PHOTO PROJECT--THANKSGIVING CAMPING

In addtion to completing the wedding album, I got another album prepped for photos. It was a project offered as part of my day. Since the album is in a pumpkin shade and has a very fall, thanksgiving feel, I have decided to use it to scrapbook our thanksgiving camping photos.

Our family has a long held (20 year or more) tradition to spend Thanksgiving weekend camping in the California desert. We always have a traditional Thanksgiving meal with all of our family favorites and more food than you can imagine. There are usually 22 of us and our group usually includes a few friends. We caravan down and circle our motorhomes/campers with the same campfire ring in the center. We look forward to spending time as a family, laughter, s'mores, around the campfire, hiking, reading and of course playing "Mafia" after dinner. There is always some kind of offroading (mostly in Jeeps now) which also includes a trip to the "Glamis Beach Store" for a T-shirt or hoodie to remember the weekend.

Just look at this gorgeous sunset....this is usually what we are greeted with when we arrive into camp and set up for the weekend. We just bring a buckets of KFC and all the fixings to share for our first night, since we are too busy to cook and too hungry to wait. Another tradition for the guys is getting firewood for the campfire. The guys love going out in their Jeeps and trucks and dragging back limbs of downed dead trees from the back of their vehicles that were found in the washes. It becomes a competition of who can bring back the largest piece. Can you tell?

Here are the grandparents hanging out after breakfast, enjoying some morning sunshine and respite while the rest of the camp finishes up breakfast and moring routines before we make plans for where we are going to go on our off-road adventure for the day.

Setting up the tables for dinner....

The line forms here....and if it happens to be a chilly or windy day, we set up our food inside the motorhomes for serving. We are usually blessed with beautiful weather for Thanksgiving dinner so we usually are able to eat outside.

Let the feasting begin! It's hard to get everyone in one single picture!
Time to gather by the fire for a game of Mafia. Also time to break out the marshmallows, graham crackers and Hershey Bars....and mugs of coffee...and enjoy the star-filled sky with lots of shooting stars as well as the peace and quiet of the desert night. It is beautiful out there...our little piece of heaven on earth.
We are starting to plan our trip this year. We have our motorhome reserved and are getting excited for our trip. I have to make sure to take lots of pictures as this will probably be the last desert thanksgiving trip for us before we move to Tennessee.