1st family campout!

This past weekend, Jeremy and I took the big boys camping. Abe stayed back with Nana and Papa J. We decided he wasn't ready for camping, hiking, sleeping in a tent and all those things that go with that crazy, dirty, boyish experience. I never grew up camping. I didn't sleep in a tent until I was about 25. I haven't slept in one since, until Friday night. Ha. And I remembered why. Not really. I'm adding camping to a list of things that we will do frequently with a house full of boys. And by frequently, I mean about twice a year. The boys were so excited, but really, I think they had no expectations. Except smores. They had huge expectations for smores. :) Being our first time to leave Abe overnight, we planned to only stay one night. And with the humidity (it was 89% at one point!) and the unexpected rain, 24 hours in the "wilderness" was plenty for me. Next time, we may head north and plan for 2 nights. So we arrived at Dinosaur Valley State Park on Friday afternoon. We set up our tent and explored the area for a bit before roasting our hot dog dinner. We kept our food options simple and very uncreative. For the record, we decided on Wednesday morning, before a holiday weekend that we would camp out on Friday. There was very little prep and planning involved, which is often how we roll. Flying by the seat of our pants. :) As we got organized Pax and Holden played and played and played. I kept hearing bits and pieces of their conversations about dirt, sticks, secret paths and tadpoles in the creek right next to us. I giggled as I listened to them play. It was like they were on a mission. I'm not sure what type of mission, but they were definitely on one. So it was only 2 hours after arriving that I realized that we were going to BECOME a camping family. I am going to become a camper. I could let Jeremy take the boys camping, but then I would miss the joy of seeing and hearing them experience. I'd rather be uncomfortable, sweaty and crowded for a couple nights than to miss these memories with my family.
Our night in the tent, I was so flippin' hot! So then God sent a rainstorm to cool us off. :) So the edges of the tent got a little water inside. Lucky for me, I wasn't on the edge. The next morning we ate our granola bars and then headed off to see the dinosaur evidence. Jeremy had taken the boys on a short hike the evening before, so they wanted me to see the footprints they had already seen. Holden was so passionate about it. I'm sure at 8:0am the entire campsite heard him exclaiming to me in amazement these footprints we had just come upon. He was pretty excited. We hiked for about an hour. The weather was nice early in the morning. And crazy enough, the boys legs never ever got tired. Had we been at the mall, their legs and feet would have been SOOOOO tired and hurting. Or at the grocery store, same thing. But out in nature, with sticks, rocks, dirt and creatures (we spotted an armadillo!) they never once complained. I was amazed. This is the life for boys! After our hike, they put on their swim shorts and went into the creek. They stayed here for a long while. They attempted to learn to skip rocks and they just played in the water. It really was such a fun experience. I am already looking forward to a camping trip in the fall, once the weather has cooled off!

 asleep upon arrival

 daddy's helper

 

They were quickly off on their first exploration. They loved the freedom they could have in this space.

Tent is up! This tent was handed down to us by friends in OKC, at least 5+ years ago. We had never used it until Friday! And it was massive. I jokingly said we could have 3 more children to cram into this tent.

 Enjoying some trail mix while daddy cooked the hot dogs. No open fires allowed, so we cooked with charcoal.

 And dessert!

 Our little home away from home. I do love and appreciate modern conveniences.

Lots of snuggles.

 Saturday morning hike.

 The first dinosaur tracks we spotted.

 

 

 

 

 

Trying out the water. See our water lovin' boy in the trees? He had a really hard time warming up to the icky muddy bottom. He's a pool boy. Well, he loved the beach and ocean, but I agree that the bottom of a creek goes in a completely different category.

 

But his love of all things water prevailed and he got over it. :)

It was a wonderful time and I'm glad I was able to experience with my boys their first camping trip.