Back in March I got the desire to go camping. So that's when the planning began. I called up my amazing brother Will to ask for his expert advice. This trip wouldn't have come together without Will. Thank you Will!
Anyway, it's been an eventful planning experience, almost at fun as planning last years 2009 Tall Moose (thomas) Reunion. (are you starting to see the picture?)
I decided to plan this camping trip for Father's day Weekend and invite all our friends to join us. It was a pleasent surprise to find out that most of our Friends could come. Yippee. And that's when the real planning began. I had never seen the camp ground, or anything but I figured it won't be to hard.
Looking back I feel like a blind man leading the blind. Thankfully everyone has been super supportive and it's been really fun (for me) to plan such a big event. James on the other hand has been pretty stressed with all the planning. Poor guy, he's just not use to so many people. I guess that's one of the many benefits I get from being in a family of 12. The more the merrier, right?! But I'm also learning to enjoy simple things too, Thank you James for slowing me down and helping me enjoy the small and simple things of life.
Long story longer: I thought it would be fun to add to the family journal my correspondence back and forth with friends as I have planned this crazy but fun camping trip.
Thank you Facebook.
Elizabeth Roemhildt March 1 at 11:58am
hello everyone,
I know in the past we might have mentioned the idea of camping for father's day weekend. I found a camp ground I really want to camp at for father's day. here is a link for you. http://www.clallam.net/CountyParks/html/parks_dungeness.htm
I am looking into getting James and I a reservation at Dungeness Recreation area. Camp ground #45 for Friday night June 17 and Saturday night June 18. It's 20.00 a night but the camp ground is close to the ocean and has great views. There is also a really cool sand bar that is about 3 miles long and goes out to a light house. My brother describes it as an all day hike with kids but is fun. I'm also going to try and barrow my bothers two sea kayaks for the weekend so we can take turns and enjoy the ocean a little more. Sequim is in the sun belt and so chances of a sunny camping experience is more probable but not guaranteed since we live in WA.
I will be happy to reserve multiple camp grounds at the same time if I know how many people are interested in camping that weekend. I can look for larger camp grounds that may hold two tents so families can share costs if they want. Call me or facebook me if you are interested I'm going to try and make our reservation by Friday.
Elizabeth
PS This is a surprise to James. He knows I've been wanting to do something like this but do not know I've started making plans.
I know in the past we might have mentioned the idea of camping for father's day weekend. I found a camp ground I really want to camp at for father's day. here is a link for you. http://www.clallam.net/CountyParks/html/parks_dungeness.htm
I am looking into getting James and I a reservation at Dungeness Recreation area. Camp ground #45 for Friday night June 17 and Saturday night June 18. It's 20.00 a night but the camp ground is close to the ocean and has great views. There is also a really cool sand bar that is about 3 miles long and goes out to a light house. My brother describes it as an all day hike with kids but is fun. I'm also going to try and barrow my bothers two sea kayaks for the weekend so we can take turns and enjoy the ocean a little more. Sequim is in the sun belt and so chances of a sunny camping experience is more probable but not guaranteed since we live in WA.
I will be happy to reserve multiple camp grounds at the same time if I know how many people are interested in camping that weekend. I can look for larger camp grounds that may hold two tents so families can share costs if they want. Call me or facebook me if you are interested I'm going to try and make our reservation by Friday.
Elizabeth
PS This is a surprise to James. He knows I've been wanting to do something like this but do not know I've started making plans.
Elizabeth Roemhildt March 1 at 12:20pm
Here is a link to my brother's blog of when they camped at Dungeness Rereation area. At the time of their camp out, Dungeness didn't accept reservations but they do now. http://willandjenni.blogspot.com/2007/07/rat-race-weekend.html
Like I said we'll have kayaks to play with and some fun times. Hope you can join us.
