Trapp Family Of Five: Pine Lakes 2010

This past weekend, we went to Pine Lakes Campground. It was our second trip to this campground for their Halloween Festival. Last year, Sarah and I stumbled upon the campground while trying to find somewhere close to Lincoln's New Salem to RV camp. Turns out it's really close to New Salem, IL (the city), and not as close to Lincoln's New Salem. Who knew? Anyway, the kiddos had such a great time last year, we all agreed to come back. Wade and I and the Crazies arrived on Friday night. It's a long drive, through dozens of tiny farm towns. Some of them very interesting, like Carrolton IL. Carrolton's town square looks just like the one in Back to the Future. And the town itself, is loaded with huge old Victorian homes. Beautiful. Unfortunately, the rest of the drive just makes me sleepy. The Humes family arrived after the kiddos and I had turned in for the evening. It's hard to stay awake past eight thirty when it's dark outside.

On Saturday, we had a packed schedule. A schedule is out of the norm for camping. That is the beauty of camping. Camping should be based on the right now. Right now, I feel like reading a book. Right now, I feel like taking a break from my book, so that I can take the kids swimming, so I can go back to reading my book in peace. That's why we LOVE camping. But for Pine Lakes Halloween Festival, the schedule really works. So we go with it. And we enjoy being bossed around all day.

10am - We herd all seven kiddos to pumpkin picking. The camp staff handed out tickets to every child. Then we hiked the short distance to the "Pumpkin Patch". The pumkin patch is a beautiful grassy area in the woods. The camp staff had already spread out kiddo size pumpkins all over the grass. Then one by one, they drew a ticket out of the bucket, and when your ticket was called, you were allowed to choose a pumpkin to take home.

After pumpkin picking, Sarah and I were the Camp Counselors. With swimming being out of the question, we resorted to crafts. Namely, decorating pumpkins. The kiddos loved it. And since we were outside on picnic tables, clean-up was a breeze.

Rylan painted his coat, as well as his pumpkin.

Sarah brought all of the kids funny lip suckers. Here's Noah and Rylan's new kissers...

2p.m. - Costumes Please.... At 2p.m. the costume contests begin. All the kiddos looked very cute. Emilie even won a prize for her Hermoine Granger (Harry Potter Character) costume. Go Emilie! Even Sydney dressed up...

Claire (Katie Bell - Harry Potter), Noah (US Soldier), Elise (Sleeping Beauty), Sofie (Frog), Rylan (Cop), Chloe (Kitty Cat) and Costume Contest Winner Emilie (Hermoine Granger - Harry Potter)

Sydney the Unicorn

3:30p.m. - RV Trick or Treat After the costume contest winds down, the trick or treating begins. I think this is the kids favorite part of the entire trip. We trick or treated the entire campground. It was a beautiful walk. And the kids were loaded down with candy and toys.

6p.m. Haunted House The campground builds a Haunted House every year. Last year, I expected it to be a cheezy haunted house, geared more towards the little ones. However, it is a really impressive haunted House. Smaller than the 20 dollar version so popular in St. Louis, but just as authentic. We take the crazies through the lights on version, but I would definitely think the lights out version would be scary. Noah and Claire were big talkers about going back through after dark, but both had changed their minds by the time 7:30 rolled around.

By the last activity of the evening, the huge bonfire referred to as "The Burning of the Witch's House", the kids were fast asleep in their beds... Gotta love it!

On Sunday, we made our way to Hannibal Missouri. Our destination, Mark Twain Cave. The cave was really neat. More labyrinth, than Meramec Caverns and less showy. But still amazing! They even had a spot to pan for gems. We let the kids each get a bag of dirt, and set them to it. It took them all of five minutes. And somebody forgot to ensure that all of the bags had the same number of gems in each bag. I would have paid twice as much, just to have it all turned out even in the end. "Sofia got all the fossils!" "Noah got all the purple rocks!" "Rylan got more rocks than me!"... Even with all the drama, it was fun.

Elise and Rylan as Becky Thatcher and Tom Sawyer...