2012 Camping - Part 1

This past weekend, Curt and I went camping...and as of right now, it is our only planned camping trip of 2012.  Now, if you know me or you've been reading this blog for awhile, you'll know that I don't love camping...but, Curt loves it....so, I go....and, I have come a long way...so far in fact, I would say that I 'like' it.  And, I will admit, I did enjoy myself this past weekend! 

This camping trip was the annual Wielemaker camp-out - that's my mother-in-laws side of the family - and it was at a Christian Conference Center in nearby Grafton (that's a fancy title, really, it's just an open field on the shore of Lake Ontario...it has two sheltered areas and a small building with toilets...it's VERY simple!).

It is very scenic though...

Conveniently, Curt and I both had Friday off, so we were able to start the weekend early!  We spent the morning packing and getting the trailer organized - it was nice not having to rush around Thursday night, or after work Friday, getting organized and rushing to the campgrounds.  We left home just after lunch, and pulled into the park around 1:30pm...we were the first to arrive, so we picked a good spot and dropped off our trailer. 

And then it was off to the golf course!  We played at Shelter Valley Pines - the course used to be a nine hole course, but they opened another nine holes this year - and, the new nine holes were really nice!  It's a challenging little executive course, with a lot of elevation change and some new blind tee shots.  We played the front nine with Curt's cousin Tim, his friend Andrew, and another cousin, Cor...(Cor is actually Curt's mother's cousin, what does that make him to us?)  Yes, we played as a fivesome, but only for the back nine when Cor joined us. 

We didn't get back to the campground until about 8pm - by then, most of the other families had arrived, so we said our hello's and then got to work setting up the trailer and unpacking things.  Curt got the fire started and we made ourselves dinner - grilled cheese sandwiches in the pie irons!  Yum!  And, once the fire had been started, people started gathering around it, so we were there for the rest of the night.

Unfortunately, we woke up to gray skies on Saturday morning.  Curt and I started to set up our dining tent, thinking we may need it for shelter from the rain, but we didn't get very far before the rain started!  Most people made for their trailers or the shelter area, Curt and I just crawled back into bed and got a little more sleep - so, no complaints here!

The rain didn't stop until close to noon, and by then, we were all ready to get out from under the shelter!  This years organizers, Aunt Laura and her family, organized the challenge for this year - and, they challenged us to make a car out of noodles, and then race it!  ha!  It provided hours of entertainment, and was good for all ages.

Our oldest nephew, Josh, and his finished product.  Notice the steering wheel - I think he was the first one to include that detail!

I got to help Noah with the hot glue gun!  Yes, we used hot glue guns while camping - it's great when an aunt and uncle have a generator!

Luke - do you think he's having fun?

And, of course, Curt got in on the action too! 

It looks like he is stealing ideas from his Aunt Eleanor in the picture :)  That's not the case, he was actually giving her a lot of guidance!  She was taking it pretty serious, and was asking lots of questions!

There was also a few other games for the younger kids...

Including a water balloon toss, of course!

Look at Luke's face in the picture (he's the little one in red shorts)!

And, a sack race.

And, that brings us to Saturday afternoon...and, the end of this post.  Sorry, this got VERY long.  My brother and sister-in-law weren't able to be at the camp-out this year due to a death in Sarah's family (my mother and father-in-law brought the boys), so, I took A LOT of pictures to share with them...and, I had a hard time narrowing them down for the blog :)

Come back tomorrow for Part 2, if you can handle it!