Camping Trip

Prepare for a picture overload.  ;)  I decided the best thing I could do was to stay out of the way and that meant I had lots of time to take pictures.  Plus, it made me very, very happy to watch my city boys experience this (rather citified version) of camping.  (I have since learned of some more woodsy-type campsites around here.)  I decided to write the story at the end of the billions of pictures...just in case anyone wants to read about the story of it all.  :)

getting the tent set up

 (Notice the RVs right next door...hence, citified...not preferable, but oh well.)

  Jared really didn't want me to take his picture as he helped unload the car.

 campfire time

 Jared was very excited to get the fire going so that we could get the popcorn popping.

 (We did pull all that grass so that we didn't start any big fires.)

 Jiffy Pop is magical and Jared wanted a picture with it.  :)

Phone Pictures

playing in the tent

 food time

 I took one picture to prove I was there.  :)

  playing with glow sticks

So, Ethan had to and wanted to go camping to pass off some Cub Scout achievements.  We managed to fit it in the weekend before his birthday.  We could have borrowed stuff, gone to a great camping location, etc. Instead, we decided to just take what we had and go to the closest option.  I opted for the "premium" campsite so that we had a water spigot and a plug (for the air mattress and fan).  :)  Again, citified!  It was really hot and we had to go after school so there wasn't tons of time or desire to do much.  After getting the tent set up and our beds made, the boys played some card games and read some stories (and I took more pictures).  Camping food can be delicious and elaborate, but the boys really wanted hot dogs and popcorn.  (How exciting?!)  We got the fire going pretty well and they enjoyed the food.  They really loved playing around in the dark with the glow sticks and some glow bubbles I had.  I tried not to worry that they would step in fire ants in the dark.  Once we were all ready for bed and in the tent, we tried to fall asleep.  It was still really hot.  The fan was a lifesaver.  Our air mattress was lovely for about 20 minutes.  Then we realized that there was a significant hole and we ended up on the ground.  The ground was hard.  Most of us slept adequately if not well, but I couldn't stop my brain.  I was convinced that one of the boys would sleepwalk out of the tent, so I never could relax.  The mom brain is a really awful thing sometimes.  By 6 am the next morning, I was really, really hoping that someone would wake up!  They woke up at 7 and we packed up pretty quickly.  We weren't feeling excited to explore the area since it really wasn't woodsy anyway.  I was ready for some real food and my bed.  We stopped at Chick-Fil-A for breakfast on the way home and I took a 3 hour nap.  We all considered it a first time success and learned some ways to make it much better next time.  :)  But, happily, I think we all agree there should be a next time.  :)