Well, it took me so long to get this post done (over a week) that, as I report on our very first family camping trip, we are already planning a second one for this weekend with some friends from the neighborhood.


While I had the boys cleaning the basement cushy tiles on the driveway a couple weeks ago, I had a vision of myself sitting in a chair on a campsite. Brian and I used to camp from time to time, but we have been avoiding it with the kids since we figured that they are far too young to sleep in a tent overnight. However....the thought had not occurred to me that we didn't necessarily need to spend the NIGHT...we could go camping for the day and come home for bedtime! Brian loved the idea so I started planning. We chose to go to a family-friendly place about 25 minutes away from our house with a Yogi Bear / Jellystone Park theme. We had been there once before with Brian's brother's family....before we had kids of our own (or....as Logan has been led to believe, "back when we were lonely and sad because we didn't have our babies"). We took all the regular camping stuff with us and spent most of the day eating :)

Here is Aiden waiting by the "super van". It was surprisingly easy to just toss a bunch of stuff in and head out.

Ahhh....we arrive at the park. Check out the big Yogi Bear at the entrance! At first I was sort of annoyed that we weren't going to be AUTHENTIC and go somewhere a bit more "rough", but as the day progressed, I was so happy that we chose to do this camping thing in baby steps....
The Bath House: it would look just like any other rustic building, but don't the little characters make it seem...I don't know....more theme-park-ish?
Even this dilapidated truck looks friendlier with Yogi smiling from the door. Put your finger on the face and look at the truck....run down and scary! Now take your finger away....much better, right? There was even a nice little park near the "Ranger Station" (aka: administrative office and gift shop...yes....gift shop!)
The morning we checked in, there were very few lots actually full of campers, but for some reason they gave us a totally sunny spot near the mosquito-infested stream.
This is the opposite view from the picture above (if you turn around and look in the other direction). Brian went back to the "Ranger Station" and got us a little more tree shade!
First priority: breakfast camp style (even though we arrived at 10, we made sure to cook up some pancakes, eggs and bacon before setting up camp)
Brady got set up in his pack 'n play so he could be contained. Aiden kept giving him food to try...first some watermelon (that didn't go over so well)
Don't let this picture fool you....the boys only sat in these chairs for about 45 seconds and then went back to running around.
Brady tried some pancakes next...quite a hit!
....and then Aiden gave him a marshmellow.....aaaawesome
I packed the little play tent that used to be set up in Logan's room. I put that together while Daddy got started on the fire pit and the big tent.
Logan and Aiden sat in the little tent and told each other the story of "The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything" (which they have been read so many times, they know a lot of it by heart). It's really hard to understand what they are saying, but here is a link to a video I took: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrCzAG8dnF0

The camp site all set up!
Bri and his mini-me take a rest
Here is the picture I envisioned in my head when I decided that we should go camping - me sitting in a chair, drink in hand, relaxing. However, in my original vision, I had taken the time to wash my hair....oh well....who needs to be clean for camping?!
The boys decided to "take a nap" in the tent. This scene only lasted about 2 minutes and they giggled the whole time. They popped up, shouted "good morning" and returned to their previous antics....
....as demonstrated by this picture.
On a trip up from our camp site to the bathroom, I spied this fun little scene....tie-dyeing! Here's the scoop: they do this every Saturday. You just have to bring something white and it's free (or...lucky for me....they sell white tee shirts in the gift shop for $4.50 each specifically for tie-dyeing. Of course I ran back to camp, bursting with excitement, with our next activity already planned in my head)
After we bought the shirts, the girls at the craft/game room fixed up the shirts for us and I helped Aiden with his gloves.
Logan got his gloves on and actually waited nicely for the fun to begin
Look at these GIANT buckets of dye! I had to chase Aiden away from them time and time again. It was hard to stifle his inner-artist, but I didn't want to take a purple or blue CHILD home with me (or be responsible for one of those buckets getting tipped). When it was his turn to make his shirt, I had to really hover over him to make sure it ended up as 2 colors instead of just 1 big color.
Logan did a GREAT job with his shirt!!
Casualty!! soooomeonnnnne got yellow paint on my pants. I'm not naming names, but Logan's shirt was blue and green so......
The finished product!!
The boys went to play on the playground with daddy while I got lunch ready. They returned and we made hot dogs over the fire....yummy!!!
While Brady took a nap in the tent (we squeezed the pack 'n play in there), Brian took the big boys mini golfing. See what I mean about enjoying the park concept more and more as the day went on? It was nice that we didn't end up in such an authentic place....more stuff to do!
And finally....the piece de resistance - SMORES!
Chocolaty and delicious! You can see in the background that the big tent had already been taken down at this point. It was about 4:30 and time to get home. Our shade was gone and the boys were tired. Logan and Aiden fell asleep as soon as the car started moving. When Logan woke up about 45 minutes later, he rubbed his eyes and groggily said "best camping trip ever"
Basement update: after we cleaned the tiles on the driveway, I mopped the basement floor with bleach and reassembled all the toys (in a new and different way). We spent a couple hours down there one day.
Brady even has his own little play area (and, although you can't see it, I have a couch to sit on!)

Coming soon....camping part 2! Everyone we spoke with at the camp site said we HAD to come back for one of the 3 Halloween-themed weekends that the park throws each year. Bray is staying with Memaw and Grandpa and we're going to try to sleep there this coming Saturday night. They have a camp site decorating competition, the kids dress up and trick-or-treat from site to site and we're planning to have them tie-dye pillow cases for either trick or treating or just to sleep on that night (maybe both). I can't wait! I already have our 6-foot, inflatable Frankenstein monster packed and ready to blow up Saturday night!!! Plus...I promise to wash my hair for our next picture-taking trip!