Like I said we'll have kayaks to play with and some fun times. Hope you can join us.
willandjenni.blogspot.com
(We loved this sign next to the lighthouse - which by foot is a 5 mile hike down a spit (long piece of land surrounded by water). We opted to kayak out to the lighthouse, which was just under a 10 mile roundtrip route. The sign read "Welcome to Serenity" and then the other direction it said "Reality
I would like to, but Chris and I need to talk first, as we'd have to figure out timing- end of school year is harder to get time off, if he'd need to.
We are in, I know that we have nothing going on in June yet so we will put it on our calender. I am so excited this will be so much fun. If you want to keep it from the hubbies for awhile, I won't tell Jason.
This sounds great. I'll let you know by Friday if it will work for us time-wise.
Sounds like fun! We love to camp! Depends on how our new little one will be doing. I'll talk to troy and let you know!
Elizabeth Roemhildt March 1 at 8:17pm
I'm glad so many are interested. Keep me posted on whether you want me to reserve a camp ground for you or if you want to reserve your own. To reserve a camp ground you must pay for the first night stay (20.00 plus a reservation fee of 7.00) The remaining night(s) can be paid when you arrive at the campground in June.
Elizabeth Roemhildt March 1 at 8:19pm
If you have other friends you want to invite, please do so, and just let me know if I need to make reservations for them as well.
Elizabeth Roemhildt March 1 at 8:22pm
Oh and one more thing. James came home from school and was on the computer and said. "Oh Elizabeth you have a ton a messages on facebook" (an uncommon experience) and before I could stop him, he saw. No more surprise. oh well, at least I tried. E for Effort.
Tanya N Kevin March 3 at 9:03pm
So excited to go camping! Are you still making the reservations tomorrow? I was thinking of asking Chris and Lara if they want to go but I haven't gotten to talk to them yet. I'll try to get Kevin to remember to ask Chris tomorrow at school and I'll let you know if we get an answer.
Elizabeth Roemhildt March 3 at 9:10pm
I haven't heard back from anyone else about making a reservation for them at the same time I make James and mine. So I think I'll do it on Monday after I have a chance to talk to more people. My brother says the the camp grounds are pretty small and the maximum number of people per camp ground is 6 so if you guys and Chris and Lara want to share a spot I think that would work, or we can share a spot with you guys if Chris and Lara can't make it.
Tanya N Kevin March 3 at 9:24pm
Ok sounds good. I'll see what they say. Do you know how much the group camp site is?
I mean the group one that's bigger
Sorry, never mind I looked at the website more closely
Vangie Box March 3 at 9:41pm
We are in for sure! I am going to ask our friends in Bellevue if they want to come, if so they will just camp with us. I will get you the money on Saturday.
Count us out this time, but let us know if you're planning on it again. Have a great time, everyone!
Elizabeth Roemhildt March 4 at 6:09pm
The Telford family will be missed. :( Maybe next time.
As for Reservations: I've counted Days, Boxs, Bohman's, and Roemhildts. the reservation process is a little old school so I'll be mailing in the requests and they will send you a letter informing you of the decision. each family will have their reservation mailed to them. So please let me know if there is any problems with your reservation request. I'll notify you when we receive our reply. I hope this is okay with everybody. It should be a lot of fun. We can do deserts with each other or whatever we want. I'm so excited.
As for Reservations: I've counted Days, Boxs, Bohman's, and Roemhildts. the reservation process is a little old school so I'll be mailing in the requests and they will send you a letter informing you of the decision. each family will have their reservation mailed to them. So please let me know if there is any problems with your reservation request. I'll notify you when we receive our reply. I hope this is okay with everybody. It should be a lot of fun. We can do deserts with each other or whatever we want. I'm so excited.
Sounds great, thank you for taking care of the reservations for us.
Tanya N Kevin March 6 at 6:11pm
I just talked to Chris and Lara today and they would like to come. Also, I was looking at the website for the campsite and do you need us to sign the form for our reservation? And do you want us to bring you a check before you mail it? Sorry I'm it's kind of confusing to me. Just let me know if there is anything you need me to do. Thanks :)
Elizabeth Roemhildt March 15 at 6:42pm
I just got a letter in the mail with everyone's reservation conformation. Yippee. I'll give everyone their own camp ground reservation so they can check in to the camp ground anytime that Friday. And of course we can trade sites to fit each family's need.
