There is a beautiful campground in Temecula that we (The whole Donnelly clan... Mom and Dad... Mary, John and the kids, and our family) enjoy visiting during their Halloween Spooktacular each October... Vail Lake. For 3 years in a row, we (our group) won the costume contest, but we decided not to go for the past 2 years as Anna and her cousins were at a difficult age to handle while camping. This year, we were READY TO GO!
For the few weekends leading up to Halloween, Vail Lake puts on an EXTRAVAGANZA... they have haunted hay rides, a haunted house, costume contests... all of the campers decorate their campsites (and I mean DECORATE... some people come several days in advance and spend those DAYS decorating their campsites!)... there is trick or treating from campsite to campsite... it is an AMAZING place to enjoy the family... well, it used to be.
I want to focus on the fun that we had during this family weekend, but I feel I would be remiss in my overall story if I didn't warn you about the complete and utter mismanagement of the campground! I'm not going into our story, or the story of 75% of our neighboring campers... just beware if you plan on going camping at Vail Lake during any of their big annual events such as the Halloween Spooktacular or the 4th of July events. It is such a shame because it is SUCH a beautiful place, but if you want to deal with your site being sold out from under you, not being told about it until you show up, and then being told to "run down and claim another site before the paid campers get there," then this is the campground for you. Oh, and confirmation numbers don't matter. And there will not be any compensation as you show up for a fun weekend and are told to go home. This is the same story that we heard over and over and over while we were there... sadly, it happened to us, too. HOWEVER, we were NOT going to let that mess ruin our weekend... we had fun DISPITE the mess the management created and refused to fix.
I am going to let the photos do the talking, but first, just a few notes:
Mom and Dad have an AWESOME trailer, and as a gift, they rented a large trailer for us and Mary's family! We usually tent camp, so having a trailer was a HUGE luxury for us!
Our group costume... I was inspired by the "Hallowe'en In Wonderland" line by Graphic 45 and "convinced" everyone to recreate the "Unbirthday Party" scene from "Alice In Wonderland." I handmade 4 "card soldier" costumes and we had our Alice, Queen of Hearts and White Rabbit.
Please enjoy my favorite photos from our 2010 "Halloween Town!"
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| John was "crafting" with me... he was making costumes for Mary and himself... they were going as a "Pair of Dice" |
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| Jeff... doing what he does best... fixing bikes so everyone could go on a bike ride! |
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| Mary... posing with the first felt hoodie I made... along with the photo of the "card soldiers" from "Alice In Wonderland"... Loooooooooking Gooooooood! |
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| Yes, I even have a crafting table at our campsite! And what good scrapper would be caught dead without her ATG gun, scissors, cutting mat, and spray adhesive... (and pre-cut hearts and spades, compliments of my Cricut!!) |
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| Penny and Bob and the kids came up for the Saturday night festivities... Cat and Anna... before the REAL fun began! |
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| Mary and John brought the SILLIEST decorations... like this cross that says, "I TOLD YOU I was sick!!!" |
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| Penny, Mary and Matthew... camping family fun... |
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| Yes, my Brother-in-law can be a TOTAL DORK... notice the black fingers from his crafting time with me! LOVE YA, JOHN! |
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| Bob didn't want to be a part of the "Wonderland" group... he had his OWN scary outfit... Here he is, posing next to one of the camp site props... |
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| The group... minus Jeff (the other black "card soldier" and scary Bob!)... The Alice Group (without the props), Jessica the Sailor, and the Pair of Dice. |
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