Not-so-tough mudder & whirlwind camping.

So I am not great at making decisions and especially when it comes to making decisions between doing two really fun things, my solution is just yes and do both!
Saturday morning was the first event - Foam Fest ! For those of your unfamilar of what that is, it's like a cross between a tame version of Tough Mudder and a bubble bath. There is a series of obstacles that involve climbing and sliding and crawling through the mud. Two years ago we did this in Sun Peaks and this year, we stayed local and one of my friend's daughters was old enough to join the race too.

 The other kiddos weren't old enough to join but had their rainbow flair on and were ready to cheer us on.

 The course took over an hour to make it through, the worst was the army crawl through the mud under the ropes but at least there were no electric shocks. I would not make it in the army, I was like a sad beached whale moaning through the mud. The best part was the giant slip n slide. Hopefully this video works and you can see us all zipping down...

So as soon as we got our medals and gave everyone on our team and the cheerleaders a high 5, I tried to shake off the excess foam and dirt and we drove off to Cultus Lake for part two of our do-it-all weekend. I don't know how but I convinced my husband to pack up the tent, the BBQ, mattresses, sleeping bags, 2 stand up paddle boards and a kayak to go camping for one night.  Everyone else had got there the night before but because of Foam Fest, we couldn't make it out earlier but we made the most of our time there and it was so worth it (although we didn't actually use the SUPs and the kayak)

If you talk to my husband, he can give you quite a few reasons why camping sucks but I can think of at least three reasons why we will be camping is great. One of those reasons is the freedom. Back at home, apparently if someone sees that my kids are playing in the front yard unsupervised I could have Social Services knocking at my door but when we are camping, the kids are free to run to the playground together and run around in the forest together. I love that the 'rules' no longer apply. The kids are free to play by themselves and the adults are free to sit beside the campfire and assume the children will come back at some point when they are hungry. They love it and we love it.

The other reason camping is awesome is that there are no line-ups or crowds and the simplicity of entertainment. The kids played tag, challenged each other to running races, threw rocks in the creek and my kids attempted to catch a football. At no point did anyone ask for episode of Paw Patrol.

 The other wonderful thing about camping in early June is that there was no fire ban so we could make a proper campfire and make s'mores. We even tried roasting Timbits which some people liked and some people just burned their mouths on the hot donut.

 Oh and the stars - I love that you can see the stars at night. Since it's futile to put the kids to bed until its dark, the kids didn't sleep til almost 10:00pm and the adults stayed up talking by the fire til midnight and the sky is just lit up with all the stars. I am so used to the city lights it's easy to forget to look up to see how beautiful the night sky is.

 I love camping with other families - there were 10 kids altogether ...trying to get 10 kids to eat their dinner was a bit of a gong show....the younger kids laughed hysterically while the older kids demonstrated their armpit farting and burping abilities but luckily, you work up quite an appetite from running through the forest so everyone eventually did eat their dinner

So it was a lot of work to pack all that into one weekend (figuratively and literally) but I think we made some lasting memories of hopefully started some traditions that will keep happening every year!

Papa Bear was still sleeping in the den so alas could not be in this photo.