Our First Camping Trip in over 5 Years!!

Our camping gear has been collecting dust for years. All sorts of dust (including drywall dust while Dan was finishing the basement)! We decided to try taking Ethan camping with a couple of families of friends this weekend at a local state park. We were planning to go for two nights, but unfortunately Ethan ran a 102 degree fever for about 48 hours and was waking in the night due to discomfort (we thought maybe some teething of molars was going on?), so we didn't go until Saturday morning.

Between the three families, there were 5 kids under the age of 5, and Ethan had a blast playing with all of the other kiddos. Thankfully all of the kids were very respectful of the fire pit and the boundaries of the campsites. Despite being pretty rusty at this, we were able to set up our tent and campsite fairly quickly, and the kids enjoyed playing at a nearby playground and going to the pool (with a waterslide) in the afternoon. I was not able to join the fun in the pool because I had a recent dermatologist appointment and the doctor had taken three biopsies of moles/freckles, so the incisions were still healing. I was able to sit at a picnic table with umbrella shade and watch the kids play in the water while reading my Bible study chapters which was very relaxing. The kids especially liked going down the waterslide, and I was able to snap a few photos of Ethan and Dan. For some reason Dan had a terrible time getting down the waterslide, as he kept getting stuck every few inches. Not sure if his swimsuit was a weird material or what, but none of the other adults had this issue! We enjoyed some smores later as well as some yummy burgers and hot dogs cooked over the fire.

Dan, Ethan, Kara, and Ben on the way to the pool.
It was cute how Ethan and Kara liked holding hands and hugging during our camping trip.

Dan and Ethan at the top of the waterslide.They made it to the bottom-FINALLY!

I was beginning to wonder if they got lost somewhere along the way!Joe's famous cherry cobblerMatthew enjoying a smore- they were delicious!Ethan and Kara coloring at the picnic table

Ethan refused to nap on Saturday, so we were relieved when he fell asleep quickly and easily in his pack n' play in our tent. He woke up a couple hours later though, was disoriented in the dark and confused about being in the tent, and went completely ballistic. Crying very loudly, I lifted him out of the pn'p and rocked him telling him it was mommy and he was okay. He continued to cry for what seemed like a very long time until Dan turned our flashlight on and he could actually see us. He calmed down and slept well the rest of the night, but I felt terrible for probably having woken up a good portion of the nearby campers.

On our way home on Sunday we stopped at a yummy restaurant specializing in gazillions of different ice cream treats and enjoyed great dessert. I had a huge strawberry shortcake, and Dan tried a sundae with crushed oreos, ice cream, and lots of hot fudge. Ethan loved mooching bites off of Dan, but was not as into the strawberries. It was a great way to wrap up our camping trip. All in all it was a very fun trip, and I think that we'll do it again, but we'll have to see if we're up for it once Baby Q arrives!