,

Christmas progressive dinners and good fun!

Road Trip Randomness...

we saw some of the most beautiful, clean rest stops.

this one happened to be in Minnesota almost into Iowa

we saw lots of facial hair and trucker hats

(this was Whole Foods, West Des Moines)

Lauren had the perfect road trip spot...

Slurpee, snacks and an iTouch

Iowa is very, very flat

even in middle America, we found traces of home

Whattt???? never did figure this one out

uku lady?

Traci and I were so impressed with the renovations that

were going on in the large downtown areas

beautiful hand-made Minnesota wood bowl

we saw lots and lots of trucks and truck stops

and lots of red barns and silos

there seems to be a real trend toward co-op markets back there

Nice Ride Bikes.

We saw these all over Minneapolis, St. Paul and Des Moines.

Traci said they have them in New York also.

For a small fee, you rent a bike and ride between the rental stands.  Really a good idea.

We saw so many people riding bikes

Minnesota has some really big, old cemeteries.  

This one was Lakeshore and it was huge

we kept track of how many different car license plates we saw.

We saw over half of the US in just four days!

All-in-all a really great trip!

Family Camping...

it was by pure luck that I got a campsite at Doheny State Park.  I just happened

to check and there was a 1 night opening.  So I checked with everyone and they were up

for it.

We decided that we'd take our bus and leave it there over-night with the other

two tents but come back to the MH to sleep.  The bus is just too dusty

for my allergies to stand it and hubby had to work on Monday.

So we loaded everything up and off we went.

it actually didn't take too long for the kids to set up their tents

the grands played a few games while everything was getting set up

didn't take long for little feet to get pretty dirty

sitting in the shade over-seeing the whole process

once everything got set up the kids all went to the beach.

I just realized you can see all the kelp in the water in this little wave.

the girls played in the dirt

while the boys tossed a baseball around or skateboarded

Geoff cooking the burgers

Miss Emme just having a lot of  fun

oh these boys...

Traci using Emme to stay warm

Bri was such a good sport.  She'd never camped as a child, so this whole

thing is pretty new to her.  I love how she's really gotten into the whole thing.

Uncle Geoff showed Lauren how really dried seaweed will pop when thrown on the

fire...

the kids loved waiting for it to pop

Geoff showed Grey how to toast the perfect marshmallow for s'mores

Emme went to sleep and the boys watched a little bit of a movie inside one of the tents

the next morning we woke up to RAIN!!!

couldn't believe it.  

Not mist or fog but rain.  Big drops.  

They said it had started in the middle of the night.

we'd put a lot away the night before, but the tents were letting in some water.

Emme had to check to see if everybody was up

we all pitched in and got everything packed and loaded

up even before eating.  the grands stayed in the bus to keep out of the rain while 

loading

wet, soggy tents were not the way we wanted to end our first family campout...

but everyone still gave it about an 8 on the fun level.

We want to try again in Sept. when there won't be any rain, or trains.

We love our family!