Weekend Recap :: Chase's Birthday Weekend

It was a busy busy weekend at "Bare Foot Ridge"

(something funny my Dad called our farm when we first moved in. It sort of stuck and one day we'll have a cool sign saying just that.) 

Our littlest boy turned NINE! Wow!

How on earth are they growing so fast? I guess the brick I put on their heads to stop that isn't working.  Hee!

Chase woke up Friday morning to donuts & chocolate milk, a present from us, a few cards, & headed off to school with treats to share with his class. Ella & I joined him for lunch at school later that day.

As soon as the boys were off the bus and Aaron was home from work, we loaded up the truck and made a few trips back to our campground.

(Aaron and the boys built us a campground in our timber a few years back. It's the perfect distance from "home" but close enough to make a quick trip (or ten) to retrieve a forgotten spoon or toy).

I may have shared before, but I do not care to cook. I'm just not great at it. The exception comes when we are camping. I love to plan and prepare our meals in our dutch ovens. In fact I got a new one for Mother's Day this year.

Our Friday night dinner consisted of BLT/grilled cheese sandwiches made in a cast iron skillet and topped with homemade salsa. Dessert was a pumpkin cake made in the dutch oven with vanilla ice cream.

I'm not sure what the goofy faces are about, but Coe & Ella were having fun. LOL!

The first night of camping was just us. It's crazy at times, but I hope the kids remember these moments forever. 

(Note the pillow fight in action in the kids' tent.)

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Saturday morning, after a quick breakfast of homemade zucchini bread, starting a few loads of laundry & dishes, and refreshing with showers, we headed off to the closest Bass Pro Shop with just the boys. 

(Last year the boys decided they would rather get $100 to spend at Bass Pro for their birthdays instead of having a birthday party. In the end, it saves us money! Throwing birthday parties are fun, but expensive!)

Aaron found his real family. ;)

Lunch at the Bass Pro restaurant. (We laughed at how big Aaron's hamburger was!)

The boys did great with their money!

Coe got a safety harness for his first year of bowhunting, a watch, a small toy fly catcher, a new pocket knife, and judo points for small game hunting.

Chase chose a new camo bookbag for school, a metal hunting sign for his room, the same toy fly catcher that Coe got, a bigger tackle box, and some new fishing lures.

It was a great day with the boys! (Ella had an awesome day with a neighbor friend. Thank you Payton!)

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Back home and to the campground for another night of fun! This time with a friend for each of the boys.

Tonights dinner was Dutch Oven Venison Stroganoff, Dutch Oven Cheesy Potatoes, & S'mores.

After dark Aaron brought down some sparklers for the boys. And boys being boys had more fun making small grass fires and stomping them out. Oy!

I spent most of the evening reading "Happy, Happy, Happy" by Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty. I picked it up while we were down at Bass Pro and had three quarters of it read by the end of the night. 

I'm not completely finished just yet, but I would definitely recommend it! 

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The kids were up and going before 6am this morning and ready to hit the timber and head to the creek.

While the two older boys got the fire going again; we made a quick trip to the house to get some coffee in the thermos, some pork sausage, and a dozen fresh eggs so we could start breakfast.

Sometimes (well most of the time) the boys' friends think it's weird how many pictures I take when we are doing something (ok anything). Chase's response to his friend this morning; "just sit still and then she'll go away." Bahaha!

Well buddy, that might be true, but I can guarentee someday we'll look back at this photo and say "Wow, look how little you guys were! Your feet weren't even touching the ground while sitting on the cooler!"

You're welcome - Love Mom. :)

A few shots of camp from this morning ...

This lantern has been on many of camping trips with Aaron & I; even long before kids and deciding it was easier to just have our own camping spot at home.

I believe in the below photo the conversation went like this:

Eli: "does she always take this many pictures"

Coe: "Yep."

Eli: "Good grief."

I hope you had an amazing birthday (weekend) buddy!

Now, to tackle that mountain of laundry ...