We Went Camping for Christmas!

This year for Christmas we wanted to do something different.  Something to make Christmas a little more special with less focus on the presents and the sweet food.  Somehow we found ourselves planning to go camping!  James parents, his three youngest sisters, and his older sister Rachel and her family all went with us.  We met in Montana in the national forest near James' Grandma Staples house.  There is a little cabin there available to rent.  No electricity or running water, but there is an outhouse.  James parents and younger sisters stayed in the cabin.  Rachel and Tyler and their family stayed in their pop-up trailer.  And we stayed in our great big tent.

 

 

 

 

Santa was even able to find our tent out in the middle of the woods.

Christmas morning!



 

 

This picture is kind of blurry, but it shows our tent all lit up at night.



James and Rachel making breakfast in front of the cabin.

Lida and Noah

 

 

The Crumpley Family

 

 

 

The Mobley's



Our Family

 

Monique, Jada, and Dajae

 

 

 



Annie hugging her Grandma good-bye.

 

 

 

 

James and Rachel

We spent Christmas Eve setting up camp and playing around.  The kids all had lots of fun together sledding and playing in the snow.  Grandma Staples came out to camp to join us for dinner.  She brought doughnuts and all kinds of treats.  We read the Christmas story together, sang Christmas Carols, then let the kids play a little more before settling down for the night. 

We spent most of Christmas Day at Grandma Staples house.  We enjoyed visiting with each other and also got to Skype with Chris for quite a while.  We all had Christmas dinner together.  Then while the kids watched Despicable Me 2, the grown-ups played a couple of games.  Just before we left we all took a turn in the bathroom so that none of us would have to use the cold outhouse in the dark.  We got back to camp just in time to get ready for bed. 

The day after Christmas we had a pancake breakfast then started packing up.  We were sad to say good-bye to everyone. 

Now we have to decide what to do next Christmas.  Any suggestions???

Steel Creek 2013

This year we got to have TWO family campouts at Steel Creek back to back. 

 

First with the Humphries side.

 

Calvin in his Mama's hat.

Me and Joni!
 

Spencer and Nana

Melanie stayed close to Stephen as much as she possibly could. 

When it rained we all hung out in our big tent and Nana kept some of the little ones occupied with pictures on her phone.

Spencer and Calvin

 

Then the Mobley side.

 



Uncle Chris and Cooper

Spencer and Aunt Jada

Chris helping Annie get ready to go down the zip line.

Me and my Nomi Girl

Spencer and Daddy

The water pump.

The Rest of Our Time on the Oregon Coast

The next day, June 25th, was Ellen's birthday!  We had great plans for the day!

 

The low tide that morning was a super low tide which meant tide pools!  I had read that the far southern end of the beach at Cape Lookout had some pretty good tide pools, so we headed in that direction.

 

 

 

We found some!

 

Most of the starfish were this purplish brownish color so they were pretty well camouflaged.

But some were bright orange!  All of the little orange spots on the cliff wall in this picture are starfish.  There are lots and lots more that were purple.



This time we were a little more prepared to get wet.

Well, the rest of the day didn't quite go as planned.  We went on a hike to go to the top of Cape Lookout. 

We started out pretty good, but ended up very cold and wet and well, not very happy.  When we finally got back to camp the wind had picked up again and our tent was not looking so great.  And most people had left the campground.  We decided we had better leave to.  The sooner the better.  So while Naomi and Noah entertained Spencer in the van, the rest of us packed up as quickly as we possibly could while the wind tried to blow everything away.  It was a little crazy!!!  We finally got all packed up, checked out, and headed away from the coast.  We didn't know quite where we were going, and were all a little sad.  Especially Ellen. 

We remembered a restaurant on the other side of Tillamook that had caught our eye.  We went there and had a great dinner and let Ellen open her presents.  After that we drove a little farther up the highway and found a forest road, took it, and found a place to camp.  Then, once again, we got crazy busy and unpacked and got all set up in our new campsite.  Whew!  It was a long day!

The new campsite was a lot better because there was no wind!  But there was still some rain and some mud.  Not so great, but a little easier to deal with.

 

 

Since it was still so rainy, we decided to go to the Tillamook Air Museum. 

The next day was actually kind of sunny!  We couldn't believe it!  We were all out of clean and dry clothing though so we had to do something about that first.  We drove into Tillamook.  James and the 5 bigger kids dropped Spencer and I and our laundry off at the laundromat, then they all went to the Tillamook Cheese and Ice Cream Factory.    

Then we headed back to the beach!

 

Stephen and his Boogie Board

Even though it was sunny, the water was still COLD so the kids would come out and cover up with the warm sand for a while to get warm again before heading back out.

Annie made a Mermaid Tale over her legs.



 

There were lots of ferns around our campsite.  The day we packed up to leave the coast and head to Uncle Mark and Aunt Julie's house turned out to be pretty warm.