Card Games & Such

I posted about the Board Games in our camper the other day, and our Outdoor Games a while back.  Clearly, I love games.

We have a regular deck of cards in the camper, but I don't think the cellophane is off of it yet.  We could easily play Crazy 8s or Go Fish or whatever.  But Uno, it's a favorite for our family.  Simple, fun.  A way to play and connect with each other.  When we went camping with my in-laws this year, my father-in-law shared that he'd never played the game.  #1 - I was shocked, who hasn't played Uno?  #2 - They went and bought a deck shortly after the trip to play with my nieces visiting from Florida.

Youngest Kid isn't quite there with Phase 10, though she wants to be.  You try to beat your competitors through 10 different phases of card combinations.  It's a longer game, we've been known to pause a game on our score sheet and finish on another day.

Spot It was a gift from those nieces in Florida.  It's a faster paced game, everyone tries to find a match on the same card.  Fun.

I saw the Little Hands Card Holder at Walmart a while back.  Genius.  Little hands need to hold a lot of cards, this helps them out.  Certainly the 10-11 cards in Phase 10 fit in this nicely.  Also if someone gets zinged a lot in Uno.  These were such a hit that we have 2 in the camper and 2 in the house.

I have some more games that I'll post about another day, good travel sized games. Maybe later on, I'll share games that didn't make it into the camper this year (mental note...).  If I remember.

Board Games

I love to play games, always have.  I have fond memories of playing Risk in our pop-up as a kid with my family.  My kids enjoy games, too, and I love that my kids are old enough to play games beyond Candyland.  I certainly enjoyed Candyland when they were 3, but I'm glad to have moved it to the basement.

As I have started clearing things out of the camper for the winter, the games come into the house and join our other games.  Inevitably, we'll want to play them some time during our snowy months.

Cribbage is mostly for Husband and I to play on rainy nights after the kids are in bed.  We have played it with the kids, but they still need lots of help.  It's a card game with a board for keeping score.

Pentago was a new addition to our collection this year.  It's a 2 player game where you try to get 5 marbles in a row.  Think of Connect 4 or Tic Tac Toe with a literal twist in the game, as you twist a quadrant of the board at the end of your turn.  It's simple and fun, deserving the awards it's received in my opinion.

We have the kids version of Sequence, but it's nice to have moved up to the full version of Sequence.  You use playing cards to attempt to get 5 in a row on the board or to block other players.

My kids love Clue.  We just happen to have The Simpsons version.  Youngest Kid still needs a bit of help, but we have fun playing it.  And when the game is done, the kids will just play with the figurines and make whole story lines.

Sorry, a classic.  Always fun to bump another player back to their Start.

We also have Monopoly in the camper.  I got two games of Monopoly when my uncle died, not sure why.  One board just stays in the camper.  I've thought about getting a new one that has electronic banking so that money can't fly away in the breeze while on a camping trip.  But when we already have two boards, it's hard to justify paying for a 3rd.

The games have moved inside.  Come spring, I'll have the kids help pick out the board games for Camping Season 2015.  I'm always a bit surprised by what they pick.

Here are my posts about Card Games and Outdoor Games

My dog loves camping, too!

Oscar the dog, he knows when we're getting ready for a camping trip.  He's been known to take a quick, unexpected jump into the truck an hour before we roll out and refuse to get out.

Why are you taking my picture??

I have a few friends that don't take their dog camping, mostly because the dog barks too much.  Oscar rarely barks.  Oh, he makes noises to let you know his feelings about things, but he rarely barks.  He also makes a fun old-man coughing noise that's just delightful at 5 am in the camper - old dogs are fun!

Of course, we keep him comfortable while we camp.  He's got a bed in the camper, just like he does at home.  Oscar, he's funny, he loves to be covered up with a blanket.  He'll bring you his blanket so you can cover him up.  Then, I'll hold the blanket up over his bed, he'll walk around on his bed in circles to find just the right way to lay down, and drags his head under the blanket as I start to cover him.  Dog likes to be cozy.  So, he's got a blanket in the camper, too.  He sleeps on the floor on Husband's side of the bed.

