Fourth of July Camping trip

July 4 - in the morning we went to the Kentwood Parade with Hannah, Hope, Grandma and Grandpa S, and Toby. James loved the parade and took in everything from the safety of my lap. Grandma's neighbor, James, and his daughter Jamairee met us there and Hope and Jamairee sat together and played and watched the parade. Andrew was not too impressed - he fell asleep. Jordan was in the parade and we saw Jenny and Joel riding their bikes to go get him at the end. Grandma and Grandpa took some pictures that we'll have to post later.
In the afternoon, Hope came home with us and we packed up some stuff to go camping. Hannah and Hope came with us on our trip to Manistee National Forrest. The campground was full, so we found our trusty corner spot up on a hill. There were some muddy ruts to get there, but we made it. Later on Hope and Hannah and I went to the beach and saw part of a beautiful sunset.

July 5 -
We stuck around camp in the morning. In the afternoon, Joel and Jenny came with Jordan and the kids had a great time running around, playing with dump trucks, and getting on each others' nerves. Here is Andrew taking a break from a giggly tickle session with Hannah.




The mosquitoes were horrible. In order to get to our campsite we had to take a few detours because of roads that washed out in the storms a few weeks ago that dumped as much as 11 inches of rain in this area. The area that we usually "go" was a swamp and the mosquitoes were bad. We quickly ran low on spray. Jenny and Hannah went to the local Meijer (30 minutes away) and bought 4 cans of insect repellent. By the end of the weekend we had a little more than a full can left. Not much. They also bought some tiki torches that Jenny and Ken set up around the campfire. It definitely helped with the little pests.

Joel and Ken went for a fairly long bike ride and checked out some of the new puddles and some of the old puddles too. Hope and Jordan took turns riding Jordan's bike and chasing each other. James had fun chasing. But when Jordan and Hope headed for other entertainment, James wanted to give the big bike a try. Here he is just sitting on it. Not quite tall enough to actually make it go.

Sitting around the fire eating hot dogs and smores. We had a great time despite the 'squiters. Joel and Jenny headed home after smores. I'm looking forward to next time and hoping we can get Mom and Dad S and Ben, Ellen, Elena, and Philip in on it too.

Jordan left a dump truck for James to play with. It is big enough that James can lean over and push it around by the handles on the side. He did that for a while, then found a shovel and started filling the truck with dirt. On of his favorite dump truck activities? Lifting the dump part and sitting in the gap and riding it around like his riding toys at home.