Adventure at the Basin

On our way home from camping we decided to take a break from the car and go on a little adventure.  They loved hiking on the trails and seeing all the waterfalls.  They even remembered us bringing them there a whole year ago...pretty amazing memories they have!

HEY!  We have been here before!

Checking out the water!

Mommy and her babies!

Daddy and his babies!

Clowning around on the trails!

They love the outdoors!

Looking for the next adventure!

Everyone stops to pat the puppy! 

Camping Quad Style...Part two!

I totally forgot in my first post to write about how it went when we checked in.  I had to stop at the main office to get a car tag and the kids went over to see the garden when Matthew got stung...inside his mouth...by a hornet.  I watched them all looking and talking then next thing I knew he was screeching, flailing around and Brady was batting at him trying to shoo the hornets away.  Of course it would be the kid who is allergic to bees!  His mouth swelled immediately and I rushed him to the car for some Benadryl before giving the pediatricians office a call.  Unfortunately where it was in the mouth they told me it would take some time for the swelling to come down.  In the meantime he sucked on ice and got lots of hugs from Brady, who felt terrible that Matthew got stung.

Finally the rain let up on Friday evening and Saturday was a great day to play and a perfect evening for Trick or Treating!  I made a deal with my kids...they got to pick out whatever they wanted to be for this day and I got to pick what they were for the real Halloween...SUCKERS!

Fireman Cam!

Construction worker Woody aka Matthew!

Finally getting use out of the $75 Tinkerbell costume!

Officer Brady reporting for duty! 

3 sets of quadruplets...all 3 years old!  People were in shock and I think I even heard a few people say that they were staying away from whatever water we had been drinking!

So much fun with all our friends! 

Now they are ready for the real thing.  This momma better get making some costumes!

Camping Quad Style...Part 1!

A couple months ago one of my very best friends and fellow quad momma and I came up with a BRILLIANT idea to have both our families meet at a campground and spend a four day weekend hanging out and getting to let the kids have some play time.  Many thought we were brave, even more thought we were just plain insane but we figured we were up for the challenge!  Eight 3 year olds, a big sister and her friend, and of course our two biggest children of all...our husbands...were ready to join in on the fun!

First off I need to preface this by saying that in no way does the campground choice make me think any less of my friend but next year it is our turn to pick! It was totally not Danielle's fault, she went on a recommendation from a friend and she just may think a little less of her friend's taste after the weekend. LOL!

Ben called to report he had made it to the campground and said that it was "interesting".  I asked if it was as bad as Rogers and he told me that this place made Rogers look like a 5 star resort.  I didn't believe him...until I rolled in!  Let's just say that my children went without baths for four days because the showers were scary!  Matthew, unprompted even, informed his brothers not to touch the walls in the bathroom because they were NASTY!  Strike one!

Our neighbors moving in at 10pm the second night there...setting up FIVE tents under construction lights was definitely strike two. Luckily Danielle came up with the idea to move her BAV (Big Ass Van) and park it so it blocked most of the light!

Strike three came at 2:45, after waking two of my children and Ben screaming at them, our lovely neighbors were still awake and thought it was cool to be soooooo loud!  Payback was not so nice the next morning when I let my kids out of the tent at 7 am and let them yell as loud as they wanted and I may have even allowed them to fight a little extra over every little thing.  Then Danielle came out of the camper and may have accidentally set off her car alarm...oops!

Despite all this all the kids had a complete blast and I think the parents did too.  It was nice to hang out for more than an hour or so and actually get to visit with Danielle and Art.  It is scary how much we have in common!

So here is where we spent our mini-vacation!

And here are our 5 star accommodations!

The play ground was amazing though.  The kids loved climbing, riding the fireman's pole and playing in the sand box!

Aubrey was loving running free!

While the boys thought it was best to climb the tree!

Hanging out by the campfire was quite a site...so many little people out of 2 pregnancies!

Roasting marshmellows was a fun little treat!

 The girls quickly became BFF's...hey when you are the only girls in an army of boys what other choice do you have?

Our second day there brought soooo much rain!  Luckily we came prepared and had a ton of fun things for the kiddos to do before making a trip to McDonald's Play Palace to escape the wetness for a bit!

Finally the skies cleared and to the pool we went!  Puddle Jumpers are a momma's best friend! 

Many more adventures to come...tune in tomorrow for the rest of our story!

Backyard Camp out!

Uncle Kyle came up with the brilliant idea to have the kids camp out in the tent in the backyard for a night.  It started out that all the boys were going to sleep out there and the two girls were going to camp out on the couch.  After two episodes of Sofia the First they decided to go to Aubrey's bed before finally settling on sleeping in the tent for the night.  

All was good until about midnight when Brady came in hysterical because he didn't know where he was and couldn't find me.  Matthew decided to come in too because Brady did.  Cameron made it about 2 more hours before he came crawling into my bed.  Aubrey ended up being the bravest Hickey around by sticking it out in the tent until 7 am!  Hopefully when we go camping in two weeks they will all decided to be brave!

One tiny flower...

Back in May we participated in the March of Dimes walk where Aubrey picked up a packet of seeds to plant in her little garden.  Finally after checking her garden faithfully day after day she finally had this one bloom.  She has never been more proud of herself!