So just in case you want to view your camp site on the website
Box family- Camp ground 43
Bohman Family and Friends- Camp ground 44
Day Family- Camp ground 45
Roemhildt family- Camp ground 46
So just in case you want to view your camp site on the website
Box family- Camp ground 43
Bohman Family and Friends- Camp ground 44
Day Family- Camp ground 45
Roemhildt family- Camp ground 46
Tanya N Kevin March 16 at 2:58pm
Yay! It's going to be so much fun! Thanks for taking care of everything Elizabeth!
Thank-You, you are an awesome organizer! I Hope we can make it.
Elizabeth Roemhildt May 31 at 7:30pm
hello everyone.
the time is getting close for our camping trip. Yippee. Some have expressed an interest in doing group meals. I think most everyone wants to participate but I would like an actual head count of who all wants to participate. And if you don't want to go in on group meals that's totally fine. You're always welcome to eat your own meal at the camp ground we do group meals at if you want.
So this long message will hopefully not be too confusing.
First we need a head count of everyone who want to participate in meals. I will make a rough guess but make sure you reply to let me know if this is correct.
Day family- 2 adults 3 kids
Box family- 2 adults 2 kids (one to young to eat group meals)
Boham Family- 2 adults 2 kids (one to young to eat group meals)
Adams Family- 2 adults
Flower family- 2 adults 2 kids (one to young to eat group meals)
Jeni Flower's sister's Family- I'm guessing 2 adults 2 kids
Roemhildt family- 2 adults 1 kid
Total: 14 adults 9 kids that would eat group meals.
now that we have an idea of how many. (number may change when I get replies back from people).
We need to plan what meals to do together
Friday evening, Saturday Morning, Saturday Evening. I'm leaving out Sunday morning because some families will head back Saturday night. And with take down of camp grounds that morning I figured it would easier if each family does their own meal Sunday.
Friday evening James and I won't be getting to the camp ground until later. If any other family plans on arriving at the camp ground later than 6pm on Friday night please let us know, so we can plan accordingly.
Saturday Morning we the Roemhildts will volunteer to do breakfast. Tentatively we'll be offering pancakes, bacon and or sausage, hot coco, fruit and some instant oatmeal packets for those who don't like pancakes and possibly scrambled eggs. I think if every family participates we can have 2-3 families be in charge of each meal. So does anyone what to help us with Saturday morning Breakfast?
I think to make things easier. Each family will be in charge of their own plates, cups, and utensils.
We will also be cooking a cobbler in the Dutchoven Saturday evening. (Kevin would you mind cooking a cobbler in your dutchoven on Saturday evening too?)
Now all we need is volunteers for the other meals.
Please let me know what meal your family would like to cook.
Again if you don't want to participate in group meals that's just fine. Just let me know so we can plan around it.
I hope this wasn't too confusing. reply if you have any questions concerns and comments.
So to recap I need you to reply letting me know if you want to participate in group meals, how many in your family will be participating, and what meal you would like to help cook if you participate. Hopefully once everyone has replied I can get a little schedule typed up so everyone will know who's doing what and when.
Thanks again for you willingness to go camping with us. We are so excited for this camping trip. It's are family vacation this summer. :)
the time is getting close for our camping trip. Yippee. Some have expressed an interest in doing group meals. I think most everyone wants to participate but I would like an actual head count of who all wants to participate. And if you don't want to go in on group meals that's totally fine. You're always welcome to eat your own meal at the camp ground we do group meals at if you want.
So this long message will hopefully not be too confusing.
First we need a head count of everyone who want to participate in meals. I will make a rough guess but make sure you reply to let me know if this is correct.
