One final camping trip for the summer..

WARNING..this is a long explanation of our camping adventures..please don't feel like you have to read it all.
We went camping this weekend with our friends Mark, Sheena, Spencer, & Abigail. We went up to Donner Lake near Lake Tahoe. It was a trip full of adventures, but the kids all had a great time together. We left Saturday morning and the fun began as we arrived at the lake with one overheating car and no campground in sight. After circling the lake we found the campground and our sight. When we booked the sight it said that it was in "full shade", well half of the picnic table was in the shade and that was about all. We were all sweating while trying to eat lunch and then the dads got started on the tents. The kids meanwhile started playing in the dirt which ended up being the blackest dirt I have ever seen. They looked like they had on black tights. I had to tell myself at that moment that they were just going to be dirty for the next 24 hours and there wasn't much I could do about it. So, we got the tents up and we decided to head down to the lake by car. We loaded our filthy kids in the car and got to a beach that ended up being for "members only." We were not members so we went to the beach next to it, which happened to be a dog beach. Wow...I sure do love the smell of wet dog as I walk along the beach. We found a little spot to sit with the kids..it was grassy, weedy, and it felt like we were all sitting on top of each other. Meanwhile I (Leslie) headed back to the car with Allie to get our beach gear and get her stroller from the campsite. We got in the car and along the way I found a parking lot that I was sure would get me to the beach and the walk wouldn't be so long. So I put Allie in the Baby Bjorn, throw a bag of sand toys and a bag of towels over one shoulder, a beach bag over the other, and I grab a chair to carry as well. Allie and I start hiking through a skinny little trail and I am getting poked by tree after tree. After walking about a half a mile I saw a beautiful sandy beach through the trees and I was sure that I had found them. Oh no...I could see them across the water (they couldn't see me) and Allie & I were on a little island. Some lovely lady who was sitting by her boat nicely tells me that I could swim across the water. Thanks a lot lady...does it look like I can swim with a newborn strapped to my chest and 20 pounds of bags over my shoulders. So Allie and I hike back, drive to our original parking spot, and an hour later get to everyone else on the beach. The boys were having a hard time at the beach and they didn't want to swim because the water was very cold. Also the sweltering heat that we endured at the campsite was now gone and a giant rain cloud was hovering over us. We even heard a little thunder!!! Things just weren't going so well, so we packed up and headed back to the campground to go on a little hike. Ok, the trip gets a lot better from this point on. We hiked to a little pond where the kids threw rocks and I walked all the way around the pond with them pretending that we were Diego and Dora. They found many mysteries and we sang a lot of songs along the way. After our hike we went back for hot dogs and the kids continued to get dirty in the black dirt. We played around and ate smores while we waited for the "concert" that was taking place in the ampatheater to begin. The kids were convinced that the concert was going to be "the Wiggles", or maybe the Higglytown Heros. We hiked up to the ampatheater with our lanterns to find 2 park rangers getting ready to play a round of State Park Jeapordy. The kids were extremely confused as they were waiting for the Wiggles to appear. Sheena and I could not stop laughing at this situation and then to top it off we had Andy and Mark go up on stage to be the team leaders and ring the loud cowbell when the teams know the answer. They were delighted with us!!! After our exciting game of Jeapordy we finally went to take showers and got in bed for the night. The kids were so tired, so they fell asleep quickly. Allie enjoyed another camping night in mommy's sleeping bag and my body is feeling the effects today of not being able to move much on the hard ground. This morning we had hot chocolate, eggs, and bacon and Sheena and I took the kids on a little walk while the daddy's packed up. They were obsessed with finding chipmunks, which they called "Pip" from the movie Enchanted. Luke and Abigail would yell "PIP" down tree stumps hoping he would pop out. Andrew would often get confused and would be yelling for "Pop" instead of "Pip"." They had a blast doing this. It was now time to head home and get cleaned up because we had a lot of dirty bodies. It was an exciting trip and full of many great memories.