Memorial Day Weekend 2007

Memorial Day CampOut 2007

(click on photo to see slideshow)

For Memorial Day Weekend, we decided to go camping at Jellystone in Fort Atkinson, WI, an hour and a half drive for us. Being the first campout of the year, we didn't have everything we needed right at our fingertips and it took us longer than we planned to get ready. But we got on the road only to discover that the bungees that were holding the choo choo wagon on weren't doing the job. So we crawled along until we got to Lake Geneva and stopped at the WalMart there to get a cargo net. Once we had that on, we were set. And yes, Plan B worked great! We got to Jellystone just in time to put the kids to bed. :(

The next morning, we set up the screen tent for the trips to play in. That should have been the 1st thing we put up, even before the camper. The pack n play is too small for all 3 now, so we had just Joey and Eddie in there while we were setting up the camper, but all 3 were screaming mimi's. The screen tent would've given them some room to stretch in while we were busy. Oh well, put that in the mental file for next time. Got the screen tent up in time as it started to lightly rain. It stopped so we took the kids to the playground. Eva played on the big kid playground while the trips checked out the little kids playground. Then we went back for lunch, but Eddie didn't make it, he fell asleep right away and Ella was right behind him. After their naps, it was raining again, so we got rain ponchos on everybody and walked up to the lodge. There was stuff for Eva to do, there was room for the babies to crawl around in, and I looked around their store for awhile. I bought some tumbled rocks for Eva (that girl is always putting rocks in her pockets!!) and some ice cream for the rest of us. Then Daddy and Eva played mini golf while the trips and I watched. Then we walked back to the campsite for Dinner. After dinner, we went to the Activity trailer where they had "Ice Age, the Meltdown" playing with popcorn and soda. Halfway thru the movie, the trips were asleep. When the movie was over, we went back to the camper and put everyone to bed.

Sunday morning, Eva and I boogied out of the campsite while Dad took care of the trips and made breakfast. Eva made a firecracker hat for the parade (which we didn't do because we did that last year and it was a really long walk for a 3 yr old then and at 4, I'm still sure I'd have to carry her!) The kids were all getting fussy and we needed firewood, so we piled everyone into the truck and decided to take a drive. Drove into Fort Atkinson and they had a reenactment going on at the old fort, so we went over there. That's when we realized that we had left the choo choo at the campsite. Oh well, we thought, we can do this!. So Gerald carried two, and I carried one and after about a half hour, Gerald says to me, "let's not do this again. we must carry a stroller at all times." And it was really hot out and I was getting burnt, so we went back to the campground in time for the ice cream social. Then the we went back to the campsite and everyone had naps (including mom & dad). Then we had dinner, put the trips to bed, had a campfire, then went to bed.

Monday, Eva & I went to the Crafts and she made a cute door hanger. Then we went back to the campsite to pack up. While we were packing up, somebody stopped that knew Gerald from work. Man! can't go anywhere without Gerald knowing someone!

It was a little hard trying to fit in the campground's schedule of activities within the babies schedule of eating/sleeping, so we missed some activities. But I still think Eva had a good time. It was also tough because our campsite was on the main drag, so everyone that came by noticed our choo choo first, then the kids if they were in the screen tent or the 3 high chairs. We heard a lot of , "Oh My God! There's 3 babies!!" yeah, glad you can count. Quite a few people had never seen our choo choo before and wanted to know where to get one.

I need to be more organized in the camper - with 3 new bodies in there, it's really hard to keep track of stuff and it quickly becomes a mess. But we'll get there. Gerald & I are already planning the next trip!