Day family- 2 adults 3 kids
Box family- 2 adults 2 kids (one to young to eat group meals)
Boham Family- 2 adults 2 kids (one to young to eat group meals)
Adams Family- 2 adults
Flower family- 2 adults 2 kids (one to young to eat group meals)
Jeni Flower's sister's Family- I'm guessing 2 adults 2 kids
Roemhildt family- 2 adults 1 kid
Total: 14 adults 9 kids that would eat group meals.
now that we have an idea of how many. (number may change when I get replies back from people).
We need to plan what meals to do together
Friday evening, Saturday Morning, Saturday Evening. I'm leaving out Sunday morning because some families will head back Saturday night. And with take down of camp grounds that morning I figured it would easier if each family does their own meal Sunday.
Friday evening James and I won't be getting to the camp ground until later. If any other family plans on arriving at the camp ground later than 6pm on Friday night please let us know, so we can plan accordingly.
Saturday Morning we the Roemhildts will volunteer to do breakfast. Tentatively we'll be offering pancakes, bacon and or sausage, hot coco, fruit and some instant oatmeal packets for those who don't like pancakes and possibly scrambled eggs. I think if every family participates we can have 2-3 families be in charge of each meal. So does anyone what to help us with Saturday morning Breakfast?
I think to make things easier. Each family will be in charge of their own plates, cups, and utensils.
We will also be cooking a cobbler in the Dutchoven Saturday evening. (Kevin would you mind cooking a cobbler in your dutchoven on Saturday evening too?)
Now all we need is volunteers for the other meals.
Please let me know what meal your family would like to cook.
Again if you don't want to participate in group meals that's just fine. Just let me know so we can plan around it.
I hope this wasn't too confusing. reply if you have any questions concerns and comments.
So to recap I need you to reply letting me know if you want to participate in group meals, how many in your family will be participating, and what meal you would like to help cook if you participate. Hopefully once everyone has replied I can get a little schedule typed up so everyone will know who's doing what and when.
Thanks again for you willingness to go camping with us. We are so excited for this camping trip. It's are family vacation this summer. :)
We will want to do all the group meals so 2 adults and 1 child but Kyler doesn't eat much so he will probably eat off out plates. We will take Friday evening, tin foil dinners, but lets us know if there is any vegetarians. Thanks so much for taking the reins on this Elizabeth, you rock!
Tanya N Kevin June 1 at 12:46pm
Group meals work for us. Two adults and one child. We can help with breakfast Saturday :)
Oh and Kevin wants to do a chocolate molten lava cake in our dutch oven. Does that work? If not I can make him do a cobbler.
Elizabeth Roemhildt June 1 at 1:48pm
Thanks Vangie and Tanya. And Tanya, the chocolate molten lava cake sounds soooooo good.
Awesome :) Cam
Sorry, I meant to put can't wait.
I love the group meals idea. Two adults for us- we can do lunch Saturday. We'll do ham n yams with pineapple and peanut butter and honey sandwiches for picky eaters/kids. We're also planning on bringing S'mores stuff to share, but we don't have any skewer things for toasting the marshmallows. Does anyone else have any?
We have two marshmallow roasters.
Lara June 2 at 7:49pm
Perfect! Thanks Tanya :)
Elizabeth Roemhildt June 2 at 9:40pm
Awesome. We don't have any skewers at the moment but I'm hoping to buy some before we go camping.
Hi Elizabeth, I totally agree with Vangie, you ROCK for organizing all these details!!! We were thinking of bringing shish-ka-bobs which we could could cook up on Friday night to add to the tin-foil dinners if that works for you Vangie? I can bring a veggie tray as well. What about doing hamburgers/ hotdogs on Saturday night? We could bring a few lbs of hamburger or the veggies or buns, just an idea. Or we could just skip dinner altogether and feast on cobbler!!!
We have 2 marshmallow roasters we will bring,
And sign us up for 2 adults and 3 children.
We have 2 marshmallow roasters we will bring,
And sign us up for 2 adults and 3 children.
