Camping at Hosmer's Grove

Monday was the start of our two week spring break, so we decided to start our vacation off with a camping trip up on Haleakala. We left our house on Monday afternoon, and drove up to about 6500 ft. and set up our camp at Hosmer's Grove. We spent three days and two nights playing in the outdoors. The first day it sprinkled a little, and by the middle of the first night, it was pouring...with thunder, lightening, and freezing cold temperatures. Needless to say, all of us felt like the night drug on forever, and were all a little sleepy the next morning.

Tuesday morning, we drove up to the summit, and were going to try and hike down into the crater, but the visibility was about 10 ft. and it was raining, so we decided to go back to the campground, and play there, since it was a little less rainy there. Isaiah and I (Melissa) drove back down the mountain to retrieve a few things we had left home, and get Isaiah some more clothes...he got most of his clothes wet on the first day (and night)...and Darwin and the other three kids ate lunch and went on a little nature hike adjacent to the campgrounds. When we all got back, the sun was shining, and we were able to warm up a little. (It was between 40 and 45 degrees in the evening.) We set up a rain shelter just to be safe and then prepared dinner. Caleb planned all the food for the week, to pass off a cub scout requirements, and we had "shamburgers" for dinner. We had talked about using dinner rolls as buns, and making small hamburgers for dinner one night, so on the menu planning sheet, Caleb had written "shamburgers" in the dinner spot. I asked him what "shamburgers" were, and he said the "s" was for small, but he didn't put a dot after it, so now he will be forever reminded about the time we went camping and had "shamburgers" for dinner. After dinner, we toasted marshmellows and made s'mores. Tuesday night was much more comfortable for all of us...Isaiah stayed in his own sleeping bag, it didn't rain, or thunder, or lightening, and Darwin turned our mattress, so I wasn't sleeping in the crack between the two mattresses.... and we all woke up feeling rested.

This morning, after eating breakfast, we played and packed up camp, and came home. We had a lot of fun, and no one fell in the fire...Caleb did get a burn on his arm from the grill lid...and everyone wants to go camping again, so I think we can call this one a success. Darwin is taking the boy scouts camping on a beach on Friday and Saturday, so as soon as we get all the gear cleaned up, it will be back in use.

All of us around the campfire...we got a fellow camper to take a picture for us.

Kids stirring the fire.

Brooklin and London slept in this little green tent.

London, Caleb, Melissa, and Isaiah sitting around the fire

Darwin cleaning up after dinner

Darwin, Melissa, Caleb, and Isaiah slept in this big blue tent. The other tan tent is a shower tent, but we only used it to keep gear in. It was way too cold to shower up there.

Brooklin found this giant pine cone while exploring the campsite.

This is Brooklin's shoes and socks after the first day. When I went home, I got her, London, and Isaiah dry shoes and socks. Caleb was the only one that kept his shoes dry.

One last family shot around the campfire.