Beautiful Fall Weekend

I am up -- again! -- in the middle of the night.  My days and nights are completely out of whack!

We had a full weekend; I think we packed in as much as we could, and today I felt it.  I was so tired, had a little headache, and napped off and on all day. 

We had our yearly Camperee trip this weekend, with a group of friends and friends-of-friends; there were about 130 of us in total.  We had a wonderful time.  The campground was beautiful; it's secluded, clean, and quiet.  The kids went down Friday evening, and we joined them Saturday morning.

We grilled, visited, met knew people, and joined in on impromptu music fests.  Andrew had brought his keyboard and wowed a group with his musical talents.  Seriously, he is quite good, but isn't used to performing in front of a lot of people and getting applause.  It made  him a little uncomfortabe.  He has several friends who play guitar and one of them joined in with him on a lot of the music he was playing.  This particular friend hadn't played with him before and was thrilled that Andrew played the type of music he favored, which none of their other buddies do.  So they're making plans to get together again soon, make some music and put it on a CD.

There were games for the kids.  The couple who organizes this each year really outdid themselves on the games and prizes.  For one game they divided everyone into five teams.  Each team had a loosened bale of hay, and the object was to find the needle in the haystack.  The lady who organized it (I'll hereafter call her D) had put a dulled, three-inch long, gold needle in each pile of hay.  Only one team found their needle, and the girl who found it was so excited that she dropped it!  They never did find it again.

Another game they had was to take their pile of hay and make a scarecrow out of it.  Each team was given a pair of boots, a pair of overalls, a hat, and a bandanna.  There was a prize for the one that was completedfirst.  Then another game was pumpkin bowling!  That was fun to watch!  Every child there got a prize of some sort, and they were really cute and fun prizes.

We had a large chili cook-off in the evening, and lots of great food.  Someone had made some mulled cidar, and I drank three cups of it.  I haven't had that since I was a kid.  My mother used to make it every winter.  I need to call and get her recipe, because now that I've been reminded that such a tasty drink exists, I plan to make it once in a while. 

The fishing was only so-so.  But the creek that runs through the campgrounds is beautiful, as is the surrounding countryside.  The trees had started to change a little, but I really don't think we'll have a full burst of color this year.  It just hasn't been cold enough yet.  We heard a screech owl Saturday night; it called and called for about five minutes straight, and sounded like it was up in the trees right where we were.  Our noise and campfires must have been messing up his hunting.  Then early Sunday morning we could hear coyotes barking.

Anyway, with volleyball, badminton, frisbee, horse shoes, after dark games, like "Capture the Flag", and other fun activities, we spent a very nice weekend.  I really look forward to the next one, and I think D and her husband are already planning things for next year.  We got some pictures, but not a lot.  I was too busy most of the time.  At one point on Sunday Eler Beth and her friend S took off on their bikes, each with a fishing pole in her hand, headed to a spot on the creek where they were just sure they'd seen some big fish.  That would have been a cute picture, but I was too late to capture it!

On the way home we stopped at this little drive-in type diner; back home when I was a kid we had one like it called the Dairy Dip, if that gives you an idea of what it was like; you know the kind with the two windows in the front, one for ordering and one for pick up.  I had a burger there that was out of this world!  It was exactly the way I like them to taste, grilled bun and all! 

So, we had a wonderful time, and I'm so glad the weather cooperated.  It was sunny and warm during the day, and a little nippy at night.  Just right for big campfires and roasting hot dogs and marshmallows; which we did as well.  The kids had a blast! 

Today, though, like I said, I've had a slight headache and spent the day resting up.  I guess tomorrow it's all back to normal, laundry, cleaning, running errands, and catching up on journals!  I think the weather is supposed to stay warm for the next day or two, and then turn a little bit nasty/cold.  Ah well!  It has to come sooner or later, I guess.