St. Vrain again!! Better and better.

We arrived at St. Vrain about 3:00 pm on Friday. It was neat because Chris and the girls arrived at the same time and Jim, Kelly, Patrick and Me. We set up the camp and read the camp literature and discovered that the park was celebrating 50 years of camping. So...as dumb luck for Jim and I they had a wonderful program for the kids on Saturday. They learned the ins and outs of fishing and good sportmanship. Afterwards, they gave the children really nice fishing poles, frissbees, colorado pins, pedometers and loads of pamphlets. (everything from hiking to finding fossils.)
On Friday night my cousin Kathleen came for dinner. We love when she visits us...we catch up on family matters and then the kids taught her our favorite card game, 31. Grace helped her play her cards. Saturday, Jim came up for the day. It was fun to have our sons there. They fished and fished. As you can see by the pics, they caught and released and caught. We were all jealous because they got the fish. The children were disappointed that they threw them back. I wasn't, I didn't feel up to cleaning and preparing fish...Sunday, always comes too fast. I took a bike ride with the children and Jim. The bikes are a wonderful addition to the camping experience. No bored children and wow, they fall fast asleep fast at night. I asked what there favorite time was this weekend. The consensus was that getting on top of the motorhome is their favorite activity. (along with bikes, water pumps and fishing.) We plan to go to Cherry Creek in two weeks. So I will blog if something exciting happens between times.

New poles from Colorado State Park system.

Hot air ballon flying by...

Chris caught a huge large mouth bass...

Jim catches a rainbow trout. The kids wanted to keep it as a pet...

Grasshopper in pocket

Grasshopper hunting...extreme...they had their bicycle helmets on while they chased the hoppers. The also were extreme snake hunters, thank goodness for me that they didn't catch one, the snakes were faster than the children.

Patrick's grasshopper.

Chris and his rainbow

going home

The mountains in the background have snow on them.

The happy foursome...

Happy campers...

Kelly sends a bike for Abby

Abby was so excited yesterday. Kelly sent her old bike for Abby. Now whe has a nice bike to take camping, which by the way will be this weekend at St. Vrain, the favorite fishing place. We hope to catch a mess of fish now that the weather has turned cooler.

Get a haircut too

Look Nana I can get my picture taken like Adam...

I can be animated too...

Adam got a haircut, he looked so cute.

Rugrats on Saturday morning

Talk to Nana while she showers

Eat jelly sandwiches

more jelly sandwich

drink my bottle on the run

Lose a tooth...

Get our finger and toenails cut

Drink a bottle and warm up with Nana

FOUR DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS

How silly can we be?

The riders!

Watching the riders

The week of the bicycle tours!

Abby, "I hate marshmellows, can I roast yours for you?"

Abby's big fat exploding marshmellow mess...

safer roasting rods!!!










s'mores and more and chocolate

old men trying to take money from little children...

oh oh, get and try again.

helmet rule

learning to ride

thinking

resting

going home

going home

going home.

The McGinnis clan went to Cherry Creek State Park. We arrived on Thursday afternoon. We set up camp and then the activities began. Papa took down the bikes and it was ride baby ride. The loop in the park is perfect for riding. It is far enough around but small enough to keep an eye on the children. We had Abby, Grace, Patrick and Kelly. Fun is the keyword for camping with Nana. Nana rode her bike too!!! I know for some of you that is surprising, but I got a granny bike and took off. It was funny the children thought maybe I was a little wobbly, so they rode behind me to pick me up if I fell. We had homemade mac and cheese and then a nice campfire. Friday morn the children arose early. We served breakfast and then it was back to riding...after some riding, Papa took the ones who wanted to the path. they discovered it went to the swimming beach. Well you know these kids, they hurried home and begged papa to take them to the beach. Grace and I passed and so they left. They were not gone too long, the water was colder than they anticipated. but wouldn't you know it, they wanted to go again in the afternoon. Papa took all the children and they had a greast time, mostly playing in the sand. (the motorhome was one giant sandbox) I am so happy we got rid of the carpeting. Once over with the broom and a little mopping and we were as good as new. Friday night we had s'mores. Chris and I found some wonderful bbq scures. The are at least two feet long and have enough scure space to roast the whole bag of marshmellows.(slight exageration) We laughed and and talked and then we played cards. These children are turning into card sharks. They don't know what a poker face is, but they know how to fool adults into thinking they know whaqt is in the children's hands. the children won more often than adults. I love how they go through their money bags. They have figured out I give the losers more money before each trip. I don't allow crying, not even if you scrape yourself. The come up to me and ask for bandaids but they keep saying "I'm all right Nana, I'm all right." I want to laugh, but I hold back and play sympathy to their cuts and scrapes. Friday morning was a treat, the Malm's came on their bikes and visited for a short minute. Their children were happy to see them. Saturday morning arrived and we had waffles and cereal by the fire. It was cold and rainy and wet and fun. we ate around the campfire and warmed up in the motorhome. Mike Malm road his bike to see us and he took the children for a longer ride around the campgrounds. (where they are not allowed to go without an adult) They were happy and enthused. Since the weather was so uncooperative we played cards and more cards. Then the Malm family came for lunch. It was so fun to have everyone there. I could see Jon thought camping might be boring, but he soon found out that bike riding and playing cards is fun. Megan could'nt come because she has the crud. Kenny thought he was trapped in the motorhome, so he showed me how to open the screen and the door by himself. What a smarty. It was quiet when Beth left, she took her children home so they could go to church. Abby and Grace were a little lost, they have so much fun with the cousins. Chris treated up to pizza, hot wings and cinnabon. They played cards and Nana fell asleep. Papa told me this morning that I was snoring and he told the girls that we needed a tent for nana.(Chris sleeps in a tent because he snores.) It upset them that he thought I should be outside in the snoring area. I have my protectors. Well sunday has come, the McGinnis family broke up camp. The girls were on top of the motorhome with the rope and hook. They pulled up the camping gear that goes in the storage box and put everything away. I was kind of poking around because I always hate to see the trip end, but the pushed, they wanted to watch the football game. Guess I have to compromise. The next trip is to St. Vrain, outside of Longmont September 25,26 and 27.