We had a fun campout a couple of weekends ago with another family in our ward. It was my first time camping here, and I couldn't help compare it to camping in Colorado. Since it wasn't a very hot day, I was definitely a fan of the slight change in temperature at night to very comfortable vs. the 40 degree drop it seems we always get camping in Colorado. I have a feeling I wouldn't have been so happy had it been a really hot day. In any case, it was one of the few campouts in my life that I haven't spent the night freezing. I am also a fan of the short commute to so many pretty campgrounds here. I do miss my mountains, but we enjoyed a true 'forest glade' on this campout. It really was beautiful.
We headed up on Friday afternoon, and our husbands met us after work. So the moms set up camp. We're pretty awesome like that. :) Annie and Alex both slept in the car through the hour it took me to set everything up. (It didn't take an hour because it was hard; I was taking my sweet time.) Annie was grumpy for a long time after she woke up. Hence this picture. She was just sitting there and didn't want to play. Nevermind that her favorite partner in crime was camping with us.
We attempted a little hike once camp was set up, but it didn't last long because the trail ran out, we were seeing poison ivy everywhere, and I had two very slow children. Annie was whining about being hungry, and Alex has very short legs. So I started our dinner (Jim wasn't even there yet, but Emmaly's husband was) to appease my little miss. (Which she didn't eat once it was ready.) The kids played in the dirt and ran around the campground.
Pictured here are Alex, Isaac, Erin (she looks like she's meditating here), and Logan digging in the dirt.
Eliza was loving that we brought Elway. I almost think she loves him more than we do. She pretty much spent the entire time running around with him. He was one happy dog. Miss Eliza is also the aforementioned partner in crime to Annie. Maybe that's not fair. I'll just say that we've noticed that these two little girls think alike in terms of mischief, though they haven't created much together...
yet. Annie talks about Eliza all the time.
Alex was dirty in no time.
Jim FINALLY arrived at 7:30. It was safety day at work, and everyone had to wear their neon safety shirts. It must have been blinding to work at John Deere that day. We finally finished eating dinner once Jim arrived, enjoyed dutch oven cobbler (thank you Emmaly!), and roasted marshmallows for s'mores. The kids played and went to bed pretty well considering the circumstances. Annie started in the girls' tent with her friends, and ended up in our family tent as the last child awake. The adults had a really nice visit around the campfire, complete with a raccoon attempting to get close several times.
We slept well (as I mentioned) and broke camp without much delay the next morning. Then we had a better hike before heading home. The hike had a little adventure; the moms and a few kids climbed up a slippery slope, and Logan accidentally sent a large rock (small boulder?) rolling down the hill at high speed. It nearly hit Jim, Emmaly, and Alex, and did hit Annie in the shoulder. It was a very close call, but thankfully Annie had no worse than a bruise.
I snapped this picture of Emmaly purely to document our trip as we were packing up. This campout was her idea and she's already suggested a longer campout next time. We're totally in.
Alex needed to help document our trip too.
After we got home on Saturday we still had a full day ahead of us. Thankfully, we were able to take turns being busy so the kids were able to have naps. Alex slept for almost six hours that day! I don't think we recovered until Monday. It was fun. :)
