We went camping the night before 4th of July with Kat, Donald and Oliver; Mark, Sarah, Clara and Caroline; Brian and the girls and I and our friends and their 2.5 year old- with 7 kids under 3.5 it was a feat! We decided at the last minute to pack up and head out to the coast to cook a big dinner outside and camp overnight. We hauled my Dad's big BBQ and all the camping gear, got there around 5pm to start the fire and started cooking. It was a late night but pretty good weather and a lot of fun- one night of camping (as in pack up in the morning to head home and clean up!) is perfect for my style ;)

The boys putting up the tents

Sarah and Kat with babies in packs to free up hands for beers

Camping Kids

This was our makeshift salad bowl since we forgot to pack one :) It's a cardboard box cut in half and kindling for the fire both covered in tin foil

Aunt Kat shucking corn

Aunt Sarah cutting potatoes with a swiss army knife

and Oliver pretending he doesn't like his dinner ;)

Peach cobbler contents ready to go into the Lodge pot to bury in the hot ashes for dessert

We made sure to throw in a few 4th of July decorations to spruce up camp :)

More wood in a roaring fire- we burned all we had! Go Big or Go Home as usual.

Crazy Clara, Maisie and Francie taking turns LICKING BUTTER. I know, so gross! They found a half a cube and passed it around licking and maybe even nibbling a stick of butter… they thought they were hilarious.

The girls making friendship bracelets by the fire- we were still cooking dinner at this point, I think we ate around 10:30pm

Roasted potatoes in the giant Lodge Pot, tri-tips, corn and bread for dinner

and Sparklers after dinner of course!

Sweet Caroline out like a light

JJ was supposed to sleep in her bassi but of course would only be happy snuggled up with me in her North Face bear suit INSIDE my sleeping bag. I had a cot thanks to my nice husband but tossing and turning every 30 minutes to feed/put the pacifier back in when you are sleeping on a cot in a mummy bag is not easy ;)

Rise and Shine! Happy 4th of July morning :)

Everyone was up bright and early- we woke to the cows nearby mooing when the sun came up and shared stories of whose babies slept the worst in their tent (surprisingly though no screamers all night!)