Elizabeth Roemhildt June 7 at 10:12pm
Hurray Sarah. Does this mean you have internet again?
So as far as meals go, the Flowers just had a baby two weeks ago, they are planning on camping but it might be a bit much for them to take on a meal.
So if you don't mind me suggesting a few things I think we can make this work.
Option 1:
Friday night dinner: Box family and Day Family, Shish-ka-bobs and tin foil dinners.
Saturday Morning: Roemhildt family, Bacon sausage eggs, pancakes, instant oatmeal and hot coco.
Saturday Dinner: maybe having the Bohman and Adam family making dinner. Sarah Day suggested hot dogs and hamburgers.
OR
Option 2:
Friday night: Day and Box families
Saturday morning: Roemhildts and Bohmans
Saturday Lunch: Adams
and everyone bring something to for Saturday evening dinner. like Days would bring hambergers. Roemhildt's bring veggies and buns, Someone else bring
So as far as meals go, the Flowers just had a baby two weeks ago, they are planning on camping but it might be a bit much for them to take on a meal.
So if you don't mind me suggesting a few things I think we can make this work.
Option 1:
Friday night dinner: Box family and Day Family, Shish-ka-bobs and tin foil dinners.
Saturday Morning: Roemhildt family, Bacon sausage eggs, pancakes, instant oatmeal and hot coco.
Saturday Dinner: maybe having the Bohman and Adam family making dinner. Sarah Day suggested hot dogs and hamburgers.
OR
Option 2:
Friday night: Day and Box families
Saturday morning: Roemhildts and Bohmans
Saturday Lunch: Adams
and everyone bring something to for Saturday evening dinner. like Days would bring hambergers. Roemhildt's bring veggies and buns, Someone else bring
Elizabeth Roemhildt June 7 at 10:27pm
ooops facebook just cut me off mid sentence.
Someone else could bring the hotdogs. and so forth.
So basically If Adams and Bohmans don't mind doing dinner together I think that would be easier on everyone. But I think either way we'll all be okay with either option.
If the Flowers want to help out with a meal they can, I just don't think it's possible for them to do Saturday evening all by themselves.
I'll talk with flowers to find out if they want to participate in group meals or if they want to do their own thing. That way we can get a good head count. I know some families are ready to start planning what they need to bring and would like a head count asap.
If everyone participates we will have a total of 14 adults 9 kids. It's best to start planing for this number but hopefully I'll get an exact count within the next couple of days.
Hopefully this isn't too confusing. Bohmans and Adams do you mind replying and letting me know what you guys prefer doing, Option 1 or 2. That way I can make things final.
Thanks everybody for your help in bringing this together. It's going to be an awesome camping trip. I already have the Kayaks reserved and I know many families plan to bring games.
Someone else could bring the hotdogs. and so forth.
So basically If Adams and Bohmans don't mind doing dinner together I think that would be easier on everyone. But I think either way we'll all be okay with either option.
If the Flowers want to help out with a meal they can, I just don't think it's possible for them to do Saturday evening all by themselves.
I'll talk with flowers to find out if they want to participate in group meals or if they want to do their own thing. That way we can get a good head count. I know some families are ready to start planning what they need to bring and would like a head count asap.
If everyone participates we will have a total of 14 adults 9 kids. It's best to start planing for this number but hopefully I'll get an exact count within the next couple of days.
Hopefully this isn't too confusing. Bohmans and Adams do you mind replying and letting me know what you guys prefer doing, Option 1 or 2. That way I can make things final.
Thanks everybody for your help in bringing this together. It's going to be an awesome camping trip. I already have the Kayaks reserved and I know many families plan to bring games.
Elizabeth Roemhildt June 7 at 10:35pm
one last thing. Bohmans and Adams, if you decide to do Saturday dinner together, you guys can make whatever you want to make. Ham n Yams, or chilli, or whatever you would like to do. The Hamburgers and hotdogs was just an easy suggestions for if we all wanted to do Saturday dinner together instead of having one or two families be in charge.