For outside, we have a corkscrew tie-out.  We used to have a fancy self-retracting tie out, but it died last winter and we haven't found a replacement in our price range.

Our main leash (we have a back up in the camper, just in case) is a 4 foot long leash.  I like the 4' length, it's easy to get him immediately right next to me for any reason.  Attached to the leash is a container holding poo bags.  Whenever takes a dump, the bags are right there for easy clean-up.  There may have been some teasing about the pink and purple poo bags for our male dog, but, hey, they were cheaper than all blue.

Manly dogs use pink poo bags

For food, I keep it in a Rubbermaid container.  There was this one trip a couple years ago where Oscar's food was left outside right next to his food dish.  And, the food had all sorts of mold by Sunday morning because of the sun and lack of ventilation.  That mistake has not been repeated.

While we're on our camping trip, Oscar stays outside.  He goes on walks with us, hikes with us.  He's on his tie-out while we're playing outside games and games on the picnic table.  He's right there at the campfire when we're talking at night.  He still goes with me on my runs like he does when we're at home.  When we get home, he's exhausted from the extra activity and sleeps more than normal the next day.

Oscar is just like the rest of my family, he loves camping.

Halloween Camping

The Last Hurrah!

Halloween Camping, a tradition our family has come to love greatly, look forward to all year long.  It is also a bittersweet trip because it's almost always our last trip of the camping season living this far north.

We've done big Halloween Campouts at a couple of different state parks (my post for this year's location).  We've also done this trip at Maumee Bay State Park (no post to share about that one, you just get the link to the park).

East Harbor has 2 weekends to choose from for Halloween Camping.  This lessens the immediacy of booking and booking for extra nights that we won't be there due to work and school (cough: Maumee Bay).  Our group booked sites as soon as we possibly could, when reservations opened 6 months before our first night there.  I think we tried to start booking at 6 am and were able to book at 7 am.  Not only were there a plethora of sites to choose from, we got our coveted cul-de-sac sites (ok, so we had to fudge our camper length a little and hope for the best - it worked thankfully!).

Weekend events start on Friday.  Some events repeat both nights.  My kids enjoyed the Haunted Hayride and the Haunted Tunnel.  Nothing too scary for my kids not into scary things.

Hayride stuff during the day time

There was a pet costume contest.  Oscar the dog was dressed at Yoda-wg.  It matched the family Star Wars Theme quite nicely.  Oldest Kid was Princess Leia, Youngest Kid was Darth Vader.  I was Padme.  Husband was Han Solo.  I'd share a picture of us all, but I'm not going to share pics of my kids.  Here's Oscar:

We decorate our campsite with fun Halloween decor.  Except, I'm cheap.  All of our decor comes from the Target clearance sales.  Some people get really into it.  I mean REALLY into it.  My favorite campsite was this Lego campsite solely dedicated to decor.  It was cool - a life size version of an actual Lego set, complete with characters from The Lego Movie.

My kids' favorite part of this trip is trick-or-treating from campsite to campsite.  The loot they bring home is impressive.  I had purchased almost 200 bottles of bubbles, plus had a bit of candy.  Husband was out of stuff to give away well before the kids and I got back from begging trick-or-treating.

Sunday morning, it was time to pack up.  Admittedly, the process of packing up the final trip is a bit emotional to me.  We're not the only only ones to linger a bit longer than normal, taking extra care to pack things up, spend a bit more time talking with friends than getting on the road quickly.  I see other campers doing it, too.

We've had a great camping season.  Halloween Camping is our capstone experience.  Now it's ended and I am sad.  Seven whole months until Camping Season 2015.

Is it camping season yet?

East Harbor State Park

Site C-58

We spent this past weekend at East Harbor State Park in Ohio.  We were there for our annual Halloween camping trip and I'll make another post about that later.

East Harbor is on the shores of Lake Erie, about halfway between Toledo and Sandusky.  I went to high school not too far away from there.  My best friend lives in the Cleveland area.  This is a great meeting point because it's somewhere in the middle.

