after camping in Astoria/Fort Stevens earlier in August, Cooper wished his "buds" could have gone with us. So the birth of "Cooper's Camp Out" happened. Now the question is when, how long and what to do?
after much thought (well not really, I finally just sat down and emailed the moms and spent 30 min. laying out the plans) we decided to have the Camp Out yesterday (Sunday, Aug. 23). why sunday you ask? well, aaron normally works on sunday and i can't handle four 6-yr-old boys, a 14-month-old and a dog.
so it was decided and emails were sent out, unfortunately Carson (whom we still have yet to meet—he couldn't make it to Cooper's birthday last Jan either) was unable to attend. But Zach was able to come and spend the night. Logan was able to spend the day but was not able to spend the night.
so here was the itinerary for the day:
kids get dropped off, have lunch, bike ride to park, play at park, have snack at park, come home, play in the sprinklers, do tie-dye t-shirts, set up the tent in the backyard, have dinner, play out in the tent, roast marshmallows, tell ghost stories, go to sleep. next morning, kids get picked up after breakfast.
Now here's WHAT REALLY HAPPENED:
Zach arrives shortly after 11am. Aaron & I, of course were not quite ready. (why? well if you know us, you shouldn't have to ask, we are night owls.) So Coop and Zach watch TV while i take a shower. while Aaron was in the shower, Logan gets dropped off. Now all three play up in Cooper's room. Aaron and I get lunch ready. Everyone has PBJ sandwiches with strawberries, cherries and/or BBQ chips. Well, let's say the BBQ chips got the popular vote.
then after lunch i start to get the tie-dye baths, but before i start, i actually decided to ask the boys if they wanted to do tie-dye shirts, actually more like Zach announced that "we would like to play Wii." so I inquired what they would rather do, "play Wii" or "tie-dye", and of course i knew what they would rather do. but i thought i'd at least give them the option. on a side note, the reason we were going to do tie-dye shirts was because Cooper and I took a tie-dye class at working wonders museum 2 weeks ago and we only had time to do 2 shirts so the next day made more at home. someday i'll take photos of the shirts and post them.
and so continuing with the story, Zach and Cooper played Wii while Logan was more interested in playing with Lily the bean. of course, miss "pet me, pet me" was loving it. Princess bubble butt on the other hand took a liking to the cute, tall and blonde-haired boy, Zach. She just flirted with him the best way she knew how—giggled and wiggled her bubble butt. it was actually too cute as Zach politely said "hi Kihra" every so often.
then at some point in the game, Zach and Cooper were getting frustrated because the game was a little to hard and required much synchronization. By this time, Logan was in the backyard playing fetch with Lily. So Cooper decided to join him and they played in the sand box.
Meanwhile Zach was perfectly happy playing Wii by himself. and of course, i was worried that they weren't all playing together like they should. I mean, as a host, aren't you suppose to make sure everyone is included in what's going on? So i decided to intervene and suggested we do something all together. Well that prompted the responses "i wan't to play Wii" (zach), "i want to ride bikes" (cooper) " i want to play in the sandbox some more" (logan). GREAT! now they each want to do something different.
so finally i said, let's ride bikes. so we got everyone's helmet on and headed out, with Aaron & princess bubble butt (PBB from now on) in the lead, followed by the boys and me at the end, reminding them to stay on the sidewalk or stay to the right. unfortunately, PBB lasted about 3 blocks and fell asleep in her seat (she as an ibert which sits in front just behind the handlebars. so aaron had to return home. The boys and I pedaled for a while but after 10 minutes it was getting hard to give them directions when they were ahead of me and hard to make sure they were following right behind when i was leading. so we headed back home.
Cooper and Logan then played in the sprinklers out front and Zach once again played Lego Batman on the Wii. He declared that he wanted to play "just a little bit of Wii, then i'll go play in the sprinklers." well, Cooper and Logan lasted about 10 minutes playing in the water then decided they were done.
Cooper and Logan, the toothless wonders
So then at this point, I've ran out of activities for them to do. so I figured we should go ahead and put up the tent. so Aaron and i put up our 10-man tent, which barely fit out back while Cooper and Logan with Lily played in the sand box again, and Zach stayed inside playing Wii. After the tent was up, Cooper and Logan rinsed off in the sprinklers and changed to dry clothes. And finally, all three played in the tent for a little while. then snack came and well, i wanted some ice cream, and i couldn't very well have some and make the kids have fruit and crackers. so they had ice cream as well.
the three musketeers!
I had to finish some work, so Aaron took over. so i'm not sure what they did, i think they pretty much played in the tent. Then I got sleepy and joined PBB upstairs and took a nap at 4pm.
PBB and I got up at 5pm and found the boys playing Legos in Cooper's room. So then i bugged Aaron to start the BBQ so we can have dinner. So while Aaron BBQ the burgers and hot dogs, the boys came down and played with the legos in the tent as well as made sure Kihra could not go in the tent, "no sisters allowed". Lily was allowed since Logan really liked playing with her.
Dinner was ready, Cooper had a cheeseburger and the other two had hot dogs. we at outside on the deck but then Logan didn't care for the "bee" though i thought it was a fly and decided to eat inside. So I made Aaron eat with him inside. Of course, as always, Cooper too forever to each because he spends most of his time talking. Actually so did Zach. I had to remind them both to eat. At the end, Cooper ate half of his cheeseburger and most of his fries and tater tots, Zach at about 1/6 of his hot dog and all his fries, Logan ate 2/3 of his hot dog and all his fries. Logan said politely after being offered celery and carrots "no thank you, i don't really like vegetables." to which i pondered whether to insist but then i thought, "well, i wouldn't kill him if he didn't eat vegetables at our house."
so once again all three went up and played in Cooper's room. then Logan's dad, came and picked him up. so it was time to get ready for marshmallows. Aaron started the fire and we roasted marshmallow at the fire pit. Zach and Cooper each had 4. PBB had an un-toasted 1/2. then it was wash up and pajama time. at 8:30p, all the boys were in the tent ready for bed. We decided against the ghost stories—it would scare them to much and then no one would get any sleep.
Shortly before going in the tent to spend the night with the boys, Aaron made the comment of "i'm sure we'll be back in the house in the middle of the night."
I put PBB down for the night and headed downstairs to finish work. at about 1am i went to bed with PBB and Lily and the boys were still outside.
this morning, with PBB in hand, we went downstairs, let Lily out to "hurry up" and the boys were still asleep in the tent. 5 mins later Zach and Cooper came in and had breakfast. Aaron came in shortly. Apparently, it got cold—in particular, Cooper asked for a blanket in the middle of the night.
So here are some pictures of the camp out. enjoy.
LET ME IN!!
the end.
until next time. ja ne.
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