Camping with the Coopers

It seems this summer that Monday to Thursday is for errands and laundry and life happens on the weekend. Perhaps because we are enjoying our weekends so much. We have been at the lake almost every weekend so we are squeezing a lot into our weekdays in order to keep up.

I started my Toughen Up class again on Tuesday. Which is great because I tend to get a bit carried away with my meals and snacks at the lake. We tested on Tuesday evening and I was very happy with my beep test result, as well as my push ups and dips. I still could only hang there for my chin up test though, I willed my arms to lift me but they just couldn't do it :)

We did little else this week aside from get ready for the lake. Laundry, groceries and packing. Darcy went up Thursday night to finish up some work. He worked on the outhouse and the deck railing all day Friday. After my workday on Friday I picked up the kids and we drove out. We hit pockets of rain all the way out. When we got there the Coopers were already there and setting up so the kids were all screaming and excited to play.

It was a fairly late night for them, thankfully both of my children slept in on Saturday morning! (if you consider 7:40 a sleep in) Darcy and Coop worked well into the evening. Darcy installed the deck rail and Coop collected and split wood. They were very productive.

Saturday was certainly not as warm as the forecast suggested it was going to be. We did get some sunshine though. The kids spent a lot of time on the swings and playing t-ball, horseshoes and throwing balls. We went for a boat ride and the brave little girls each went for a very brief, cold swim before we came in for lunch. Darcy cooked a mountain of chicken wings which we enjoyed with fresh veggies and dip. The day slipped away quickly after some pool time and a few slushy drinks. We enjoyed steak, potatoes and Caesar salad for dinner then sat around the fire. Cory, LeeAnn, Gavin and Melina came over with their guests the Kingston's for a short visit. We got out our roasting sticks and roasted coconut marshmallows and dough boys. This was our first experiment making dough boys so it took Kara and I a few tries to get it right. We sprayed the end of the roasting stick with cooking spray, then wrapped it in Pillsbury dough and roasted it over the fire until golden brown. We pulled the dough pocket off the stick and filled it with whipping cream, pretty tasty! After filling our children with sugary treats we tucked them in for the night and sat around the fire until we were too cold to sit out an longer.

Sunday morning there was much less of a sleep in. The kids were awake and giggling by 6:30. We were slow moving, making coffee so the kids watched a bit of a new movie quietly in the trailer. The morning was warm and sunny so we figured we were in for a hot day. Darcy got a fire going for me and I tried another experiment. I made cinnamon buns in the dutch oven. Unfortunately, they went from done to burnt in the time it took me to run to the trailer for my oven mitts. I was impressed enough though that I am going to try more cooking and baking in the dutch oven. We had some fruit and cheese with our slightly burnt tasting cinnamon buns and then headed down to the dock for a swim and of course slushy drinks. The girls swam and played in the mud. We hung out at the beach until it was pretty much time for he Coopers to pack up.

After our guests left the kids continued to play n the pool until they were pretty much exhausted. I quickly showered them and put them in their PJs. The finished their movie while we packed up and loaded the truck. Dylan fell asleep on the couch. It was bed time for the kids when we got home and after a quick shower Darcy and I were not far behind.