Organized Chaos

What do you get when you put 32 people together - 16 adults and 16 kids? 
Organized Chaos!

That's exactly what we did in the middle of July - we put together a whole lotta kids and adults together on one campsite (okay technically we were spread over 5 of them) and just partied all weekend long!

So Day 1 - we got up there plenty early and helped every one of our fellow tent campers put up camp.  Then the night was spent partying the night away...

Some people did the worm...

Yes even Drew!

Plenty of Dancing!

L-R: Rene, Stephanie, Me

And all the ladies posed for the camera...

Shortly after that photo, the campsite managers came around twice - saying we were too loud after quiet time.  The last time they threatened to call the Sheriff's department on us.  Mind you it wasn't even 5 minutes after the first time they "drove by".

Day 2 - You could find Drew at virtually anytime of the day at the Mini Golf Course...

... or on the water slide (the pool was closed for repair).

We love the Jellystone Campground because of all the ammentities including the fun Hayride!

Some of the ladies had dirty toes.... you know with all that kid watching we had to do....

The theme this weekend at the campground was Christmas in July and we were tasked with decorating the campsite for a contest.  This was our sad attempt at a "Christmas Tree".

 

We came in third place - I'd like to say it was because they forgot to judge us.  After a while, they took pity on us while we were decorating to say the winner was already selected. However they were kind enough to say we came in third place (probably out of three, but don't burst our bubble).

Gotta love the sunset on the hills of Lake County.

What was great about camping the weekend after the 4th of July... the campsite was deserted.  Which is probably a good thing since a couple of the grownups had "blue balls".

Another Group shot of some of the campers...

We had plenty of bubbles for the kids (of all ages) from a family wedding a few weeks earlier.

On the final night of camping we even had a few wildlife invaders - two deer!

It really was an awesome weekend with friends.  And while it was a bit crazy with so many people, it really was a good time and very little incident (minus being threatened with the Sheriff's Department).

Camping Shenanigans

Memorial Day in our family means a camping getaway.. this year with my side of the family.  Grammy, GrampC, Uncle Matt and his family of four.  We ventured to a new (to us) campground in El Dorado County on the American River - Camp Lotus.  We got out late thanks to some last minute work on my part and then a boatload of traffic, so we made it to the campground close to 9pm.

So the next morning we got things started early.  Breakfast, mimosas and some Catch Phrase (well the kids did without the alcohol).

L-R: Avery & Drew

Matt just found my camera

A little whiffle ball before the days adventures

Bird Invasion

After cleaning up from breakfast we made our way out for a day of wine tasting.  I forgot my camera so all of the pictures are from my cell phone.

The ladies L-R: Grammy Kathie, Auntie Rana, Me

David Girard Winery

The Kids Keeping Cool & Occupied

The Happy Couple

Family Photo

Wine Club Member area

View from the Wine Club Member Area

Gold Hill Winery & Brewery - Adrina & Drew

Miss Avery

Daddy, Drew (and Adrina)

Stop #3, Nello Olivo Winery

 The best thing that happened this trip was when Auntie Rana suckered GrampC into trying the cinnamon challenge.  There was a ramekin of cinnamon near a jug of sangria and it got Rana & GrampC talking about what you could do with it.  Rana dared GrampC to see if he could eat a tablespoon full of cinnamon without drinking anything or coughing it up.  Here's the video of what happened:





Poor GrampC...

Group Photo (no Drew)
L-R: Matt, Rana, Grammy, Avery, Adrina
Back: Dave, Me, GrampC

After a day winetasting we made our way back and found the American River - across the street from our campsite.

Adrina, Drew, Me

Uncle Matt & Avery

While we were on the shore we saw a "rock bar" where we could try and stake claim the next day.  And that's just what we did.  We spent the entire day in the water enjoying the scenery and beverages.

Uncle Matt & Adrina on the Rocks

Matt & I (rafters in the background)

Such tough guys

Adrina & Drew

Uncle Matt, Auntie Rana & Adrina (Avery was napping)

Family Shot

The American River

Battle of the Cold Ones

Random Rock Art

Avery finally woke up from her nap

This was a great campsite that was one of the least expensive to go to.  We'll be back for sure!

The Great Outdoors

It's tradition we go camping for the long holiday weekends in the summer.. this Labor Day was no exception.  We even conned convinced some friends to join us on the crazy adventure we call camping.

One great thing about this trip is Drew was on 2 weeks of assessments at school, so he was out by noon. We hit the road shortly after (I took the day off work) and were completely set-up before 3:30pm.  This is how Drew spent most of the afternoon...

... playing with his army guy reading "I Spy" books.  And I mean he did this for hours!

We on the other hand sat around drinking... See Grammy and Dave are chillin' outside Grammy and GrampC's "house".

Around 5:30 that evening we heard a loud "pop" and then a few minutes later sirens and everyone at the campsite started walking through the church right next to our site and out to the main road.  It seems there was a car accident, which caused a transformer explosion, and the transformer (or the accident) sparked the fast moving grass fire.   There was talk about evacuations from the homes on the opposite side of the street from the campground.

Thankfully, no evacuations and we were able to continue our weekend.  We were without power until around 2am.  At least that's when I went to the bathroom and saw lights were back on.

No fire was going to dampen our weekend...

The next morning our friends Amber and Greg and their boys (ages 2 and 4) came up as did Ms. Stephanie and Brian and the boys (ages 7 and 6).

The adults enjoyed play time too...  Dave and Brian trying to beat us at ladder ball..

Stephanie and I...

The kids wanted to watch, but keep cool.

L-R: Mason, Andrew, Drew, Troy

So I had my Dad taking pictures of us playing, with our camera.  He wanted to get artsy and stood behind our area, when a ball came crashing into my camera... see a ball coming toward us?

... I guess that was the shot before.  It was the "blue balls" that hit the camera breaking our zoom.  So we've had 2 cameras in about 2 or 3 years meet a similar fate thanks to Dave.  (I just had to throw that out there, because I won't let Dave buy a DSLR the way we fly through cameras).

Troy and Drew the next morning hanging out.

Drew and Andrew preparing for future girl watching...

The younger crew eating...

On Sunday at Drake's Beach they do an annual Sand Castle Competition, so we drove out there to let the kids run around and to check things out.  Here are a few of my favorites...

Here's Evan checking out the Lion.

He was so cute, he saw a bear, a lion and a dinosaur.  He really wanted to find a crocodile, but sadly no crocodiles were to be found.

After the beach we went out to the Oyster Farm to get some fresh oysters for appetizers.  We grill them, none of that raw crap.

While we were there, the lady inside pulled the boys aside and was talking to them about the one predator for oysters.. crabs.  Then she sent them to the water on a "crab hunt"

 L-R: Drew, Evan, Andrew (Amber in the background)
The only crabs we found were small dead ones.  So our hunt was unsuccessful.  But the boys had a great time searching.

Later that night we were treated to some beautiful scenery... including a double rainbow.

Drew was so worn out he didn't even make it to the tent to fall asleep.

It was a great time, and hopefully we didn't scare away our new camping buddies or our old ones - I didn't get any pictures of the "older crew" that was with us stocking the group with lemoncello.