We've been to East Harbor several times before.  When searching for sites, I HIGHLY recommend paying attention to the sites that state, "This can be a wet site as it is prone to flooding after heavy rains."  That is no joke.  Our first time there?  Our reserved campsite was under several inches of water.  Thankfully it was super early in the camping season and we could easily select a drier campsite.  Still muddy, but not flooded.  When we were there for the 4th of July weekend in 2013, there was rain off and on all weekend.  We couldn't escape the mud and our feet were just filthy.

East Harbor is part of the reason I own rainboots now.

Wet and muck is really the negative side of East Harbor.  There are great things about it, too.  Things that outweigh the muck.

We made a three-night camping trip for this weekend.  We got there shortly before dark, enough time to unhitch and get set up.  Not enough time to do anything much besides that, eat dinner and put our school-tired kids to bed.  We are clearly on the downside of the equinox.

Friday morning, I went for a run first thing.  I was greeted by the sunrise over the bay.  Not a bad way to start the day.  I wound my way through different sections of the park.  We like electricity and we like our dog, so we always end up in Section C.  You can end up in different sections based on your pet and electricity choices.

Once I got back and cleaned up for the day, the kids wanted to ride their bikes over to the Glacial Grooves.  I've been to the Glacial Grooves on Kelleys Island, those are impressive to look at.  The ones at East Harbor State Park?  Not-so-much.  My oldest kid certainly thinks they're cool.  I think I might think more highly of them if I'd not seen the other ones.  A short bike ride later, we were at the grooves.

The sign explaining the history of the grooves.

I'd guess the length is about 1/2 a football field, so a longer distance shot.

A closer shot with the toe of my rain boot to give some size perspective.  You can definitely see the direction that the glacier moved however many years ago that happened.

We did not make a trip to go fishing on this trip, but we've done it from the pier and from a boat.  We've had good luck with catching.

The camp store is nice.  There was a 1/2 off sale on ice cream treats because it's October.  Somehow, the kids wanted ice cream on a 55 degree day.  The grown-ups opted to skip that particular treat ;)

The majority of our remaining time at East Harbor was spent participating in Halloween activities.  Look for that post to come.

Just me, being silly

For my Halloween costume, do I go with silly pumpkins?

Or a not-so-scary witch?

Or a blue sparkly cowgirl?

Maybe a devil?

Probably not Uncle Sam (Aunt Sam?)

I think the winner is Pink Princess

Do you dress up for Halloween, what are you going to be?

Bob's Crab Puffs

For our upcoming Halloween camping trip, our group decided to do an appetizer lunch on Saturday before trick-or-treating.  One of my contributions is this recipe.  I love that I can premake it and freeze it.  I'll heat them up in the oven in the camper and serve.  I've made it countless times and it's always a big hit.

Sidenote: I don't know the Bob that created this recipe.  This is a distinction to be made for those that know me IRL.

Ready to freeze

What you need:

• 1 package English Muffins
• 1 can (4.25 oz) crab meat, drained
• 1 small jar Kraft Old English Cheese Spread
• 1 stick butter, softened
• 2 T. mayonnaise
• 2 drops Tabasco Sauce

What to do:

Slice each English Muffin in half (or just separate, depends on which brand you buy).  Cut each half into quarters.  Mix remaining ingredients.  Spread mixture on the cut English Muffins.  Freeze.  Once thoroughly frozen, put in a large plastic bag until ready to serve.  Thaw, place in oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  

Of course, you can skip the freezing step if you prefer to have them sooner.

Another sidenote: I've been questioned on the Old English Cheese Spread.  When I shopped at Kroger years ago, I'd find it in the non-refrigerated cheese section, by the Velveeta.  I now shop at Meijer and I find it in the refrigerated cheese section, near the Cracker Barrel cheese spreads.  To help you out, you can have a picture to help in visual recognition.

Trick-or-Treat Giveaways

Candy, candy, and more candy.  That's what trick-or-treating is all about, right?

