Camp-Out Birthday

Well, our camping outing for Bud's birthday was a fun time!

This year, Bud requested a "Giant Cookie" instead of a cake for his birthday. So, I baked it up and decorated it like a baseball...

It looked ok, but the taste... was NOT a cake!! I don't really love cake, but giant cookies are not on my radar at all! They are hard to bake, as you don't really know how long to bake them! Turns out, I baked this one too long to be a chewy cookie. So, it was a bit crispy and that is not my preference. I have suggested that I would be happy to make cupcakes as a treat ... I am thinking "Black Bottom Cupcakes"... mmmmmm, yes! That will be this afternoon I think!

Anyway, present time is a fun treat, too! Blossom loves the present part. She would like present opening to go on for hours and hours!! She gets so excited about someone opening "HER" present!

Seems that Bud was pretty excited about opening this present, too! I do not know why Scooby Doo is so exciting, but this is the ENTIRE 1st Season... from way back when and it is a thrilling 14 episodes of mystery. Oh, "we" cannot wait for THAT fun to begin!

Branch likes to give presents, too. She likes to watch and make sure that the excited response is the one SHE is looking for in her gift giving! She keeps track of her loved one's favorite items and when she can, she aims to please!

She was certain that THIS "Dinosaur Cove" book would fit the bill for Bud - and she was right!

We got to the camp sight as the sunshine was fading, so we opted to take pictures of our surroundings the next morning. Beautiful, eh? Hard to believe this is practically in our very own backyard! Ok, so it isn't THAT close... but, it is close enough to run up here and enjoy just whenever! No pre-planning needed to go cook out, fish, play on the swing set, run through the trees, lay in the grass, watch the bald eagles, geese and ducks, enjoy the serene surroundings God created, etc...

What are those crazy kids up to? Well, they are collecting very important supplies for their building. Architecture Design 101 for small folks. We have had a fun and fruitful family school time so far this week! All hands on, not so many text-type books. Oh, well... back to those texts next week!

Blossom wanted to help in the building, too. She wanted to add something beautiful! What is she adding?

Oh, just a wiggly, squirmy, "lady bug" caterpillar!

She spent quite a bit of time collecting these creatures! She had over eight in her pocket at one time! She thought they were so cute and lovely. Yes, they all got cleaned out before we left the camp sight!!

Back to the building... They were fashioning themselves a teepee!! Bud is finishing up a unit on North America for Social Studies and one of the things that we talked about was housing... and we touched briefly on the homes of Native Americans... long ago. So, here they had all the twigs they could imagine at their disposal and they created!

Blossom was often found on the sidelines. Here she is enjoying her cup of hot cocoa. She sure was a BIG help to Bud and Branch!

Success! They could sit inside (one at a time) and peer out through the cover of the pine needles.

Blossom loved being in the teepee and she was sure about where and how big the door should be (just right for her), what should go inside (her!), and what should NOT be inside (anyone except her).

We did get Blossom out of the teepee for a bit so that Branch could have a turn sitting inside for a picture.

But, someone was totally and completely put out by having to get out for someone else's photo-op!

It must've been time to start cleaning up and working on getting home! Let's just say that sleep was somewhat elusive for a few of us. More on THAT later! We had a nice time celebrating Bud's birthday in a fun new way! Maybe we'll try it again for another birthday!!