4th of July Weekend Camping

For the 4th of July weekend we went camping up past Fairfield at Big Smokey. It was such an enjoyable weekend and a fun experience for the kids. Our kids have never really been camping in the mountains since they have been old enough to remember. We have done the camping places that are grassy with full hookup but we have never really done the whole "real camping" thing with them. It was such a fun experience for them and for us. It was also nice because we were out of cell service so my husband's phone wasn't ringing off the hook like normal. It was just FAMILY TIME and it was well needed!

Our camp spot was right next to the river. It was so beautiful and I loved listening to the sound of the river going to sleep at night.


The men moved a bunch of big rocks and made a little play pool area for the young kids because the water was moving pretty fast but the kids wanted to play in it. This gave them their very own little area to play.

This is the four of us girls watching the guys cut down a dead tree for fire wood.




Troy, Perry, and I went for a "little ride" (*wink wink Perry) and took the kids fishing.
Uncle Perry taught Kayden how to cast his pole all by himself.








Because we couldn't have fireworks up in the mountains Steph brought cute 4th of July plates and tattoos to help us celebrate the holiday. This is Dave giving Troy his tattoo.

And Brooke helped Ori with his. By the end of the weekend Ori had tattoos up and down both legs and both arms. He even didn't want to bath when we got home because he didn't want his tattoos to come off. Believe me after four days of camping he NEEDED a bath. :)


Dad brought his two BB guns and the boys played with them for a long time. Abbie's boyfriend Mike was camping with us also, and he was so cute with the boys. He helped them set up little army men to shoot at and shot around with them a lot throughout the weekend.




We floated the river on tubes a few times throughout the weekend. It was cold water but the weather was so nice that you got use to the water. It was a ton of fun. The boys even got to go in their little boat a couple of times with Daddy on the calmer part of the river.


This is Grandpa hiding behind the tree waiting to squirt the floaters with a water gun.
The boys on the side of the river waiting to squirt the floaters as they come by.







Perry and Marcy locked their keys in the truck so the guys worked on it for awhile. Troy finally got the door open, but once inside found out the keys weren't in there. We searched the campsite for a couple of hours and Steph finally found the keys on the tailgate of one of the trucks.
This is Ori supervising the guys working on the truck.


The last evening I gave Jaycee a bath in Grandma's dish tub. She actually really really enjoyed it and slept so good that evening after being nice and clean.

The last evening everyone brought stuff to make pizzas in the dutch ovens. Mom, Dave, Perry, and I were the cooks for the evening and ended up with 5 pizzas. They turned out so YUMMY!!