Rafter J Bar Ranch campground fun

Well, obviously the playground was a huge draw at this campground, every second that they could be over there, they were! The younger three spent 3 hours over there during the afternoon on Tuesday, in the rain, totally happy – communications via the walkie-talkie were kept to a minimum because, apparently, they interrupted the game! Jake was in heaven as he spent most of the 3 hours on wii – a very rare treat indeed.

On Tuesday, given the expected rain and thunder in the afternoon, once they had journaled and worked on their Custer Naturalist books (quite challenging, still needed another day of time for them), we headed over to the pool. It was heated but they all commented it was chilly when they first got in, thankfully they were also allowed in the hot tub so they could go in there to warm up. There were a couple of other boys playing, from Illinois, aged 7 and 9, who joined them in a game of water football. It got quite rough and somehow (gulp), Nate managed to knock one of the 7 year old’s teeth out! Apparently it was loose but even so, not one of his finer moments – they switched to a different game! As I was chatting with their mother (and apologizing!), the kids rushed off to get dressed and came back to the playground for nerf tag and running. They ended up with a very late lunch that day - friends and play trump eating any day of the week!

On Friday, we had another relatively quiet day, much needed after all the running around and exploring of the week. We started the day with the pancake breakfast for the bargain price of $2.50. It is offered every day during the summer, they must do well, there was a steady stream of people coming in while we were eating.

After work, Dave took the kids to the pool, it was another hot day, I’m so glad we didn’t have anything outdoorsy planned – other than being in the water! This campground has been one of our favorites: plenty for the kids to do but not an overwhelming amount of extra-curricula stuff, so nothing we felt obligated to hide from the kids (some campgrounds offer crafts, games, group campfires etc, while these are definitely fun, sometimes they take away from what we have planned and the kids are unimpressed when they are unable to attend)! Also, the campground is in a great, quiet location, easy access to so many wonderful places. As mentioned before, the sites are large, the place is huge but not at all overcrowded, we would definitely recommend it.