We picked the July 4th weekend for our camping trip and we chose to return to Mt Madonna this year.  Stuart and I had considered going for two nights like Dave/Brandon and Theresa/Martin, but a couple of weeks ago, we decided upon going for just one with the rest of the gang.  It took some times to gather all our supplies for this trip but we were all excited.  On Saturday morning we left the house almost an hour behind schedule as the nearby stores were out of ice from July 4th.  We finally arrived the campsite just in time for lunch.  The Tsaos and the Kaos were relaxing at the site, and Theresa and Martin just returned from their long hike.  Stuart unpacked and set up the tent while the boys started playing with the rest of the kids.  Dave began making some sausages, so we had them with green beans, spam masubi, Hawaiian bread and fruits for lunch.  Sometime In the afternoon Kathy,Ian,Kira and Chris arrived too.  We loved this campsite as we felt quite isolated from other campers, and we had the restroom in a relatively close vicinity.  We basically hung out near the campfire all day and just periodically moved our chairs around to avoid direct sunlight.  Most of us were served with assorted wines all day by Theresa and Chris while Stuart did find a few takers to share some variety of beers with him.  We had snacks in the afternoon, then we were served with one of my annual favorites, chicken skewers, for appetizer.  Then for dinner, Dave grilled us his homemade yummy juicy burgers along with veggies and fruits, and we were really stuffed by then. 

    All the kids went around the campsite all day long.  They played hide and seek, tag, and swords.  Once Logan and Connor were having so much fun just hiding and waiting for Mckayla while she was having a snack; they did not mind at all waiting for her.  Most of the kids later played Twister and Connor joined in too.  Ian was so good helping Connor out to stretch his leg so he could fulfill his turn.  The kids had fun with Frisbee and kickball at some point.  The boys and I played one game of Uno, later the girls, Mckayla,Kira,Peyton, and Marcus really got into the game.  The four of them were very content sitting around the long cot playing on and off the rest of the day; it was cute watching them.  Kathy also brought an art and craft project for the kids to do.  She set up the area with paints and brushes; the girls, Marcus and Connor were very excited.  Marcus and Connor quickly painted their masterpieces while the girls were very diligent and did some beautiful paintings.  Ian made a quick drawing later too.  Neither Logan or Brandon were interested to paint, so they probably were off playing together.  Later all the kids had fun with the walkies talkies, running around trying to talk with each other.  We also had a bunch of plop airplanes where Brandon, Ian, Logan and Connor were interested in putting them together and flying them.  They had played a game of music chairs; they all had fun playing it until we the adults tried to interfere with the rules and ended the fun.  When it started to get dark, the kids quickly played with some glowsticks as well.  During the day the kids just stopped playing briefly to have lunch and dinner.  They also had some snack times with ice cream drumstick and chips.  The S’more after dinner was of course the kids’ favorite.  Connor had so much fun playing with all the kids that he did not sit with me around the campfire as much this year compared to last, but he was sitting on me very contently watching the S’more in making.  Later he enjoyed taking the S’more apart to enjoy them separately.  Logan on the other hand was not interested in S’more, so he asked for another ice cream drumstick instead. 

   We took a couple of hikes during the day.  The first one with just Michelle and I leading Mckayla, Ian, Kira, Brandon, Logan and Connor.  We took a different turn and hiked into a non-familiar nice scenic route, but the track got more narrow with steep hills.  So Michelle and I decided to turn back before someone slipped down the hills.  In the late afternoon I enlisted Stuart to go on the second hike so we could work off some calories to make room for dinner, and the Kaos joined us.  Logan asked to stay on the campsite with Ian who agreed to keep an eye on him.  We went on the familiar hike this time and had a fun easy walk.

    Before it got completely dark, the kids were all slowly sent to bed.  We got Logan and Connor cleaned up and changed, then I left Stuart with them to join the adults around the campfire.  It was warm this year and there were quite a bit of mosquitos.  Despite our effort of putting on scented oil periodically, the boys might have been bitten.  They were complaining for a long time that they were itching.  Stuart put some lotions on them and after a long struggle (an hour) the boys finally fell asleep.  Stuart later came out and joined the crowd too.  We had a good time hanging out and a great chat as usual, and we snacked and drank some more wine too.  Before midnight we all had to clean up and go to bed.  During the night, Logan and Connor both woke up once complaining of itchiness; we put socks on them and they returned quickly to sleep until the morning when the loud bird woke us up.

    For the morning we hung out and played just the same as the day before.  The chefs all jumped in to make a big yummy breakfast for all of us.  Afterward, the men tossed the football around while Logan and Ian tried with the little football; later Connor wanted to join them too.  Our boys are huge fans of “Big Ian” and that goes to all the kids too.  Ian was so nice to all of them, and at one point, the kids were all in line waiting for the Ian’s spin.  Ian was such a good sport and we had to encourage the kids to give him a big group hug so he could take a break.  Everyone slowly cleaned up and packed up.  Then it was time for our group photo to end another successful camping trip.  A big thank to Dave and all the other chefs for the wonderful feast!

    Here are the rest of the photos that I have taken.