Batts Go Camping - Day 1

This week we finally took our first family camping trip! We left on Monday (May 4) and drove about 2 hours southeast (and up into the mountains - elevation 4,500 ft) to Julian, CA and camped out at a small, private campground.

Setting up the tent:

No thumbs were harmed during the set-up of this tent:

View from the "front door":

Patiently waiting for the much anticipated campfire:

Camp Batt:

Fishing pond:

FINALLY! Hunter was thrilled to finally have a chance to cast his line into the water. He got the hang of casting in no time - he is a natural fisherman!

"Is it time for marshmallowing yet???"

Hunter was really excited to roast marshmallows, but quickly learned that a slow, patient roasting method wasn't much fun. After that, he chose to eat most of his marshmallows raw:

Not sure what this expression is about ....

That was it for day 1 - much to our surprise, Hunter had no trouble falling asleep in the tent. He was pretty excited to hear the frogs outside, and asked me if the frogs were our neighbor's...

Batts Go Camping - Day 2

On Tuesday morning, Hunter woke us up bright and early at 5:45 am... (no comment on that :) So I made Hunter some pancakes, and he munched on those while Justin and I cooked ourselves some scrambled eggs and turkey sausage. We found ourselves fed and the dishes cleaned before 7am - so we decided to head into town and check out the coffee shop...

Here is Hunter enjoying is early morning pancakes:

On the patio of this cool coffee shop, there was this big carved bear, which Hunter and I decided was most likely a Chicago Bear:

A little mid-morning fishing after returning from town:

After some fishing, I set up a "treasure hunt" for Hunter. He had to follow the numbers 1-10 that led him around the campground to his prize:

Hunter with his prize - a "Crazy 8's" card game:

It was really windy that day, so we decided to try out the card game inside the tent:

Here is Hunter watching Justin rearrange the fire - Hunter said "DAD! Are you a fire EXPERT???" He was justifiably impressed with Justin's mad campfire skills:

At bedtime, we decided to try our luck at putting Hunter to bed by himself... he was happy to comply, so Justin and I were able to sit outside and enjoy the fire for awhile while Hunter went off to sleep.

(please accept my apologies for the picture/text spacing issues - still learning the ins and outs!)

Batts Go Camping - Day 3

On Wednesday Morning, we were greeted at 7am by two wild turkeys "gobbling" right outside our tent! They were hanging out by the car, about 10 yards from the tent. Hunter and I unzipped the door and peeked out just in time to see them walking away, gobbling all the way - this was of course, the highlight of the morning!

After a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs, turkey bacon (hey, maybe that's what the turkeys were gobbling about!) and campfire biscuits, we had a second treasure hunt (prize: old maid game). After that, we headed into town to check out some more shops, and pick up some firewood.

Hunter decided to do some more fishing after his nap, I'm sure he was pondering deeply as I took this picture :o)

Here is Hunter "roasting" one last marshmallow:

And for the grand finale of the camping trip, Justin and Hunter went frog hunting before bed...

Justin caught two frogs, but both got away before he could bring them back for Hunter to see..

On Thursday morning, we packed up and headed out by 8am. We drove through Julian on the way out and stopped for breakfast at The Julian Cafe (delicious!!)

And that did it for our first family camping trip - We had a great time, and we are thankful that Hunter turned out to be such a natural camper!

Trying things out...

So here is my first attempt at a post with pictures - here goes nothin'!

Hunter is really into cooking these days, here are some pictures of our homemade whole wheat pizza project.....


This is a picture of Hunter, completely mesmerized by the battery-powered can opener

The Justin and Nickie Batt family has arrived...

in the blog world. Still not sure if I will be able to keep up with this the way I want to, but here's hoping! I want this to be sort of an online scrapbook, so that all of you can check in every now and then and see what we have been up to. The photo albums on facebook that I have been using are ok, but I like the idea of writing a little bit as well. There are too many funny Hunter anecdotes that do not get passed on through pictures alone!

We have a lot coming up in the next month - a camping trip, a mini-vacation to the bay area, and finally, our much anticipated move from Camp Pendleton to Monterey, CA! After that, I'm sure there will be much to share as we explore our new surroundings in northern California...

I will do my very best to keep this updated (hey, I manage to long onto facebook every day, right??) I hope you enjoy keeping up with us :o)