We did it! Our camping trip started on Monday around 11am as we left the house. Almost 3 hours later we arrived at our destination. First things first... open up the tent and sleeping bags. There weren't too many frustrated words thrown around since I knew what I was doing and Bob just did as I was told! Perfect combination!!
After putting the tarp down and getting the tent up and staked the kiddos were more.than.happy to open up the sleeping bags and arrange the way we would be sleeping... for anyone interested... it went Morgan, Momma, RJ on one half of the tent, Daddy somehow got the whole other side of the tent to himself... ha!
After we got the essentials put out we investigated the camp grounds to see where things were located. They had several (small) playgrounds around the site, a pool, a big sprinkler play yard, a lake, and a few other things. We also found that a bathroom was nice and close to our camping site!
Onto one of the playgrounds to try it out!
Then to try out the sprinkler play yard! We decided to just let the kiddos play in their clothes rather than go back to our site (and waste time) to get bathing suits on. They had a wet blast as we watched!
We headed back and Bob made supper on his propane take along grill. Yum! We had burgers and homemade pasta salad. After supper we headed to the lake where the kiddos had fun throwing rocks into the water. (Or trying to hit the water... many times their shots fell short but that didn't stop the fun!)
After throwing rocks (forever) we took a walk around to investigate more of the camp site.
...where we ran into a different playground...
We just HAD to try it out!
Then back to our site where we played with flashlights and had a nice warm campfire! We also had a black cat visiting our site... Daddy did not like that he kept coming to our site area... but I tried to look on the bright side... at least it wasn't a lion or tiger or bear (oh my!).
We also checked out bugs around our campsite.
Here Morgan and RJ are so excited that they found a ladybug crawling on the tree.
Sleeping was a little rough... it ended up raining in the early morning hours for 2 or 3 hours. Not pouring rain but enough rain that it was heard hitting our tent. Thank you tent for being nice and waterproof!! Where RJ was laying in the tent actually got wet though... we realized that the tarp under our tent was holding water so in the morning we pulled the tarp out in hopes that that would prevent the condensation for our next sleep.
Daddy made yummy eggs and sausage on the grill and then we headed out to start our day! First stop... the lake. We caught a couple fish... I think Daddy had more fun than the kiddos but even big kids are allowed to have fun!! (I brought goldfish on the boat with us... ha... goldfish for a snack when fishing...hehehe) I was the paddler... sitting in front of the boat.
After about 2 hours the kiddos were done... we forced them to stay out one more hour. After our lake fun we headed to the pool where Daddy had fun splashing around. I didn't feel like getting in because I didn't want to smell like chlorine or wait (forever) to get dry! The kiddos had a blast!
After swimming we headed to one of the playgrounds for some more fun before we headed back to our tent to change into dry clothes. While Daddy made yummy chicken tenders on the grill I snapped a few shots of the kiddos in front of our tent! (Note... the tarp is now in front of our tent)
After we ate another yummy supper we headed to the side of the lake to try some more fishing... we weren't so lucky this evening with the fish and the kiddos got bored VERY quickly. It was relaxing though... just sitting at the lake side with the setting sun.
After fishing and some more playground playing we headed back to our tent. Another campfire and the kiddos were very tired since they did not have naps during the day. They crashed around 9:30ish and went to sleep almost immediately when their heads hit the pillows. Almost instantly after putting them to bed Bob and I started to see some flashes of lightening. Oh no. Please... storm... just pass us by. Well... the lightening got closer in interval and the winds started picking up... we decided a few before 10pm to pack up and put things into the car (just in case) to keep dry, put out the fire and head to our sleeping bags ourselves. Well... no sooner did we climb into the tent with our sleeping babies than the skies opened up. We endured at least a 4 hour thunderstorm. OH MY!! I tried to sleep through it and slept off and on. I think Bob stayed awake the whole time. I dozed in and out praying over and over again, "Please God, if lightening strikes near us... please hit a tree and let it fall in the opposite direction of our tent. Thank you." The thunderstorm finally subsided in the early hours sometime and thank goodness both Morgan and RJ slept through the entire thing. I am NOT sure how, but they did! Poor exhaustion is my guess! When we got up in the morning Bob and I both NEEDED that cup of coffee from his cool perculator and then the packing up began. As we were packing up the kiddos spotted this creature. Can you see him? Glad I didn't see him before sleeping!
We got on the road a little after 10am and headed home. We had a pretty easy drive home and then the unpacking began and drying everything out!! We survived our first tent camping experience thunderstorm and all! If we can live through that I think we are champs at camping and I personally can't wait to go again!
