I Survived Camping

Like how I make this one all about me? Yes, we took the kids camping Easter weekend, but the main point is that I survived after not having been camping in over a decade. I loved camping growing up. But about halfway through college I decided nothing compared to sleeping in a bed ever again. No couch, no crashing on someone's floor, and certainly no sleeping in a tent! Add on top of that no shower (although they actually did have pretty decent showers and bathrooms), bugs, and being woken up by a squawking bird! But the things we do for our kids, right?

We went to Huntsville State Park and I have to say it was a really nice place! Here is our view from our campsite!

We decided to hike along another trail.  We were on the lookout for poison ivy. Not sure if this is it but we looked it up on google and I think this might be it:

Mackenzie found this really cool tree along the way.

I'm sure this will shock you but once again the kids were complaining. See the look on Kaitlyn's face. She had a lovely attitude. Since she looked like this in the NICE picture we tried to take we made all the kids do a silly face to match hers. I don't think they are developing a love of walking on trails, even though they love the outdoors. Then Mike informed us all that we were not hiking at all! We were just walking on a trail and that this does not compare. Okay fine whatever.

Part of the "trail" was along this lake. Talk about gorgeous views and colors coming through!

Meanwhile, back at camp...

Oh yeah. We went with some friends from our church, and they had some neighbors along as well. Here are our kids along with two of theirs around the campfire.

Sunset - isn't this incredible?

For some reason in about a 5-minute span, all of my children were falling everywhere. I don't even remember all the falls, just that first one kid fell, then another, then another. I know Ashley fell off a log, Reagan fell in two different chairs right in a row. The second time she just laid there like a slug and didn't even try to move. It cracked me up! I guess she was just going to wait for someone to help her. Either that or til the coyotes came to eat her for breakfast!

Now HERE's the kids' favorite part! S'mores!

Our friend David tried them with Marshmallow Peeps in honor of Easter! They didn't work very well. They just melted off the stick!

The kids' OTHER favorite part, though not mine, was this "hill" that was right by our campsite. Our friends brought plasma cars and scooters and this was just about ALL the kids did all day. They actually picked up a ton of speed on that hill. The bad part was that the noise was driving me crazy and also, um, it's a street. Every time the kids were out there, there was no relaxing because we had to stand there and be on the lookout for cars.

Here's Kaitlyn whizzing by with one of the boys on the trip. Kaitlyn LOVES little kids - she's going to be a great babysitter one day!

When they weren't riding down the hill, three of my girls spent their time digging for roly polies.

Here's a picture of ALMOST all the kids on the trip. Oh yeah, and Reagan made a really good friend with one of the boys as well. She came back to the campfire Friday night and just very non-chalantly said, "Mom, I have a boyfriend. His name is Teddy." What??? How does she even know what a boyfriend is? She's 4! But she was cute playing with him.

Then there was this lovely park with this archaic slide that was quite the danger. And you know my kids weren't playing safely on it. Such daredevils I have! The scary part was the very top when they would either think it's cool to stand up there, or in trying to sit down they always looked like their butt was hanging off the back. Then they tried to walk down, run down, slide sideways. Goodness! The park spurred a conversation about the less safe, but in some ways more fun, playground equipment from when we were kids. Like teeter totters that actually went up and down (and left one poor unsuspecting kid breaking their tail bone when they hit bottom), and those merry-go-rounds that would just go flying!

We made it home just in time to get ready for Easter, and now between camping and Easter it has taken me and my house all week to recover. I'm ready to get the Easter stuff out of here and reclaim my kitchen from the eggs and baskets and candy that have taken over!