First camping trip of the summer 20011

We were so excited to use the pop-up again, even though we were afraid we might forget how everything works. Although Adam spent a couple hours before we left getting thing ready, the weekend went fairly smoothly and nothing broke, YEAH!!! His prep time totally paid off.

We did have to deal with the wind all weekend. A big strom blew in each night (which made Benny nervous), but we didn't blow away!! Adam wished we had kites, us big kids didn't get on our bikes, but that didn't stop us from having fun.

Here is a video I made of our adventure, ENJOY!!

http://animoto.com/play/CVVFv5WTqFeD3RfcWWNI0Q

Trip Three - Elelven Mile 9/3-9/6

YEAH! A long weekend to escape and for another excuse to use our pop-up! There are two ways to get to eleven mile, and leaving at 4:30pm on the Friday of Labor Day weekend we probably would have hit traffic going either way. It took us 2 1/2 hours longer than we excpected, lost signal on Adam's phone which had the dirctions (so going forward we will always print out the directions for back-up), and had to set up camp in the dark, which we did, SUCCESSFULLY!! We woke up the next day to this view!

There aren't many trees, but the lake goes on FOREVER and is so beautiful. Plus our site backed up to these wonderful rocks which the boys couldn't get enough of. They spent the entire morning pretending they were at war and used the rocks as base. We heard them say "duck and cover" and "enemy approaching", etc. They had a blast! I wonder where they got that from?? It couldn't be from computer games.... NOOOOOOOOOO

Our friend Andrew drove up for the day and arrived around 10ish. We decided to go for a hike and do a little exploring. We stopped at a cove and Moe went swimming while the boys wadded in the water. The water was VERY cold.

Can you tell by Jack's face????

After our hike we went back to the camp site, grilled hot dogs and played catch with Benny. Adam wanted to catch some fish, so we went fishing. He didn't get anything, bummer.

Adam and I had commented on how we were warned that it is always windy at eleven mile. Well, we were thinking they were lying until we woke up on Sunday. WOW! We didn't let that stop us. The boys wanted to go back to the cove we found on Saturday to look for crawfish. Adam and Benny rode their bikes to the cove and Jackie and I walked w/ Moe. The cove was VERY windy. We went over a hill and found another cove with NO wind. So we hung out there all afternoon, had a picnic, Jack fished with no luck and Adam and Ben did some mountain biking.

It was so windy when we got back that we stayed in our trailer the rest of the day and played games. Benny was worried our pop-up was going to blow over a couple of times. The wind died down during the night but picked back up with vengeance the next day, so we had a quick breakfast and headed for home.

It was so nice having an extra day to hang out. I think we all agree that this trip is the best so far with our pop-up (even though Adam and Jack were unsuccessful at catching fish). But there we will be many more! I can't wait to see what lies ahead at our next camping spot (where ever that may be!)

Oh yeah, and NOTHING went wrong with the pop-up this time. I think we may actually know what we are doing now (I shouldn't say that or I will jinx us). We did run out of water again, so we will start bringing a few containers of water for back-up.

Trip Two - Jackson Lake 8/20-8/22

Friday: We were brave this weekend and set out w/o a reservation. We got to Jackson Lake (which is North E of Denver, close to Fort Lupton) around 5ish. The ranger told us that a couple had bought a spot that they weren't using, so we went to their new site and asked to buy the spot from them. We totally SCORED, the site was RIGHT on the lake.....

The boys rode their bikes around the campgrounds and then went for a swim. They could just walk down a small rock wall to the water and a small strip of sand (that's how close we were). That is where they spent most of the weekend, it was so nice being able to sit at our site while they were entertaining themselves!

Saturday: We went for an early morning bike ride and found a small beach. They boys played in the water a little there and then we rode back to our campsite where they played in the water some more. We went to a ranger lead activity in the early evening where the boys participated in a gummy worm eating contest

and then we explored more of the campground (there are over 200 sites, a big place). We were losing Jackie at the end, but he made it back. There were a MILLION flies out when we got back and we could not keep them out of the pop up no matter how hard we tried. Adam was worried we had a hole somewhere, I think there were just too many to keep out.

Sunday: We weren't in any hurry to pack up, so Ben and Adam went for a bike ride and then the boys went for one last swim. We were worried we wouldn't leave in time so it was a little hectic packing up, in our haste, we left one of the bike locks behind and didn't put one of the cotter pins in the sway bar. All things that were not fun to find out about once we got home.

Overall...We had a great time there, it was SO relaxing! I could sit and stare at the water all day!We still LOVE having a pop up! It was a really hot weekend, especially at night, I wasn't thinking that we weren't high enough for it to get cold when the sun went down. So my flannel PJ's were not the thing to bring, duh. We made a mental note that this will be a good place to come back to in May, early June or Sept, NOT in August. We ran out of water again, so we decided just to use the water to wash the pots and bring paper products to eat off of. We are also going to heat the water heater only when we need it and then turn it off. We didn't pack enough bottle water and drinks so Adam made a trip into town on Saturday and came back with some fun provisions (a new rug for the inside of the pop-up, etc). Benny losing his glasses in the lake (we think) was a bummer, and when Adam was putting the bikes back on top of the trailer he noticed his bike tire was flat. We will get better at this each time we go!!

Our first time out w/ the pop-up - Grand Lake 8/13-8/15

FRIDAY: So after having the trailer for only a day and staying up until 1am stocking it, we set off for the mountains. I wasn't sure how the Kia would pull the trailer over the pass. Adam said he had his foot all the way on the floor a couple of times, but we made it (and we didn't even hold up traffic). Once we got there, the boys were off exploring the campground on their bikes. Setting up the trailer was fairly easy (using our cheat sheet really helped).

SATURDAY: We spent a sun filled day on the lake with our friend Mike and his girlfriend Kim. We were in Mike's folks boat. Moe is definitely a water dog, he loved being on the boat. I was afraid at first that he would jump off, but he didn't. We stopped and Adam and the boys did some fishing (no luck). Then we found one of the fingers and docked on the beach and played in the COLD water. Jack tried fishing again, but came up empty. He got good at casting though. That night we made banana boats, something Kim suggested. They were so YUMMY!! They might replace s'mores (probably not).

SUNDAY: We cooked eggs and sausage on our outside burner and then packed up (so easy) and drove home.

The thing I liked best was coming into the camper at night after sitting by the fire (because it was chilly), and putting on the heater. It was so warm and toasty in the trailer!!!

Overall: We are SO excited we bought the pop-up (even with the little things that went wrong). The step broke the first day we got there (still not fixed). The air hose was kinked when Adam was filling up the water tank so we ran out of water on Saturday around dinner. We weren't sure if the hot water heater was working (but we just didn't know how it was supposed to work). BUT having HEAT at night made up for all those things!!! : )