Camping

Two weekends ago, we grabbed the chance to go camping.  Jackson had an early dismissal day and his Saturday morning soccer game happened to get canceled so it was the perfect weekend.  However, Jackson ended up getting the cold that kept Wyatt home earlier in the week and stayed home from school on Friday. His high fever that was the worst on Thursday night seemed to be leveled out all day Friday, so we still went and hoped it was a good idea!

We went to a great place that we had never gone before.  It was only about 20 minutes away and a beautiful, clean campsite.  Our site was right next to a field which was a perfect place to play around in while Erik got everything set up.

We even brought some wheels!

Selfies while we were hiding during a game of hide and seek :)

We had a great dinner of grilled teriyaki chicken, rolls, potato salad, and garden salad.  Then of course we had to bust out the marshmallows!

Yum!

Not sure why the pictures are so blurry . . . Anyway, Erik put a little DVD player/TV in the corner of the trailer which I must admit is pretty fun.  After getting our pajamas on we cozied up to Iron Man 3.  Wyatt was so so so excited for this day to come!  It was a great movie, but of course we watched a slightly shortened version (I have the fast forward button right under my finger for any scene that gets too intense and/or violent).  I think I want to watch the whole thing now, because I did really like it.

The next day we had breakfast, got dressed, and explored around a bit.  We walked around the whole camp site, making notes of our favorite spots and found some streams to play around and logs to climb over. 

We were super fascinated by this leaf bug.  I couldn't believe the details on it!

So we went back to the trailer, had a few peanut butter sandwiches, and then while Erik was packing up, the kids and I decided to explore some more.  After Erik was done, he joined us and we found a whole other area that had a ton of cool things!  Unfortunately I didn't have my phone and therefore had no camera with me.  We found a cool, historical house that was built in the very early 1800s.  That was right next to a suspension bridge that we had fun walking back and forth on.  It was also near a little stage area that must be for campfire groups and the kids took turns entertaining us on the stage. :)  Then we found the hiking trail that I had read about, but hadn't known where to find it.  I was so excited, and even though we didn't have our water bottles or backpack to carry Anna in, we decided to go for it.  It wasn't a big hike (a mile in and a mile out), and I thought it was super pretty.  It took a slightly bumpy turn when we saw big bear claw slashes on a tree right next to us (this was after seeing various signs explain to us that we were in "bear country".  After I pointed it out (trying to be upbeat about it), the boys freaked out.  They decided that a bear was going to come out at any moment and eat us.  We tried talking them down and decided to say a prayer together which did help them calm down.  We also sang songs for the rest of the hike (my reasons for singing was to scare bears away actually-- it was one of the tips on the signs, haha).  And Erik and I alternated carrying Wyatt and Anna piggy back for most of the hike.  But I loved it!  I'm pretty sure it was my favorite thing of the whole camping trip.

So that was it, we got back to our site, loaded into the truck and drove home.  I was feeling so blessed the whole way home.  I'm so thankful to live in a beautiful area that I can enjoy, that I am married to a husband that is a) super competent with mad camping skills and b) actually wants to spend the time and energy it takes to go on family camping trips and c) let's be honest, I'm super thankful for the trailer that makes camping quite a pleasant experience!