First Post: Eating

The First post i shall write about our 13 person, seven day, 6 night camping trip is this: meal times take up at least 60% of your daylight hours. After all, when you aren't counting to make sure all 13 heads are there, you are probably feeding them. :) From dave's delicious breakfasts', Janet's gourmet burgers, Peter's coffee supply, and my spaghetti, we were well fed and well taken care of. :) As for the kiddo's (all 8 of them) - they LOVED bannock, and anything else cooked in the coals!! They were super grateful, cute, and helpful too. We generally would feed the kids, send them off and then enjoy "adult dinner" simply because the feeding of 8 children requires a lot of activity, which restricts the ability for an adult to sit and eat as well. (at times, at least)

You know, thinking of feeding many children at one time brings to my memory a scene from "Horton Hears a Who". The Father of a Whoville family is asked by his little daughter if he could get her a drink of water before bedtime. This simply request seems easy enough to comply with, until you hear the echos of his 95 other children asking, " Me too please!!!!" Envision this little man with a tower of 96 water glasses coming to the bedroom to give his children their "last drink before bed". ha!! Well, that is why it is difficult to sit still while feeding many kids their dinner. THere is always a glass that needs filling, or a plate that just spilled, or a face that needs washing, or a disagreement that needs guiding. All good things, all important to the growth and maturity of children. :) All leading to the reality of parents eating after children are fed!! :)




Above: Picnic at a beach in South Hampton ( or was that East Berlin? or West Virginia? or West Hamburg? - heeheehee. inside joke, sorry. couldn't resist) The town is lovely, the beach unique. This is the town where we took our whole crew into one of those specialty bike shops. The kind with $3000 bikes, and $20 water bottles, you get the picture. Imagine 5 adults, and 8 kids (ages 22 and 23 months old, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,9)walking into this small three aisle shop....and the shock and terror on the faces of those working there... no joke, one of them went and closed the front doors (that were wide open) as soon as we got there!! (could have been for other reasons, but i thought it was perfect timing to keep our crew from causing anything to escape the store unnoticed!! hahahaha.

Below:
Bannock: my recipe was simple. pancake mix (the kind that only requires water), a stick as thick as a hotdog, good hot coals. This was a huge hit!! :) The kids loved preparing their own food, and cramming the warm bannock full of peanut butter and jam. yum.











We always set up our "kitchen" at one of our two sites. It just makes sense. we compile all our plates, utensils, water jugs, etc, and we make it work for the whole crew. This campground was perfect for us, they gave each camp site two tables which seated our 13 bums just right! Our kitchen is also Super-Awesome because our dear friends have this fabulous washing/stove station!! love it!! :) many moments were spent washing dishes here...or boiling water. because everyone knows, when you are camping you are always boiling water for something! :)

This trip was by far our best experience yet with all the kids. Camping just keeps getting easier as we adjust to what it means to camp with kids. We all loved it. even the rained in days. God was so good to us, and we had perfect weather for a lot of the trip. Dry days to set up and take down, sunny warm days, and cool nights to enjoy a fire. Julia loved her freedom to bike everywhere (so did i!!) Sam loved dirt, ropes, sticks, fire, helping daddy, dragging his tricycle everywhere. Mercy loved everything, really, she just happily ran to and fro, discovering rocks, watching the older kids, and following them around. Dave and I got away with our family for a few bike trips through the forest trails, over rocks, roots, boardwalks, snakes (oops) and hills. We were super amazed at Julia's switch from always being scared to start a bike trip, to being very confident and mature in her skills. She did many new things to add to her short biking career, and i think she is ready to try the BMX track here in Sarnia.
okay. whew. that is all for now. My next post will be about ADVENTURE CAMP, or maybe about Exploring. love to all. from Su.