Parish Campout 2014--Beverly Beach

In August, right after our computer crashed, we headed out for our annual St. Matthew Parish campout.  That was a funny week--computer troubles/trip to Mac store, deciding to leave for camping a day early, and Marcus getting a promotion on the day we left…whew, it was a flurry of activity.  And as you can imagine, camping (once a year!) is no small feat for our family to begin with.  But we made it to Beverly Beach State Park on the Pacific Ocean by dinnertime, and got set up in our temporary one-night spot:

Our Wednesday night site was right near the playground!!
It was so awesome!

 We didn't set up all the auxiliary tents/structures since we had to move to our "real" weekend site the next morning.  So we just had sandwiches for dinner, which was great. The kids played on the playground or biked the whole time.

On Thursday we settled in to our weekend site in the loop that the church had reserved.  It was a nice spot but we no longer had the play structure in our back yard.  :o(

Here's Marcus setting up his sleeping tent.  We could all fit
in the borrowed camper, but it was much easier to have the
menfolk sleep in a tent (they are early risers).

In addition to the mens' sleeping tent we also had a tent that served as our walk-in closet.  This was absolutely FABULOUS as it kept all the clothes chaos out of the camper. Each child had a plastic bin of clothes, and we used paper bags as laundry hampers.  By Sunday, I put all the clean unused clothes in one bin, and stuffed the other bins full of dirty clothes.  This made laundry sorting SO much easier.

And of course we had a kitchen tent.  Full table, large cooler, food bin, supplies bin, and 2-burner stove.   Astroturf for the ground (we don't camp light).  Worked out great!

Friday was a holy day and even though it was a church campout, we didn't have a priest in attendance until Sunday (for Mass).  So we drove in to Lincoln City for Mass, then went out to lunch at Mo's, yum!!

This isn't exactly "roughing it"….

The kids, including Seddy, were on their bikes
for the WHOLE weekend!

 We normally get sites right next to the other 2 families (Brian's and Meghan's) but this year we had a camper, and the camper sites were not next to the tent sites.  :o(  So the two other families set up their mini-city and we went to go visit.  I wish we could've been right next to each other, but it WAS nice to have a camper and electricity…. (The Keurig and potty room was a nice addition to our normal camping experience…)

The other families' sites--one site had their
sleeping tents, and the other had their kitchen
and "living room."

The Saturday talent show is always fun.  A lot of the kids think of what they will do that very morning, leading to some very silly acts.  Some acts were really amazing, like our friends Thomas and William doing bike tricks! and other friends teaming up for a sisters dance act (so sweet to see a young teen work out a routine with her preschool sister).

talent show at the campground's theater

Bunny ended the show with "Let It Go" and she invited all
the little kids (most of whom did not have their own acts)
to sing with her.  :o)

Saturday was also Potluck day--this year my friend Shirley
(in charge of the campout) hosted a brunch potluck.  It was
such a good idea, so yummy and easy!

With the brunch done by noon, we had the rest of the day
to play on the beach.

Every campout, each year, is different.  I would say that this was one of the better years, mostly because we had the camper :o) but also because the campground was great with a lot of activity and amenities for a group campout.  It also helped that the kids are getting older and not ALL of them have to be watched 24/7!  The 3 older ones, and even Gemma for the most part, just took off and played with cousins all day.  Seddy was a handful but it was so heart-warming to see him have a BLAST biking around (under our watchful eye) and thinking he was a big kid, too.  Seeing their joy makes all the hard work worth it.  I have a feeling it will only get better each year!

The entire 2014 St. Matthew Parish campout group.