This past weekend, we went camping as a family. For the first time in 16 years. Yep, that's right. 16 years. I've always used the excuse of not wanting to go with a baby or toddler because it just sounds like way too much work. This has served me well for many years, but this summer I realized that my number was up. With Hadley turning five soon, my excuse was no longer valid.
So we thought about going camping. We talked about going camping. And finally, with school looming next week, we went camping!
We went to Payson Lakes and stayed at the Blackhawk Campground with the Reich's. They are much more seasoned campers than we are and were willing to let us tag along and benefit from their experience (and their trailer, and their trailer space, and their games, and even some of their gear). We really had a good time. I think my favorite part was the lack of electricity and Wi-Fi (no video games, no movies, no texting and emails, no telephone calls, etc.). We had plenty of down time but I don't think anyone was bored. We just enjoyed being together.
The little kids loved cruising the campground on their scooters (I am still trying to get over that they ventured into another person's campground for band-aids and cookies only to come back and assure us that this man was not a stranger "because he was nice." I guess my "stranger danger" lectures have not been effective...at all.)
Austin found time to read.
We all played horseshoes and Kub and lots of other games (my favorite was Psychiatrist with Hayden... "Pink, pink, pink. So Pink!).
We spent a day at the lake
where Austin called us out as "wee pansies" (insert German accent here) for our reluctance to join him in the chilly water and "get in touch with nature" (insert accent again).
We boated
and floated
and splashed (and made Michele not very happy).
The kids had fun skipping rocks (and rowing logs across the lake... not the best idea when you are in an inflatable raft, but it made perfect sense to Ellie and actually worked quite well for her).
At the end of the day, after everyone had had their fill of water (and in Hadley's case, walking),
we loaded everything up and headed back to camp for the night.
That evening, Ellie was stung by a bee in the smack-dab center of her lower lip when she took a drink from a soda can that had been left unattended long enough for a bee to make itself at home inside. Poor girl. Of course, Mark reminded her that lots of women pay big money to have their lips look like this (think Botox/ Angelina Jolie).
After two nights and almost two days, I realized that my kids had not brushed their teeth since we arrived (except for Ashleigh, she gets a pass on this one). Gross.
On our last afternoon, and after the little kids took great care to assign themselves "hiking buddies," we ventured out for a walk in the woods.
Unfortunately, we didn't make it far before storm clouds rolled in with thunder and lightning that sent us packing and finally heading home to showers and beds and other lovely things we had lacked for nearly 48 hours (not that I was counting hours or anything).
Thanks Reich's, for a great weekend! Let's do it again in a year (or two, or three, or four).
And thanks Michele for this wonderfully framed family picture. It is just perfect!
Just kidding, Austin. You know we love you.
We just haven't gotten over you calling us "wee pansies" at the lake yet.
