Camping!

On Thursday we set out on our first post-Anna camping trip.  Our friends, the Downums, had invited us a few weeks ago and I was so excited!

We went to a place just about 2 hours south called Cave Mountain Lake, Va.  It was a really nice camp ground.

Anna is in that fun stage, where she doesn't quite know how to walk on her own, but she doesn't want to crawl.  Basically that means her little hand is grabbing my fingers 24/7 and we walk s-l-o-w-l-y.  It is quite sweet and I usually don't mind, however, sometimes it's also nice to walk at a normal pace. :) 

Erik's turn!

The boys sliding down one of the many "mountains" they would climb.  It was kind of rainy off and on Thursday, so things were quite muddy.  Jackson and Wyatt were already in their spare pairs of pants the first afternoon!

We all took a little hike to the lake.  The lake looked like a great place to swim in the summer.  However, I'm just not sure if I'm up for hot/humid/Virginia camping- I'm not broken in to this climate enough yet!

The Downums have 5 kids.  Two boys that are older than Jackson and then three younger girls.  I loved seeing how Jackson would try to be "brave" like Tommy and Sammy and do things that maybe he wouldn't want to do otherwise.

It was also great coming in the Spring.  The newness of the green grass and the leaves on the trees were just beautiful and refreshing.

One of the best things about camping has got to be the food, right?  Thursday evening, we had foil dinners which we were really yummy and smores for dessert.  Out of everything we did all weekend, Wyatt's favorite was roasting marshmallows.  Both boys loved anything that was sanctioned fire play.  By the end of the camping trip, all of the kids were roasting carrots, apples, or anything else they could get their hands on under the guise that is was "baby food" for Anna.  So helpful! :)

The kids actually slept pretty good.  Because the trailer doesn't have enough room for a pack and play, Anna was relegated to the floor.  Erik made it nice and cozy and safe, and she did so much better than I thought she would.  Everyone was up around 6:30, which is really good for our boys.

Going on a little morning walk to the creek.

After a relaxing, slow paced breakfast of pancakes, potatoes, sausage, and fruit we drove up a few miles to Natural Bridge, VA.  There are several attractions and things to do there; we started with the caves. 

Our guide was pretty good, and it was quite an interesting tour.  Kind of spooky so far down though.

Sammy, Tommy, Jackson, and Audra.

It was however, a lot of walking with a lot of stairs.  The kids were troopers and did great throughout.  I was impressed with Erin though, who is in her last trimester of pregnancy- I would've been complaining I'm sure- ha ha.

Next up, after a picnic lunch, was the walk to the natural bridge.  It is really an amazing sight too.  It's so cool to look at these amazing rock formations and just think how old they are.  I love to think about the different generations, and ages really, that have passed over this natural bridge.

The whole gang. 

The kids definitely needed some more assistance during this walk.

But then it's back to running around and climbing :)

So I guess George Washington carved his initials in the rocks here.  I was thinking this must be it b/c it was highlighted like that- but I never found out for sure.

Wyatt, Jackson, Hazel, Esther, and Audra

On this path, there is a recreated Indian village from the early 1700s.  It was super fascinating.  I don't know very much about the Native Americans that lived here in Virginia, because in school I would've obviously just learned about the tribes that lived in California.  It was interesting to think about (and sad really) that the tribes one would study here in Virginia would be from such an earlier time, because of how early this area was settled.

They had a couple of former teachers there in the village, answering questions about what life was like, what they ate, how their jobs were divided between the men and women, etc.  They were so well versed and taught me quite a bit! 

After the Indian Village I stayed back to nurse Anna, and the rest attempted to walk further on to some water falls.  However by that time everyone was pretty exhausted from so much walking so we just came back to campsite to start dinner . . .

And play a little hide and seek :)

. . . and play with/attempt to eat stray rocks nearby :)

Dinner that evening was a yummy chicken and dumpling stew that Erin made in the dutch oven.  We also had strawberry shortcake for dessert.

The kids were more than happy to entertain Anna while we prepared and ate dinner.

Saturday morning was a little bit of an earlier wake up call than Friday, but still not horrible.  I thought it was cute that Anna wanted to watch Scooby Doo with the boys.

After breakfast, we cleaned up and cleared out.  I wouldn't call our camping trip "relaxing" but it was fun!  And spending a few days as a family where there was no cell service or interent for either of us was so nice!  Now it's back to reality.