Brady isn't feeling well today and just wants to be held and swayed. Tired of this effort and, with the knowledge that he is JUST on the edge of outweighing it entirely, I pulled out the papisan swing. When I put him in it, he looked at me with fear in his eyes like "mom....are you absolutely sure this is safe?? I AM a rather large baby!" It also made me crack up because this is the latest picture I have with a baby in just such a swing:

Ryan Matthew at 2 weeks old in his swing (same model, different year)
And now....Brady Matthew in HIS swing! He is simply exploding out of the thing!!!! (look how sad he is today!)
Since Den was pregnant, we have been referring to Bray and Ryan as "the little Matthews" since they have the same middle name. Well Ryan, Brady challenges you to a toy-reaching contest.....opps....he wins!
Seriously - how pathetic is that sweet boy!?

They tell me that it rained quite a bit while I was out of town last weekend :) (when I took off for San Francisco on Friday it was nice out and when I landed back in Chicago on Sunday, the rain was gone). However, we got such a downpour that our local river flooded it's banks, surrounding suburbs had severe flooding that caused evacuations and school closings, many of our friends had basement flooding and our sub division email chain was full of messages about failing sump pumps. Also, while I was gone, everyone in my house started getting sick (as in throwing up). I even got sick once while I was away (but I digress). Our basement was not unscathed, but we were so much better off than a lot of our friends and neighbors. We had a little water right in the middle and, since we didn't finish our basement yet, we didn't have carpet or dry wall damage. What we do have in our basement is a lot of big toys for the boys. Brian painted the floor and the walls, installed a bunch of canned lights and we bought TONS of these large plastic, cushy squares that fit together like puzzle pieces to make a soft little area for playing. We have a 10-by-10-foot inflatable "bounce house" down there, a climbing thing that is supposed to go outside, a slide, bikes, bats, balls, tennis rackets, large building blocks and a couch for me to "sit on and drink coffee while I watch the boys play" <--- when does that happen exactly?? So....the little water that we got ended up seeping under all of the cushy puzzle piece things (we'll call them smushy tiles) so that I had to pull them all up this week, drag them to various places in the basement to dry and vacuum up the small puddles of water. Brian said we have to wash the floor down there with bleach so I thought....well....what better time than now to get these tiles nice and clean. I told Brian about my plan of attack (see pictorial documentation below) and he just laughed saying "you're like Huck Finn convincing all the neighborhood kids that white washing the fence is fun!" And to that I say....if you can't make something like cleaning 50+ cushy tiles fun, you're just not trying hard enough. Unfortunately, our activity was time-boxed by a class that Logan had to attend so we only had about 50 minutes (plus 10 for changing out of soaking wet cloths) to get everything done.

Recipe for fun step 1: enthusiastically announce that we're going to play "clean the tiles" on the driveway. Assemble the following: 2 boys who love anything associated with water, a bucket of warm soapy water, rags, a couple spray bottles filled with sudsy bubbles and 1 hose attachment that looks and functions like a fire-fighter spray nozzle (so lucky we had that last one on hand!)

Step 2: lay tiles out on drive way (here they are, gray and boring sides up, ready to wash)
Step 3: encourage boys to make "soapy rain" on all the tiles...follow said boys crouched down, actually scrubbing the tiles yourself (sorry...only the children get to have ALL the fun)
Step 4: let them rinse it off....
...and remember to take turns!
Step 5: When the "real rinsing" needs to happen (by, say, a mommy figure), convince youngins that "it's time to jump in the soapy puddles!!!"
Step 6: flip and repeat
Here, Logan continues rinsing the tiles. He told me (when I forced him to let me have a turn) that he "really really like(s) spraying the tiles mommy!"
Aiden conquers one of the spray bottles....I'm scared of that face....I think he was actually coming to get me at this point (click the camera and run!)
We could NOT have asked for a more perfect day for this project. When we did the cleaning, it was nice and cool outside, but by the time we returned from Logan's class, the sun had come out and it was starting to get hot. The tiles were almost all dry. I had the boys "flip them like pancakes" and put them in dry spots. Here, the gray spots are actually water from where the tiles were previously sitting. We started putting them on the grass to dry the back sides. Aiden kept laughing at my instructions "flip them like pancakes" (which I had to shout over and over). He said "dey like pancakes...dey smell yummy....we get syrup"
Brady waits patiently on a blanket while we flip the tiles....such a sweet baby!! We did our thing & headed in for lunch. After lunch, I ran out and stacked all 50-some tiles in the garage. Mission accomplished before it was even 1 pm (self high five!)
So here is the main, but not only, reason I went to San Fran last weekend - BABY RYAN! Isn't he schweeet?!

Of course I had to have my traditional San-Fran visit pedi (here Denay and Anne finish up while I sit with my tootsies under a dryer). The only thing I changed this time? After the pedicure, Anne and Den accompanied me to the hair salon where I let Den's stylist cut 5 inches off of my hair!!! (then we wandered around, stopping into stores that I don't usually frequent these days...furniture, jewelry...you know...places where you can just waste a little time looking....ahhhhhh) The proud mommy and her adorable son. Nice work there D&T!
Back at home, I deliver goodies from Auntie Denna and Uncle Tom. D picked up Small Paul lunch boxes for the boys. They had such a great time packing them with cars, toys and, in Aiden's case "an icky, yucky old candy cane that I borrowed from Christmas" <-- we don't clean out the pantry as much as we should! Here we are on a walk...Aiden tows along his lunch box and sippy cup.

And a final note...Brady is not very fond of the "wall seat" that I thought was so convenient in the park district bathroom (how else are you supposed to wash your hands after a diaper change?) This seat is literally at my eye level...and he wanted out NOW :)