Friday:
After an extremely boring day I left work an hour early to join Jeff at home where he had been since late afternoon. I dozed off while he watched a movie, but eventually we gathered ourselves to head out to Goochland. Cowboy Paul gave us some good laughs while we waited what seemed like hours for our food. Eventually though we all did get to eat and afterwards headed back to Eric & Kelly's.

Chris, Paul & Brian gave us a little preview of the weekends entertainment. I sure wish I had musical talent like that. Jeff thoroughly inspected Eric's Tivo and shortly before midnight we headed for home.

Saturday:
Being the nice person I am (ha!) I let Jeff sleep in when I got up at 9:30 to start packing. I got evreything ready to go and did a little cleaning. By 12:30 we were on the road. We decided to leave Gizmo at home for the 2 nights we'd be gone. I felt really bad, but we left him a ton of food. I guess he was ok, he doesn't seem too mad at us now.

Taco Bell in Lexington became plan B when the Pink Cadillac was closed due to water line breakage. But man was that a good gordita! So onward to the mountain we headed to set up camp. Mike & Lauren had already started setting up the 'kitchen' and 'dining' areas. We all got out tents set up while everyone else slowly arrived.

At some point some of us got started on dinner. The guys had built a brick oven to cook stuff in. It was about 11pm before everything was finally ready. When you're cooking for 16 in the woods things take a while. Mike had fixed some baked ziti which was very good. Who else would have thought to have baked ziti in the middle of the forest?

Shortly after dinner Paul, Chris & Brian started in on their set list for the evening for us die hard fans who didnt got to bed right away. But it had been a long day and we all were tired. I'm not really sure what time we ended up in bed.

Pictures from Saturday, before my camera died.

Sunday:
After the best night's sleep I've ever had in a tent (despite the heat), we snacked on smores until the pancake breakfast (complete with Mrs. Butterworths AND Aunt Jemima) was ready. I love pancakes. It was close to 3 when everyone decided to go play kickball in the field. Not being a fan of playing sports such as this, I played photographer until my camera died.

Everyone was hot and sweaty so a trip to the pool was next. Despite it being what I think has been the coldest day of the summer, some people did enjoy the pool. After some volleyball fun we headed back to camp to start working on dinner.

A collective effort was put forth to get the chicken (or fake chick'n), cous cous, green bean caserole and dinner rolls prepared. Another excellent meal. All this followed by cake to celebrate Jess' 21st. Mmm..cake.

Pivot! made their debut with covers of John Mayer, The Cranberries and Def Leppard. Kermit also made a guest appearance to sing us a little song. Pivot! fans got to play along with kazoos provided by the band. Pivot! rocks!! Many smores later it was 3:30 and we were exhausted.

Monday:
As we all stumbled out of our tents and gathered around the fire a collective decision was made to spend the afternoon at the pool. Jon & Kelly got their stuff packed up first as did Jeff & I. Mike, Jeff & I decided to break down the rest of camp before heading up to the pool to relax.

We got the kitchen cleaned up and all the supplies put away while avoiding the giant bee that had taken a liking to the brick oven. Eventually there was nothing left to do but load in the cars so we decided to leave that to the rest of the group. :)

A lively game of water volley ball quickly diminished after we arrived, since the grill was fired up for lunch. Not more than 10 or 15 minutes later the bottom dropped and it poured for a long time.

Paul, Jeff, Kelly H & I took cover under the pool pump shack. The rest of the group made it to the cabin. But we were the lucky ones, Paul saved the apple pie and I saved the snack tub from the rain. So we got to eat Little Debbies and pie while waiting for the rain to let up. Jeff and Paul thought they'd be funny by jumping in the pool; and it was fun, until Mike made then get out with his warnings of lightening in the distance. Party pooper!

When the rain subsided we all headed back to camp to salvage what was left. For those who had not taken their tent down, they had a wet, soggy mess waiting for them. After getting all the supplies safely tucked away in the Pollock's barn Jeff and I headed for home.

We unpacked, showered and met Brian, Chris and Paul for dinner. And despite our many warnings to Brian he insisted on seeing the Hawaii photos. Sorry you guys (Chris & Paul) had to sit through them again. We will get those sorted out one day. Jeff and I crashed as soon as they left; doing nothing really makes a person tired. :)

So despite my initial doubts about the weekend, we had a great time. The new camping spot, while in the woods, is perfect so a large (or small) group. The spaces between the trees are just large enough for the tents, we have an established cooking and dining area. And now we even have 'roadways' to most of the tent spaces. Oh, and can't foget the newly dug steps from the road to woods. This is definitely a spot we will be returning too.