Birthday Happenings: Part 3 (Edition, Madeline)

(From May 7-8.  Yes, over a month ago!  And I actually wrote all of it on May 12, but am just now getting around to getting the pictures organized.  Awesome.)

Joel and I with our TEN YEAR OLD.

For Madeline's 10th birthday, she requested a camping trip.  If you know me (and haven't heard this story yet), you may have spit your coffee all over your computer laughing.  I don't typically love camping.  I don't love being cold or dirty and I don't love all the prep that goes into a camping trip.  Especially a camping trip with nearly double the number of people in my family.

Plus?  Maddy requested camping at the beach.  In May.  We live in Oregon, and if you don't, let me just tell you that camping at the coast in early May = a very high probability of pouring rain, with a strong possibility of gale force winds, and a 100% chance of sand.  Bleh.

I said, "Maddy, really?  Camping at the beach in May?  With a whole bunch of kids?  That sounds cold and wet!  And like torture?  Why do you already hate me?"  Some of that I didn't say out loud.  You can guess.

Madeline responded with a very dramatic, "You just don't like to CAMP!"  She already has the teenage angst down, Help Us Please.  (Serious.)

And so, for my lovely daughter, a camping trip was planned.  Thankfully camping in small cabins at a campground with an indoor pool still 'counts' as camping.  (As a side note, if one more person tells me it doesn't 'count' as camping I may punch them in the head.  My laundry room smells like campfire still, I had to bleach my cooler, and my car is still sandy with wadded up socks.  It's camping.)

She asked for her 3 bffs- all of them friends since they were babies or early preschoolers.  Sweet girls and how blessed we are to have such good friends for our kids.  She also wanted her brothers to come, in the boys cabin of course, and requested that Grayson join us.  He hasn't missed one of her birthdays yet!  (I think?)  I reserved 2 cabins, one for the boys and one for the girls.  Thankfully my awesome husband loves camping and whenever my enthusiasm started to fade, he jumped in!

We loved this porch swing!  (And now have one in our back yard!)

I carefully watched the weather report as the day drew near.  And somehow, I must have done something right in my life because the weather was perfect.  Like unbelievably, incredibly, amazingly, PERFECT.

The kids were perfect too.  So was the campground.  And the cabins had little heaters and a clean bathroom/shower house nearby.  Plus a indie coffee shop just across the street.  It was really, really, perfect.

Friday we swam and had a campfire.  The kids played in the woods; near enough for us to hear them, but far enough for them to feel independent.  They all snuggled in on the couch for a movie, that they all agreed on.  Amazing!

Saturday went way too fast!  My mom came over and helped with breakfast, and then she took the kids back to the little forest and played games while Joel and I cleaned up and packed up.  Then we all headed to the beach where Dave, Judy, and Molly joined us for a gorgeous couple of hours playing in the water, exploring the tide pools, and climbing the big sand dune.  Judy and I even climbed it- we had to, in order to maintain our 'cool mom' status!  We had hoped for a late check out so we could utilize our camping spot for lunch, but no luck.  So?  We had tacos, prepared on the ground in the Pacific City parking lot.  It was pretty much awesome and then we sang to the birthday girl and ate cake as fast as possibly because we had to hit the road.  Maddy opened her present in the car as we were all wiping sand off and throwing dishes in the car!  By the time we got home, I was tired.  Exhausted.  But the good kind of exhausted, the 'I-love-my-kids-so-much-and-I've-climbed-a-huge-sand-dune-and-gotten-just-a-touch-of-sunburn-and-can't-wait-to-get-sand-off-me-and-crawl-into-my-own-bed' kind of exhausted.

Proof.  We are AT THE TOP.  Too bad we don't have sound here, so you could hear us huffing and puffing and gasping for breath!




The Chef's Assistants help prepare lunch!  (Thanks, Ladies!)


Birthday Lunch!  Hurry!


M requested Strawberry Cake.  I tried this recipe and it was DELISH!

Madeline requested donations to Toukoul, the orphanage where her sister will live before we go to get her, in lieu of birthday gifts.  Grayson and Molly gave her a huge bag of games and school supplies for us to take over!  So exciting and fun!

All in all it was a very successful camping trip.  To sum it up, I'll quote Grayson.  Joel overheard him say to Garrett, "Oh man.  This is one of the best times of my life."  Then later, he said to Joel, "This is one of the best times of my life.  Is it one of the best times of your life, Joel?"