So at the end of October, we decided to go on a family camping trip. Thursday night, we packed up the car. Friday, I took a half day off at work and Heather picked me up at 11am and we were off to Bohnam State Park.
The kids were super excited about being out doors and Hudson immediately requested his boots on so he could explore our camp site while Heather and I unpacked our camping supplies. So, I pull the tent out of the car, stake it down and then begin, raise it up on its poles, and see the middle of the roof begin to tear apart like a wet paper towel. It was an old tent and I had apparently not fully dried it out when I packed it up this past spring. So we pack up the kids and rush of to the closest Walmart to buy a new tent. I had hoped to wait till after this trip so we could purchase one that didn't have to accommodate Hudson's pack-and-play crib, which takes up a lot of space and he will be out growing in the next few months. Oh well. We went back to the site and setup the brand new tent in mere minutes. The new ones are much easier.
There were some really cool vines that Sara Beth discovered at the back of our camp site. She would pretend that something was chasing her and then climb up to escape.
Our first dinner was great, except for the rain. The weather forecast included a 20% chance of rain. What we got was drizzling rain all evening. Never enough to pack everything up, but enough to never let anyone fully dry out. Heather cooked some delicious hamburgers over the campfire, and the s-mores were a hit with everyone.
The next morning we wake up to a chilly 38 degree morning. Apparently, in addition to a higher than predicted amount of rain, there was a cold front that came in and dropped the temperature down around 12 degrees cooler than foretasted. We decided it was too cold for pancakes at the campsite, so we drove into town for some Burger King breakfast and let the kids play in the warm indoor play area for a while.
Once we got back out to the campsite, the sun had slightly warmed up the land, so we went for a hike.
On our hike, we found an abandoned structure by the lake. Sara Beth pretended it was an abandoned house. The rangers later told us it was an old bird blind built for an eagle scout project.
Hudson wanted to get into Sara Beth's things things in the tent when he got up from his nap. Sara Beth and Heather had gone out on a exploration trip with a cool backpack of activities from the ranger station. She had a microscope, plant and animal identification cards, binoculars, a notebook and crayons.
After dinner Saturday night, Heather and I were sitting by the fire while the kids played in the dirt over by the tent, when we hear a loud knock and Hudson starts crying. He tripped and fell head first into a landscaping timber. We decided it was a good time to pack up and head home.
After a good night's sleep in real beds in a solid house with functional heat, everyone was mostly back to normal. I told Heather it was a good thing that this was not our first camping trip. Otherwise, I don't think we would want to ever camp again.
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