Camping in Oct

It's great that we've found a great group of families to go camping with here.  We went camping at Ho'omaluhia botanical gardens again earlier this month.  It was right at the start of our fall break week from school, so it was a good way to kick off the break.  
The boys and I got to camp early Friday afternoon since Adam had a half-day that day.  It was really overcast and looked like it could rain at any minute.  So my goal was to get the tent up as soon as I got there.  Good thing I did, because it started raining fairly hard as soon as the tent was up.  Good timing!  I put off unloading the rest of the stuff until the rain quit.  By the time Dan got there after work, we had a nice dry setup all ready for the night.  The rain rewarded us with some beautiful waterfalls off the nearby mountains, I'd never seen that before when we had camped there.  It rained on and off all evening, but it was a good time anyways!  

The kids, as usual, spent most of their time playing with the fire.  

Of course, fire is even more fun as it gets darker outside...

And it's still fun first thing in the morning (I told you they spent a LOT of time with the campfire).  I joked at camp that I should throw out all the TVs and put in a firepit in the backyard instead.  The kids did not think it was funny.  

I love early morning in camp.  Here's a shot of Cole still trying to wake up for the day.  Great thing about a tent, the camera is always within a short reach to grab a cute shot.

Mostly, THIS is my favorite reason I love mornings in camp.  The morning light is beautiful on the mountains.  It just makes you want to sit back, drink your coffee, and enjoy the view (which is exactly what I did).

Later in the morning, we took a walk along the drive into the campsite and the roadside was filled with ripe, red strawberry guava bushes.  They were sooo tasty!  The kids (and adults) were stuffed with guava by the time we made the short walk back to camp.

Cole and I took a walk down to the lake to see the ducks.  We didn't have any bread to bring with, and Cole fed the few Cheerios we had to the koi fish along the way.  When we got to the ducks, I told Cole to sit down quietly and maybe the ducks would come check him out to see if he had any food.  So he sat and waited rather patiently, but the ducks were not fooled.

Farther down along the lake, some tourists gave us some of their bread so he could feed the ducks.  He finally got brave enough to let a big, white duck eat out of his hand.

Here is a pic I snapped of me and Cole as we walked back to camp.  We stopped to take a break since I had inadvertently taken the long way back.  But Cole was a good trooper and walked almost all the way back (I carried him up the big hills).

So another successful camping trip under our belts!