Halloween Fun at the River

We had our 4th annual camping trip at the River the weekend before Halloween with AM and his family again.  It's always something that we look forward to each year.

There was lots of fun to be had....

exploring the river (which was at its lowest that we've ever seen...this made it easier to wade around and explore...but made it difficult to do any tubing!),

kayaking...Elina really enjoyed this one and she looked really good out there!

t-shirt decorating...this was the first year the kids focused on the t-shirts for so long...even Eulee was painting away...and all the shirts came out SO adorable!  We love this tradition!

Eulee even got to enjoy a nice nap on the river!

Unfortunately, there is a burn ban right now, so there was no real campfire to roast s'mores over.  We had to use a stove, which really made things feel different.  There's something to be said about huddling around a campfire at night.  BUT the s'mores were still yummy!

It was a day to remember.  But then Elina got stung by an insect right as I was about to leave with Eulee for the night!  I heard screaming and crying as I was getting into the car so I had to see what it was all about.  'Lo and behold, Elina had gotten stung by something.  She said it hurt so badly and was throbbing.  We cleaned it and put a bandage on, but after almost an hour she was still crying and complaining about it.  I would have been ok with making her stick it out, but no one had brought any children's Tylenol or Motrin..so I felt badly about leaving her there without anything for the pain if it was hurting that badly.  We talked to her about the whole thing...how if she left, then she would miss out on all the fun the next day...how I was only going to run errands the next day, so nothing exciting was planned at home.  After our discussion, she still chose to go home, so we finally left the river at 10:30pm!  Insanity!  

Needless to say, Eli and Evie had the time of their lives the next day with more kayaking, pumpkin painting, and exploring the river.  They didn't even get home until 4pm the following day!   They are definitely our little river rats!

Elina and I had an off day at home...you know, one of those days where you try to make it fun, but it's impossible because you have a list of boring things to do, but then you feel guilty you aren't doing anything fun, and your daughter makes you feel badly that you aren't doing anything with her, but then again the plan wasn't supposed to go this way so why should you feel badly??  See??  It was one of THOSE days.  Nothing went right.  I tried to do my boring things and I tried to at least play some games with Elina.  I tried to do too much and ended up doing everything poorly.  I definitely need a do-over here, folks.  *Sigh*

But whatever stung Elina must have been bad because the next morning, Elina said her finger still hurt a bit.  We still haven't figured out what it was.  She says it looked like a bee or a wasp.  I can understand wanting to be in your own bed after you get hurt, so I don't blame her for choosing to go home.  Well, hopefully next year she'll be able to enjoy the festivities again.  It was really unfortunate things turned out the way they did.  It can only be better next year!!