Monday, May 3, 2010

A camping we will go!

If you read my blog then you are well aware of a little lady named Ava who lives on our row.  Ava and William have known each other since they were born and see each other every single day.  They are more than friends.  They are like brother and sister. 

 Ava got a Barbie tent awhile back and she has been pestering her "not so rustic" parents about taking her camping.  I am sure they tried to brush her request under the table a few times, but she never stopped asking.  So, the Simmons turned to Mr. Dan to make her "wildest" dreams come true.

You see, Mr. Dan is our resident camper, hunter, and outdoors man.  We have a basement that might put the Boy Scouts to shame.  Inventory includes tents, poles, a tree stand, ropes, a deer head, canteens, sleeping bags, an archery range, a bow and arrow, camping chairs, fishing poles, flies, lures, night vision goggles, tons of camouflage, decoys, and various other things but I have no idea what you call them.  So, as you can see, Mr. Dan is our "go to" troop leader.


So on Friday night we took the Simmons family camping.  We headed for a car camping location near Luray Caverns in the Shenandoah River Valley.  It's run by the National Park Service so we knew it had to be very well maintained and more importantly, safe.  We got there about 4pm and unloaded our gear.  Ava was grinning ear to ear and thrilled to be on a real camp out.  

Ava and William were going a mile a minute.  I brought along 2 bug catchers so they spent a great deal of time filling them up with bugs and rocks.  When it came time for Dan to set up the tents, you should have seen these two 3 year olds.  Well, just look at the pictures below and you'll see what I mean!

Around nightfall we roasted hotdogs and Carrie had prepared a feast of potato salad, chips, fruit and smores.  She told me that if "she was going to survive a camp out she might has well go out with a good meal!"  Hince the bottle of wine she brought along for the ride.  Ava noticed the Hershey's chocolate for the smores and didn't stop asking about our "camp treats" for about 2 hours.  She was SO EXCITED and beside herself at the thought of gooey chocolate and marshmellows.  William on the otherhand just wanted a bite of chocolate and graham cracker "not on the fire mom mom!"  I only wish I had a picture of Ava savoring her smore.  I think she worked on eating that thing for about 20 minutes.  Hog heaven.

The kids continued to play in the tents and they also watched a movie on the DVD player.  The adults sat around the campfire and around 10pm we all decided it was time to turn in.  That was the latest Ava has ever stayed up and she was going strong!  The little lady was having the time of her life and she would have partied like a rockstar until dawn if we'd let her.  


The next morning we all woke up and declared Ava's Camping Trip 2010 a huge success.  The Simmons packed up and headed home around 8am, but we stuck around to try our hand at fishing in the river.  William has a Sponge Bob pole, but he's never done any real fishing with it.  Leave it to our trusty troop leader, Dada.  He got William's pole all suited up and what do you know...............


William caught his first fish!  Doesn't he look thrilled?

The camp out was a great way to kick off our weekend.  Thanks to Mr. Dan, Ava has a new found love for the outdoors.  Not sure what her parents think..........heeheee.

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