Labor Day is the unofficial end of summer, but that didn't stop us from having some good ol' fashioned summer fun! This weekend my family set out on our first ever camping trip! Oh sure, hubby and the boys have 'camped' in our back yard...but this time the tent was going to be pitched at a real campground! What? Just because the campground was about three miles from our house doesn't make it any less real!
The novelty of camping was thick in the air as we were setting up camp and the boys took to exploring their surroundings. There was a playground just a few yards away from our tent that youngest enjoyed hanging out at. He quickly made friends with a few of the other kids. He was very disappointed when night fell and it was time to come back to our campsite. He even offered the solution of taking a flashlight with him so his fun could continue. Sorry buddy....momma and daddy can't see the playground in the dark!
We cooked on our portable stove top, roasted hot dogs over the fire, told not so spooky stories, and played some campfire games. There were s'mores to be had and marshmallows to be burnt to a crisp each night. Just nearly anything that my boys (all three of my boys) could find to burn went in the fire. We never had any trash, it all got burned! Like father....like sons!
Saturday started out very hot and humid. We didn't stick around the campground too long, it was just too hot! Instead we went shopping for the landscaping project that hubby has started. Around lunchtime I made the proclamation that a storm was coming. I told him we'd left all of the windows in the tent down and should probably head back to camp. My head was beginning to throb and I could see the clouds starting to build. Hubby said, yeah it's supposed to rain but not until tonight, so we were fine. We ended up going back to our house to drop off the plants that we purchased, and admittedly I cheated and tried to catch a quick nap in the air conditioning. I was out for about 15 minutes when hubby woke me to tell me that the storm was nearly on top of us and we needed to get back to camp right away. I wonder when he's going to start listening to me?? I'm much more accurate than any of our local meteorlogists! We made it back to camp, battened down the hatches and took shelter in our trusty tent. We played a few hands of Uno...and the boys played with some of the toys that youngest had packed for this great adventure! We had a good soaking rain, but I needed for it to pass because the pressure on my head was only increasing as the storm lingered. By Saturday evening I was so sick to my stomach from the pressure in my head that hubby talked me into just sleeping at home. As reluctant as I was to stay home, it was nice to be able to take a nice warm shower and sleep in a big comfy bed!
Not to worry I was feeling a bit better by Sunday morning, and was back at camp by 7:15 to make breakfast for my boys! It was really chilly Sunday morning so I took all of them some nice warm clothes! Oldest was really appreciative to have something cozy to put on, hubby and youngest decided to brave the morning in their shorts....although youngest did breakdown and put his jacket on eventually. As the day progressed it warmed up, and the weather was perfect! The sun was shining and it was in the low 70's. My folks stopped by Sunday afternoon and stayed through dinner up until it was almost dark! It was great to just sit around the campfire reminiscing about silly stories and solving all of the world's problems! The boys loved telling them all of their camping stories and showing them around the campground. Oldest brought his pocket knives with him and took to whittling a few sticks. He had a great time, and even ended up whittling a little bit on his grandparents walking sticks! We all went for a walk and each of the boys found their own walking sticks!
Of course, over the course of the weekend we had our ups and downs (the boys were pretty keyed up each night to settle down and sleep right away), but all in all it was a great little getaway. We were all a little sorry when Monday morning came and we had to go back home and face the reality of another school/work week. I think another camping trip will be in our near future....maybe even this fall when the weather becomes a bit more predictable.
