Camping 2011

Isaac focused during the hay ride.

Riding Redbird!

Playing in the tent with the girls...Adilyn and Kacy.

One of my favorite pictures from the entire weekend...walking out to fish.

Somebody caught a fish, and Isaac touched it!

Nothing sweeter than these moments.

Finally a four wheeler just his size!

Kacy and Luke were deep in conversation.

My sweet boys.

Driving Daddy's truck to the edge of the property.

This weekend was the annual camping weekend out at the Durante's place. In the years past we have gone out for the day, but never stayed the night. This year we decided to go for it...so we bought the tent, the air mattress, loaded up the family and headed out. We had the best day yesterday! There is not much that is more fun for family and friends than to hang out outside, enjoying all things dirty and out of the ordinary. The kids got to do so much that they don't get to do often, such as play in a huge dirt pile, ride a horse, go on a few hay rides, go fishing, and just run around free all day! It was the perfect day for both of my boys! I think Isaac and Luke would both gladly spend every minute of every day outside...so this was heaven! We started the day with a hay ride, driven by the tractor....oh how Isaac loved the tractor! Next, we checked out the dirt pile, and Isaac got dirtier than I've ever seen him get. He used to stay away from dirt/sand, but he's getting more used to it and played in it! There were some power wheels to play with, so of course he had to drive around the four wheeler and the truck. Then, we headed over to check out Daddy's progress on the tent, it looked great! We put Luke in it, and he had so much fun crawling around free! Two of his friends joined in, and they had the best time laughing and playing! Oh, there was also some horse back riding during this time, as soon as he saw the horse Isaac said, "I want to ride it." I was a little surprised by this, but he was right, he wanted to ride, he had no hesitations! I am so proud of him! After dinner we headed over to the ponds to do some fishing, Isaac had been waiting all week to fish with his new fishing pole! He was so excited, and he did pretty well! Although it was hard for Carl to handle Isaac's inability to leave it in the water and wait for a fish to bite. So of course he didn't catch anything, but he didn't care he just wanted to cast and reel it in. Luke and I sat back and watched them fish, and I have to say it was one of the sweetest moments to see Daddy and his son enjoying this new experience together. These are the moments I live for! After the fishing we headed back to camp to get ready for the night. As soon as I walked in the tent, Luke said, "NO WAY, MAMA, I'm not sleeping in here." I tried to convince him otherwise, but he cried so loud and long that even Isaac said, "Tell him to stop crying, he's scaring me." So, I made the decision to take Luke home. I didn't want us to be responsible for keeping everyone awake. Our truck was blocked in, but thankfully we have some awesome friends, so I borrowed a friend's truck and we headed home. He slept like the sweet baby he is as soon as we got home. And I slept pretty good, too! We headed back out to camp this morning to pick up the big boys and help clean up camp. When I got there I found a happy big guy, he loved sleeping in the tent! Carl says Isaac slept great, he rolled all over the tent, but During this time Luke discovered Adilyn's little four wheeler. Isaac drove it around a lot (of course, he loves anything with wheels), but this morning he drove it over close to Luke, and boy was Luke excited! It was so precious to watch as Isaac got off of it, and started to tell Luke all about it, starting with the wheels. Luke listened closely, and then slowly inched his way on to it. Isaac thought that was great and showed him how to drive it. Isaac and I helped Luke drive it around in a circle, and Luke's face lit up! Then he sat proudly on it as we all watched and snapped pictures. He accidentally pushed the button on his own, it went forward a little ways, and he didn't even seem phased by it! Looks like there might be another four wheeler driver in our future! After some morning fun and cleaning up it was time to head out. Isaac helped Daddy drive the truck to the front of the property, we said our good-byes, and then put a crying Isaac in the truck...he was not ready to leave. We cannot thank the Durante family enough for opening their property and hearts up to us all, we have made memories we will cherish for a lifetime! And we are already looking forward to the next campout!