A Camping We Will Go...

Both Eric and I grew up camping as children.  I have so many memories of setting up tents, cooking pots over the fire, wiggling around in my igloo sleeping bag, fishing at the lakes and so many more.  When we got married we both said that we would love to camp together as a family and give our kids those same experiences.  Life got busy and we simply didn't make camping a priority . . . until this past weekend.  Our home fellowship group  goes each year and this was our inaugural trip. 

To put it simply, the entire weekend was a blast.  7 families, 26 kids, 3 days, and delay due to a forest fire, and a really happy little girl.  We all shared one really large campsite and we borrowed some equipment from family. We also finally had to the chance to use the awesome tent I picked up on clearance at Target a few years back.  As we were driving home, we made a list of some things that we would like to get if we see them at garage sales or craigslist but we were pretty well prepared for our first trip!

We left Thursday afternoon in hopes of meeting up with several families setting up camp.  Unfortunately there was a small brush fire near the highway that leads to the rim and it shut down while we were on it.  So after unsuccessfully waiting for an hour for the road to open back up, we turned around and headed home.  Kylie was so sad and cried the entire way home.  Talk about disappointment :(  We left the car packed, made some dinner and ice cream sundaes to heal some tears, and got one last night of restful sleep before heading off first thing Friday morning.

It was a crazy trip with all the kids and families but it was a wonderful experience for us and we are planning our next trip in just a few weeks.  It was a wonderful time to get away from the 110+ degree weather and there's nothing better than the smell of pine trees and the sound of the trees blowing in the wind.  And it always helps to have a good air mattress and comfy sleeping bags to make it more enjoyable :)  We made lots of great memories and I look forward to making this part of our lives in the future, even after our next child joins our family. 

Our make-shift kitchen.  It was crazy with 7 families cooking at the same time.

Our campsite

Come on mom, I don't need a shower?!?

Some of the kids on our walk to the stream.  Kylie definitely enjoyed playing with all the kids!

The water was frigid but it was fun to try to stay out of the water!

This girl is so lucky to have such a wonderful daddy :)

Kylie tried fishing for a few minutes but wasn't willing to wait for too long without any action.  A few more years and she'll be catching our dinners for us.

Our first family camping trip was a total success!