GroshLink

Taking advantage of the first night of summer vacation and a promise of a clear night, Hayley, Ellen and I camped out last night on top of our sand mound, not because of any special affinity for our sandmound, but just because our backyard is essentially all sandmound. Some of you faithful blog watchers may recall reading about our last camping adventure, in the woods, on the "family" farm. Suffice it to say, that adventure was ill-fated from the start. This one held much more promise. My mom and dad recently bought a "fire pit"; I don't know what it's called. It's a metal drum contraption on legs that you use in your "outdoor living" environment. One can make a wood fire in it and roast marshmallows or grill. So they wheeled that over and we made smores. We kept Eden up late so that she could wear, I mean eat, one. Then of course H and E were too excited to settle until I finally went to bed with them. I think they fell asleep around 9:45pm. And were up at 5:50am. Normally they sleep from 8pm-6:30/7am. Grandpa was already over here when we awoke, getting the fire going again to cook pancakes and bacon. Pancakes cooked in bacon grease over an open fire, smothered in real maple syrup are sufficient to make you forget any rocks you slept on top of the previous night. By 7:15am breakfast was over and we were cleaning up! How did this camp out compare to the last one?

1. It didn't storm. Therefore, we remained in the tent all night.
2. No flat tires.
3. Indoor plumbing was conveniently only a few feet away. My dad did suggest bypassing the indoor plumbing on account of our proximity to the sandmound, but I decided against that.
4. No one sleeping next to me was suffering from a hacking cough.
5. No one threw up in the middle of the night.

You be the judge. Check out our new file of 07 summer pics, which at this time are mostly of this adventure.