...or Dr Who?:
There were fossils and animals to investigate through secret holes...:
...and adults to spy on through Egyptian eyes, whilst disguised as animals:
The day ended with Ben and Noah building the biggest den in the history of den-building, which involved a ladder, boxes, stealing any blanket they could find and using all of my pegs. There were even beds laid out underneath for them all to get cosy! 
This year our camping trip took us to Auntie Amy and Uncle Karl's farm in Plwmp, Wales, with some friends. I thoroughly recommend camping with friends who have children the same age as your own, the children don't get bored of being with just their siblings and when there are tree swings by your tent they don't need entertaining!
Rosie:
Ethan looking after his youngest friend:
Dave, Robin, Ben, Emily and James:
The rain continued for the afternoon so we went to the Museum of Power in Tanygroes. It was as thrilling as it sounds (ahem)... I think you have to have high levels of testosterone to truly enjoy this place! The children (and James) enjoyed watching the old engines in action...
...While I spent my time taking photos of old signs that made me laugh:
Please don't "monkey" with electricity!:
The children were fascinated with the 'old' dial up phones, which in turn made me feel old as we had phones just like them when I was a child. Ben seems to have avoided all pictures this year, so here is Ethan with cousin Emily, Rosie and Noah:
After possibly the worst night of sleep ever thanks to the howling winds, Thursday morning dawned and James was woken up by these four singing the most hilariously out of tune and loud Happy Birthday you have ever heard in your life: 
James is not a morning person (and may not appreciate me putting this photo up!):
While James went on his birthday fishing trip the rest of us spent our last full day at my favourite beach in Wales, Mwnt. 
It's a beautiful cove:
Rosie:
Noah, not sure what his plan was here:
The day ended with a barbecue with most of James' family, unfortunately there were no fish from the trip to cook but plenty of wasps to swat away!
I consider myself to be a hardy camper but I must confess I was thrilled to not have to walk across two fields to the toilets and share a shower with daddy long legs. I actually embraced my orthopedic mattress upon our return!
Rosie entered an acrostic poem competition for Young Writers through her school and it has been chosen from over 40,000 poems to be published in My First Acrostic. Here's the proof copy:
Rosie hasn't had the easiest time learning to read and write (she is only just on target for her age and has had help through a learning group at school to improve her abilities) but she absolutely loves writing, even if it was a page full of nonsense.... which quite often it was! So I am thrilled for her that she was able to do this and will have her work published in November!
I like many artists, but when I first heard Brandi Carlile a couple of years ago she immediately became my favourite and has been played so much at home that Rosie and Noah sing along to all her songs and Ben asks me to choose something else...please! (Ethan has no opinion on the matter.) I went to London on Monday with Asenath to see the band play at Scala, and as we were there early to sort out our tickets we got to have a quick chat with the band before the gig. I really enjoyed the support band Kill It Kid (I have been a fan for a while) they were fabulous. The lead singer is quite young looking (seriously, he could pass for a 12 year old!) but has an amazing deep voice. 
One of our girls gave each of us leaders flowers and chocolate and this heartfelt message. It gave me hope that we were doing something right! (And by the way, we didn't 'put up' with her, she was an angel and gave us the most laughs during camp, usually from falling off her chair!)
Bundles:
Volleyball with a difference:
Wheelbarrow racing:
After this race, the girls decided to lay on the floor and roll down the hill. I haven't laughed so hard that I cried in such an long time! They rolled for so long, that when they tried to stand up at the end they couldn't do anything more than stagger about as if they were drunk! This entertained the rest of the campers on the far side of the field, and had the toddlers on the site joining in!
Along the way we crossed this bridge:
Checked out a cave:
And soon realised that most of this hike was uphill. (Trust me, it's steeper than it looks!):
Admired the natural beauty:
'Aah'd' at a young Dartmoor pony:
Coveted this thatched cottage while trying to figure out why we were always going uphill:
Missed a signpost and added another mile (uphill... are you understanding my pain?) to our journey, but rejoiced when we finally re-entered the village tired and weary... but downhill at last!:
And then we saw this fixed penalty ticket which made our fragile, exhausted selves giggle uncontrollably for quite a while:
After being out all day in perfect hiking weather we returned to camp at 6pm to the start of more rain! As we have perfected camping in this type of weather, we held our skits in the marquee (you are so lucky I have no photographic evidence of us leaders singing along to Abba's Dancing Queen to our own version: Drama Queens... it was AWESOME but not flattering!) We gathered around the camp fire with our raincoats and umbrellas, and sang silly songs, primary songs, youth songs, bore testimony, cradled hot chocolate and talked about life until long past midnight. All the perfect ingredients for a camp fire in my opinion! I love that time when youth and leaders can loose the barriers of age and just be friends and laugh, talk and share deep thoughts and feelings. Today as we broke camp I knew that our relationships had been strengthened with the girls, we had shared deep belly laughs and fun, frustration and triumph, and most importantly who we really are beneath all the show.
