Camping Trip

One night Paige was talking about Pa, Cory's dad, and she wanted Cory to tell her about some of the things they did together.  He named several things, but Camping really caught her attention.  She was intrigued with the idea of sleeping in a tent and cooking food outside.  So she made Cory promise that he would take her camping.

So we tried to make that activity happen with a camping trip to a State Park near my parents house.  Unfortunately, after everything was packed and loaded and we were on our way, we realized we were not going to make it to the park before the gates closed.  When we called about it, they did say that we could park at the bottom of the mountain and we could hike up with our stuff to our campsite.  The idea of walking our tent, supplies and four children up the mountain did not appeal to either Cory or I at all, so we opted to camp in my parents backyard.

At first we were a little bummed to not be going on our "official" camping trip, but it turned out to be an even better experience than we imagined.

When we got there, my Dad had an awesome bonfire built and going strong.  So Cory set up the tent and we immediately made S'mores.

They were delicious!!!

Paige had fallen asleep in the car and didn't wake up when we brought her inside.  She is clearly a prime candidate for sleeping on the ground.  Anyone who can comfortably sleep in this position will do just fine on the ground.

We got our beds made and cozied in for the night.  It was definitely a chilly night and even with all our blankets and warm clothes and a bonfire outside, we just barely stayed warm.  But it was really fun and we all enjoyed it.

 The next morning we got up and my Dad got the bonfire going good again. (That was a really nice feature of our new and improved campground!)

 Cory and I got out our cooking stuff and made bacon, eggs and pancakes.  Everything turned out delicious. In fact, we all thought the pancakes were perfection, even better than at home.

My Dad made homemade sourdough bread that morning, so that was an added camping treat we couldn't have had at the other campground. ;)

 So we spent the morning relaxing around the bonfire.  It was wonderful.

A huge thanks to my Dad, who kept our bonfire roaring.  And thanks to the kids (especially Ian) who kept the fire stoked with logs, kindling, and trash.

The kids had so much fun camping that instead of the one night we'd planned to camp, they wanted to camp a second night.  So we did.  We left the tent up and did it again.

 We also love Grammy and Papa's dog Rufus.  He's a sweetie, but he does like to give you a friendly lick now and then. :)

 The second night we had another bonfire to celebrate my Uncle Maury being in town and my Mom's birthday.

 We love cook-outs!!!

 Grammy had a yummy cake and some cute helpers to help her blow out all the candles.

 It was fun having everyone together.

 

 I love that little snuggle-girl, Paige, who would rather be on someone's lap than anywhere else in the world.

 My cute "little" Elise, who really isn't so little anymore...

It was such a fun weekend.  Part of what made it so fun was that everyone had a good attitude.  Even when our plans changed and things didn't go exactly like we thought they would.  Everyone was chipper and happy about it and it turned out to be one of the most fun activities we've done.  Everyone wants to go again and we LOVED the cool weather for camping.  We loved the bonfire, no bugs, and snuggling under the covers to keep warm.