8 years Camping Under the Stars

Our family has officially entered into full back-to-school mode. We have had our first real taste of crisp, cool air and are anxiously awaiting pumpkins, apple picking, beautiful autumn colored leaves and fleece blankets.


Just before the turn of the season and to celebrate in style we held a camp-out right in our back yard in honor of my good friend Debra.

After writing about my bucket list, Debra said it was on her own list to camp out under the stars so we made it happen! (Full disclosure: We made it until around 9:30 when all the kids melted down from their sugar highs but it felt like all night.)

 (Tough to see but I made a banner out of old grocery bags that said "Happy Campers".)

 (Daddy hard at work assembling our 6-person tent.)

 (And what's a camp-out without some friendly bears?)

(Bears from cousin Kelly and our good friend Robin.)

(But don't feed them!)

(My childhood Goldilocks bear and bears from our friends Bobby,

Jaime, and Robin.)

 We tried to create an authentic, campy feeling for the goody bags with bandannas, twine and harmonicas.

 Fresh baked S'mores cookies were a hit.

 Sissy sported her Elvis hat (thank you Baba and Pop-Pop) for the event.

 (In the outfit my Gamma made me when I was a little girl.)

Mother Nature couldn't have delivered a more beautiful night.

We served a kid-friendly trail mix which included M&M's and contributed to some rambunctious evening activity.

 (Our friends Brendan, Ryan and the friendly iguana.)

 The kids and adults alike had a great time sharing good stories, lots of laughs, and performing tent wrestling tricks.

Hunter opted to spend most of his time on Pop-Pop's cot. 

 (You can tell by the sweat on little Ryan's forehead that they were having a good time.)

Unfortunately, my camera broke shortly after this photo was taken hence the reason I'm missing photos of the rest of us.  I'm pleased to announce that Dave kindly bought me a new one. (I think he was tired of listening to my crying about all of the magical moments I was missing without my sidekick camera!)


In addition to christening fall with a camp out, we celebrated another important milestone occasion--our 8th Anniversary. 

 These eight years have been filled with laughter, passion, joy, anger, sorrow, hugs, admiration, determination, kisses, differences, excitement, grumpiness, encouragement that have all rolled into one big, fat ball of happiness. And I'd have it no other way. 

(Sushi at the beach--one of our favorite ways to spend date night.)

I love you Dave Menoni. You are my fun loving, quirky, happy-go-lucky, voice of reason, loyal best friend and life long sidekick. Smooch!!


An anniversary is a time to celebrate the joys of today, the memories of yesterday, and the hopes of tomorrow.  ~Author Unknown