Vangie Box June 8 at 8:59am
That sounds great Sarah! Also don't worry I will be bringing a dessert. S'mores brownies!
Tanya N Kevin June 8 at 7:40pm
We are fine doing dinner with the Adams Saturday night. Hamburgers and hot dogs sound good. Does this work for you Lara? If it does we could buy all the meat and buns and bring some lemonade mix to drink and perhaps a watermelon. Lara would you want to bring some chips and maybe a salad? I don't know. What ever works for you Lara. Just let me know :)
That works for us- I can't wait!
Elizabeth Roemhildt June 9 at 12:15pm
Awesome. Thank Tanya and Lara for being willing to do dinner Saturday night.
Elizabeth Roemhildt June 13 at 11:01am
The Official group meals update
Jeni and her sister's family will be doing meals on their own. So the official head count for group meals is
10 adults 6 kids
Thanks everyone for you replies.
Jeni and her sister's family will be doing meals on their own. So the official head count for group meals is
10 adults 6 kids
Thanks everyone for you replies.
Elizabeth Roemhildt June 17 at 9:35am
Hurray. Today is the day. We are busy cleaning house and packing. I hope you all are excited as we are. The weather for the weekend isn't looking good, so if you want to join us in saying a few prayers that the weather man might be wrong, i'm sure it wouldn't hurt. :) Just so you know the Sequim area predicts 50% chance of rain all day tomorrow. Just so you can be prepared.
Rain or shine we are excited to be going. Here is a map to the camp ground if you haven't already looked it up.
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=ipH&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=sequim+wa&bav=on.2%2Cor.r_gc.r_pw.&biw=1366&bih=645&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq&hnear=0x548fb8dcc2878457%3A0x7adc8aefce83b180%2CSequim%2C+WA&gl=us&ei=vnv7TenJDI3biALxoYz8BA&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&sqi=2&ved=0CEcQ8gEwAA
And here is a map of the park we will be taking the Kayaks to.
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=cline+spit&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wl\
Everyone is welcome to Kayak. We have two toddler life jackets, one child's life Jacket and two adult jackets. If you have a life jacket you would like to bring that's great. The Kayaks are single kayaks but small children can sit in the kayak with an adult. Ethan maybe able to row his own kayak but Matthias may need to be in a kayak with an adult. However, their parents will know best.
Okay, just so everyone knows, James gets off work at 5:30 he'll be home about 6:00pm and we hope to be on the road by 6:30. Our goal is to get to the camp ground before dusk since they close the gate at Dusk. We will have are cell phones so you can call us if you need. We can't wait to see everyone.
See you tonight.
Rain or shine we are excited to be going. Here is a map to the camp ground if you haven't already looked it up.
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=ipH&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=sequim+wa&bav=on.2%2Cor.r_gc.r_pw.&biw=1366&bih=645&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq&hnear=0x548fb8dcc2878457%3A0x7adc8aefce83b180%2CSequim%2C+WA&gl=us&ei=vnv7TenJDI3biALxoYz8BA&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&sqi=2&ved=0CEcQ8gEwAA
And here is a map of the park we will be taking the Kayaks to.
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=cline+spit&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wl\
Everyone is welcome to Kayak. We have two toddler life jackets, one child's life Jacket and two adult jackets. If you have a life jacket you would like to bring that's great. The Kayaks are single kayaks but small children can sit in the kayak with an adult. Ethan maybe able to row his own kayak but Matthias may need to be in a kayak with an adult. However, their parents will know best.
Okay, just so everyone knows, James gets off work at 5:30 he'll be home about 6:00pm and we hope to be on the road by 6:30. Our goal is to get to the camp ground before dusk since they close the gate at Dusk. We will have are cell phones so you can call us if you need. We can't wait to see everyone.
See you tonight.
1 comment:
You should have lots of fun! Lets just hope it doesn't rain to bad.
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