2015 Camping: underground smoker

While camping, David always has some project or another that he's working on. 

Here he is making the pieces for the trebuchet.

 I can't remember what he wanted to use it for, but this was when we made a little thatched fencey thingy. 

Champion wood splitter.

Ta-da!

David also made an underground smoker. 

 We had a pork roast that we brought for this purpose.

 But then while we were waiting for it to cook my dad asked, "Is your smoker supposed to have those large flames?" or something to that effect. No. No it wasn't. 

 Bon-appetite! 

2015 Camping compass treasure hunt

Before we went up camping we decided to make a treasure hunt for the kids.

 My parents had many compasses which they donated for the cause. Each child would get their own compass to use and they would follow instructions that we mapped out to find sticks and pieces of wood that we marked with bailing twine. After they followed the directions and got all the wood, David helped them all to make a trebuchet. 

Here's Grandpa showing the grandkids how to use the compasses. 

 Here the kiddos are following the directions and looking for the sticks. Some were better with the compass than others.

This was the last spot. Sticks and suckers awaited them. 

 Here they are all gathered to make the trebuchet.

And the video of all the hard work paying off...

2015 Camping Water Fun

There was a lovely creek right by our camping spot with shallow places to play and sandbars. The kids spent lots of time in their swimming suits. 

 We got a lovely family photo there. It was so beautiful!

 One afternoon we also went to the reservoir. The water was pretty warm, but it was rather icky.