First Camping Trip of 2014

And we had a fantastic time! I really think we are hitting our "camping stride" this summer, if there is such a thing. I packed everything so much more efficiently, and even had the foresight to pack a small tub of JUST stuff for the kids to do (activity books and pencils/crayons, bubbles, catch games, cards, glow sticks, etc.). It was PERFECT, but I will go into that more in a minute. I also think our kids are old enough now where they can entertain themselves pretty well, and aren't as needy 24/7. It's a good place to be in!

Anyway... We arrived at the campground right around 1pm on Friday, which is when people are allowed to check in. We drove to our site, and it was everything we had hoped for!! Every time we had stayed at this campground, we had tried to figure out which sites had direct lake access. We had it narrowed down to several, and this particular site was available when we went to book a camping trip back in early February. And we hit the jackpot! The site was very private, nicely laid out, close to the bathrooms that have the SHOWERS (yay! camping with showers is SO NICE!), and had direct access to the lake! Even better, we had a little path that led from our side over to one of the swimming beaches. It was just awesome! We will never stay in another site there again, this one was so great! I made a little video tour, if you want to see.

We were also blessed with the best weather we have ever had on a camping trip! Low 80s, low humidity, a gentle breeze and zero rain. A miracle! We got our site set up quickly, and were able to get down to the important stuff: swimming, fishing, exploring, and enjoying campfire time!

That night, the kids went to bed pretty much as soon as it was dark-- so a little after 9. We wanted to try and keep them up later in hopes that they'd sleep in (yeah, right!!), but they were very eager to go to bed in the tent. We followed them to bed pretty quickly, since the campfire died early. And it was a rough night of sleep for me-- it was colder than it has ever been for us on a camping trip, and I was having trouble sleeping. AND we had forgotten to take our trash bag to the dumpster, and heard something getting into it in the middle of the night. Gus shined a light out and saw that it was a skunk! And, in his half-asleep state, he couldn't believe that I thought we should just leave it alone and let it have the trash if it wanted, haha!! As it was, it only nibbled a small hole in the bag and licked a chocolate chip granola bar wrapper. It was far better than being sprayed!!!! (and yes, Gus agreed with me in the morning that leaving it alone was the right choice... ha!)

I did eventually fall into a nice, deep sleep... But the next morning was brutal! Niko was up by 6. He woke us up by announcing that he needed to get dressed. Why? Because he was embarrassed to go outside in his jammies. Oh yeah, and by the way, he needed to go to the bathroom. BADLY. Like RIGHT NOW. Including #2 (which ruined my initial plan of having him just pee on a tree). So Gus took him down to the bathroom, while Maya climbed into our bed and snuggled with me.

Once the boys were back, Gus climbed back in bed and we told the kids to keep themselves occupied, because we weren't done sleeping (TRUTH!)! Maya went out and dragged the tub of kid activities (which they dubbed the "fun bin") inside the tent. They did, in fact, keep themselves occupied for another hour or so, before they came and began petitioning for breakfast. I had to laugh when I looked at their end of the tent and saw this mess:

But, despite the rude awakening at ungodly hours, we had a great day! Lots more fishing, swimming, and general family togetherness. And more gorgeous weather! We capped off the evening with a guided hike around the park, pizza cooked over the campfire (too smoky-- probably won't repeat that), s'mores, and ghost stories. The kids were in bed by 10pm. And they were exhausted (just look at Maya's face in the last picture!).

On the second morning, they let us sleep until just after 7. Better, though not great, haha! Their sleep was interrupted (for the second night in a row) by both of them sliding off of their air mattresses and getting tangled in their sleeping bags (nothing dangerous or anything-- just a mess). I had noticed a bobbing pink light coming from their end of the tent sometime after midnight, and recognized it as Maya's glow stick. I heard a lot of rustling and some muttering, so I went to see what the problem was. Maya looked up at me, all tangled, trying to investigate the scene with her glow stick, and said (in her sweet voice), "I just can't seem to get this figured out..." haha!!!!! She is the cutest! But I got them both straightened around, and vowed to get cots before our next trip (ordered them this morning!). And then I slept.

Our last day was a busy one, as it always is, since we had to get everything packed up. But we have gotten pretty efficient at that, too-- we were done with time to spare. So the kids got to fish some more before we left, which they loved! I forgot to mention that Niko finally learned to cast off on his own this weekend. I took lots of videos-- and most of his casts went farther than this one, but this one had the most immediate fish-nibbles! Niko caught a total of 5 fish, while Maya caught 1. All six fish were returned to their home in the pond, to be caught another day by someone else! :)

And that was our camping trip! We all had a lot of fun, and agreed that a big part of it was due to our campsite and its proximity to the things we wanted to do the most (fishing, swimming). Sleep was lacking, especially for the kids, and it was evident right away yesterday that Niko was NOT a happy camper. At all. Both kids went to bed nearly an hour earlier than usual at home, after they had showered and taken doses of Benadryl to combat the itchiness of their numerous and inevitable mosquito bites. And, I am pleased to report that Niko slept until after 8am this morning, and was a new child!!! Sleep worked wonders, as it often does. Hallelujah!

We ran a ton of errands this morning, and purchased some things for our next camping trip coming up in less than two weeks, but we also managed to find time to go swimming at Caryn's. Niko wanted me to take a video of him jumping off the side of the pool. He really is becoming amazingly confident in the water-- I love it! On the docket for tomorrow: more summer fun (swimming at another friend's house) and a birthday celebration for a certain husband. It should be a hot, but beautiful, day! :)