Stitching with Elli

Ruthie, Nellie, Lea and Samantha recently were able to go on a camping trip with me. It was just a quick trip, but the dolls were very excited. They had never been camping before!  Before we even got to the park we had an adventure. It was not a fun adventure. We had driven about 14 hours and then our GPS lead us astray/ We were lost on a one lane dirt road…in the middle of the woods…..with steep ditches on both sides….no houses around…no lights… with weak cell reception… Oh, and did I mention it was DARK?? (Being the responsible blogger that I am, why yes I did get a picture of the road 😀 )

All the dolls were scared. They sat rather quietly and kept staring at me expecting me to come up with a way to save them. Nellie was the exception. She wasn’t scared. She kept saying this looked like the beginning of a horror movie…and we were probably going to run out of gas…or hit an animal…or drive off a cliff by accident…..Samantha told her if she couldn’t think of anything positive or happy to say…… BE QUIET!

I finally managed to turn around and head back out of there…then I got a better signal, and I was able to use the GPS on my cell phone.  After another 20 minutes, we got to the camp site, Cheaha State Park in Alabama. Whew!! As the driver  and only full-sized person in the car, I was rather stressed. The next morning….

“Emily is still sleeping.” whispered Samantha.

“What if we make breakfast ourselves. That way we won’t wake her up?” Ruthie asked softly.

The others thought this was an excellent idea, so they all got busy.

“Ruthie, can you find the eggs?” Samantha called over her shoulder.

“I see them, but there is something sitting on top of them so I can’t reach it. Give me a second.” Ruthie’s muffled voice replied from inside the cooking supply box.

“Do you see a skillet? I just see pots out here.” Samantha continued as she made a mental list of the things needed for cooking breakfast.

“The skillet is right here next to me and here are the eggs!” Ruthie said triumphantly as she emerged with the egg carton.

Soon they were sitting down to a lovely camp breakfast.

“The sausage looks lovely! I’m sorry everyone. I’m not sure there will be enough for everyone.” Ruthie announced with a grin.

“How about some extra flavorful bacon instead?” asked Lea.

“Are you sure you don’t mean burned?” teased Nellie as she was serving the juice.

Samantha inspected the bacon and said, “No, it was definitely just flavorful”.

They passed out the jam for the toast, then they were ready to eat.

Eeek!! The bees were ready too!

Ruthie had to keep shooing the bees away from her plate. She said that  was just a “benefit” of camping. In spite of the chilly weather and the bees, they enjoyed breakfast.

After breakfast, like any good campers, they cleaned up. Nellie and Samantha worked together to clean up the tablecloth from any stickiness that may have gotten on it.

Lea gathered up the cups and dishes.

As she didn’t see any other particular job to do, Ruthie decided to be very helpful and eat the left over bacon. It was a hard job, but someone had to do it 😉

They had been outside for some time now and were getting quite cold. Ruthie commandeered a nearby warm coffee cup to hold like a personal heater. She offered to share with Samantha. Samantha, however, said she was fine with her warm cozy sweater.

Lea wanted more warmth than that. She headed for the camper and the heater.

“What is the password?” asked Nellie blocking Lea from going in the camper.

“The password is let me in before my nose freezes off!” replied Lea.

“Right! How did you guess?” grinned Nellie stepping aside.

Soon after that I got up, and ate breakfast while the dolls played on the rocks nearby.

After I ate, we all went hiking. The dolls were very excited about this trail. They said more parks should have trails like this since this trail was so doll friendly.

“Whoohoo!!! Fall leaves!!!!” yelled Ruthie, as she dived into a pile of leaves throwing them in the air.

They played in the leaves for a bit then took off  walking down the trail. It was a nice easy trail but it was looong (for little doll legs 😉 ). Samantha was getting tired.

“Can you guys carry me out if I collapse?” she asked, teasing them by being over dramatic as she leaned hard against the railing.

“No, we can’t,” said Ruthie cheerfully “but Emily can,  no worries there!”

They kept going until they got to the end of the trail and the overlook.

Samantha noticed the older gentleman sitting on the bench next to them was wearing a veteran’s hat. She thanked him for his service.

At first he seemed a little scary, but then they had a nice chat.

After that, they climbed down on the rocks to get a different view. Ruthie and Nellie scared Samantha and Lea by pretending Ruthie got squished between two rocks.

They wanted a picture with the sign to show the dolls at home…guess who wouldn’t sit in front of the sign like any normal doll but had to make it more “exciting”?

Nellie!!!! That girl…she is going to give me a heart attack yet. The way she climbs on things and goes near the edges of cliffs……

We tried to get a group picture with the view behind them….but Lea didn’t hear and was turned the wrong way.

Later that day we went to another place in the park. This is Alabama’s highest point.

After a long day hiking we watching the sun set….

It was VERY cold and windy, and I had a terrible sneezing cold. Out of concern for my comfort, the dolls voted to leave a little earlier so we could get back to the camper and warmth.

In for the night….

And in bed…

I think the dolls enjoyed camping in spite of the cold…and getting lost. Nellie wanted to know how many of you like camping and how many of you prefer to stay inside when sleeping? 😀