Camping~Beck Family Style

For a few summers now we've been promising the kids that we would take them camping. Spring comes, the anticipation builds. Summer comes, the hay grows and needs cut, the corn grows and has to be chopped. A few swimming excursions at the YMCA, weed the garden, mow the lawn, summer turns into fall and we say again, maybe next year.

I couldn't stand the thought of another summer going by without the long awaited for family camping trip. So I enlisted the help of Ramona. She was game to go, was excited and for some reason, I couldn't let her down. (Maybe it was the taunting, "oh you won't really go" or "you wouldn't last one night without the camper" "you're too high maintenance". For future reference, don't give me a good challenge unless you plan on my winning.)

So for two nights in a row, we braved the elements, fought with faulty mattresses (okay, I'll camp, but not if I have to sleep on the ground, hence the air mattress), killed spiders on our chairs and chased a hungry skunk from our campsite. Courtney only threw up once due to her intense nervousness from the lighting and thunderstorm wailing over head. Our tent, although bent nearly parallel to the ground a few times from the wind storm, survived and provided adequate shelter from the rain that came later the second night.

Larry and Braden at the "dinner table/kitchen area"

Ally, Adam and the back of Devan's head after a long day of swimming.

Samantha, Mona, and Jenna, relaxing before the worst part of the storm hit



The clouds are rolling in

I guess these pictures don't do the waves justice, they were rolling in like we were at the ocean instead of our little lake in Idaho. The spray was blowing at us causing us to close the tents down so we wouldn't all get wet.

We had so much fun swimming for two days. The water was so warm it was like a bathtub. A few family members came to swim but didn't stay the night with us (wimps).

I would totally do it again next year.....I just need to get a new air mattress first.