My kids get inundated with candy.  They cannot possibly eat all that Halloween candy before we get inundated with Christmas candy.  And we still have Easter candy in the candy jar.  It's October 5th.  The only reason there isn't Valentine candy in there still is because I weeded some out just before the Easter candy came in.

I'm not anti-candy.  I love me some Reese Peanut Butter Cups and Kit Kats.  I've been known to steal those from the candy stash.  And chocolate.  Maybe Nestle Crackles will get stolen not be eaten by my kids.  I may have been distracted by my favorite candy, back on track now.  My kids often get 1 treat a day, either a piece of candy or something else, depends on the day and what's going on.  Some days we have "Candy Free Days."

We've established that there's lots of candy.  With trick-or-treating coming up, I've noticed that my kids enjoy seeing the stuff in their trick-or-treat collection that ISN'T candy.  As a kid, I liked getting pennies in my bag (except we used a pillow case because it was huge and carried everything, unlike those plastic pumpkins).  I did not like getting toothbrushes (how many dentists could have lived in my neighborhood?).  My kids have gotten juice boxes, stuffed animals, rubber snakes, bags of popcorn, glow sticks (except they're always already snapped by the time we get home and therefore useless), plastic jewelry, bouncy balls.

Seeing my kids' enjoyment, I've started in on the "non-candy treats" to give out to trick-or-treaters.

Enter Oriental Trading.  There is tons of stuff that works great for this purpose and the prices are great.  This year, we're giving out little bottles of bubbles.

Some people may say that not every kid enjoys non-candy treats.  I'm ok with that.  Because not every kid like Smarties.  Or Laffy Taffy.  Or other flavored Tootsie Rolls.  Or chocolate (gasp!!).  You can't please everyone.  I don't pretend to do so.

Knowing my kids cannot possibly eat all the Halloween candy that they'll get in the next few weeks, I've got a couple ways to move it along.

1. Our church does a Trunk-or-Treat for the community.  The candy I know that won't get eaten from our Halloween Camping trip gets donated to the first car there when we take our kids to the event.
2. Halloween candy still hanging around when we decorate ginger bread house(s) is free game for decorations.  I always buy gingerbread house kits because I'm kinda lazy about something that will just end up trashed anyway.  Halloween candy adds a way to individualize the houses we've made without buying more candy.

Candy is great and all, we certainly enjoy it.  But there are other ideas, other ways for trick-or-treating and what to do with the candy.

Pumpkin Hunt

On our first Halloween camping trip (was that 4 years ago now?), my BFF had a fun activity for the kids the first night of our trip.

She found a bunch of these ------------------------------>
little pumpkin cups.  I've seen them at numerous stores.  I've also seen them as cauldrons as well.  They're like miniature trick-or-treat containers.  She filled each one with a little fun goodie, like bubbles and stickers and small toys and trinkets.  Nothing expensive.  The goodies were age appropriate for the kids in our group.

While the kids were on one campsite playing with the dads, the moms hid the little pumpkins around another campsite.  The kids loved finding the pumpkins and then showing their friends and siblings what all they got.

Just like an Easter Egg Hunt, the kids went on a Pumpkin Hunt.

Halloween Clearance Shopping

Halloween Camping is our last hurrah of the season.  We go out with a bang, this is one our favorite trips of the year.

Part of the prep for this trip is shopping the clearance sales on November 1.  As I started getting out our Halloween decorations yesterday, it involved a few forgotten surprises.  Halloween earrings.  Pumpkin headbands.  Accessories to make a real pumpkin into Darth Vader Mr. Potato Head.

The kids loved the surprises.

I also have some new outdoor decorations.  We don't decorate outside of our house.  They are solely for our campsite for our Halloween Camping trip.  We can skip the decorations bought in the past that don't work so well, add to what does work well.

As with the stuff I found yesterday, I don't exactly remember what I got at Target last year for the campsite decor.  I'll find out soon enough, right?

I'm also a big dork super cool, I put Halloween Clearance Shopping on my calendar for 8 am on November 1.