I think I’ve done enough camping posts that, at this point, we all know the drill. Last weekend (10/8 – 10/10) was our second trip of the season and our third “Halloween” weekend adventure. This year we had 10 kids…and the only thing we could think of that came in a group of 10 was bowling pins. Thankfully, the crayon costumes from last year’s trip worked well in white with red stripes! I found some round hats that previously had snow men faces on them at Michael’s. The faces came off easily and the kids looked somewhat like a group of bowling pins.

Other items of note: the weather was PERFECT – warm during the day and cool at night. Some said too hot in the day and some said too cool at night, but it wasn’t a torrential downpour like the last time so I was a happy camper (haha – literally!)

pictures and some more re-cap:

This picture is purely for reference next time. We were debating how we had done our tents in the summer. I said “I might have a picture on my blog that I could pull up”. Now I know I do!

We arrived Friday around 5 and set up camp. The kids stayed up late to go on a sing-along hayride and everyone went to bed late. Some of us (Brian, Logan & Aiden along with others) had to leave camp the next morning to drive back for soccer practice and games (Anne and Brian are the coaches for Aiden, AJ and Ryan so they couldn’t skip it. Logan said he “didn’t want to let his team down” by not showing up). Aiden had a little nap in the car on the way back to camp (Anne and Jeff’s car)

The tent was too hot and Brady was tired. He got his pillow pet bumble bee and tried to make himself comfy in Joel’s chair… he actually later took a nap in Anne and Jeff’s car too. Jeff was trying to drive Matthew around so I threw my little guy in…at least he got a little rest!

We tie-dyed some pillow cases for trick-or-treating then some of the kids (note: my “I’m not artsy” one!) wanted to paint at the activities center.

Look at his cool alien guy! (Aiden strangely did NOT want to paint – go figure)

In formation. We are missing little Kate because she wasn’t in the picture-takin kind of mood.

They didn’t have a costume contest this year, just pictures with Yogi Bear on the big stage. As the kids were climbing up, one of the girls who works at the camp said, “hey! weren’t you the crayons last year?” Then she yelled to someone – get a picture of this! She said to me, “this is brochure material!” too funny.

Brady hasn’t quite learned how to smile on command…but it’s so stinkin cute!

Logan and his stash. The kids got a LOT of candy. The camp ground was super crowded that weekend. A lot of people were running out.

Isn’t that just beautiful!? And talk about efficient…no door-bell ringing necessary…just walk up and down the sites! One other funny story: as we were all walking around, a girl pointed at the kids and said, “oh! you were the crayons last year, right?! you guys are legendary!” We might be out of creative ideas though…better start brainstorming for next year (HA!)

Back at our “place”, Brian and Jeff were handing out the treats. Little Matthew (1) was actually helping them. I didn’t get a picture, but it was hysterical! When we ran out of candy, Logan went and got his bag. He dumped it on a chair and the kids proceeded to hand out all of his stuff to the trick-or-treaters coming by. They all had a blast doing it and I couldn’t have been more proud of Logan – so kind and giving! He only picked out 4 things that he wanted to keep for himself. Later that night, after all the kids had stopped coming by, Logan asked for a plastic bag so he could pick up trash in the forest!

Cousin Jack stopped by with Memaw and Grandpa to trick-or-treat with us. (he’s the ghost!)

The moms in our bowling shirts

One of the big treats at Halloween camping is sugary cereal (Boo Berry, Frankenberry and Count Chocula). Here are “the cereal killers” on Sunday morning. The adults always eat Mr. Cheesy or Senior Cheesy (a delicious concoction of bacon, hash browns, cheese and eggs…or sub chorizo for the bacon for a Mexican flair!)

This is Aiden with his head inside of his pillow case on Sunday morning looking for a treat. I basically let the boys have a free-for-all on the candy until we got home. Now it’s all been stashed in the top of the pantry and all but forgotten.