First Camping Trip of the Year

So we had our first camping trip of the summer this last weekend, and yes it may have been a little premature given the weather lately, but we recently got a camp trailer and there was no putting it off any longer. It was a short trip, just overnight, but it was a good test run for the rest of the summer. We had a great time and learned several valuable lessons that we will definitely use in our future outings...


Here we are on our way, these were taken before we realized we didn't know where we were going!





Lesson #1 - You should probably check to see if the campsite you are planning on going to requires reservations. We had pre-scouted our destination on Thursday and figured that because it was early in the season we would definitely get a spot. WRONG! We loaded up the camper and headed out only to be turned away at the entrance because we didn't have a reservation. Oops! So then we weren't sure where to go and the kids were no way going to let us go home. We finally remembered a campground about 10 miles or so from where we were and headed there. Good news - there was an open spot, bad news - there were no hookups for the camper and we had not brought the generator (Lesson #2). It was better than nothing, so we stayed.

Here is the view from our campsite - not great, but okay.



Lesson #3 - How NOT to take a marshmallow off of the roasting stick - grab the end of the stick that has been in the fire and pull the marshmallow off! This was not one of my finer moments, but it was the first trip of the summer and I guess I was a little rusty on my camping skills. :)




This is me trying to be a trooper and not spend the whole time in the trailer where it was WARM.



Here we are eating our dinner in our camper because the wind was blowing so bad that our plates would have blown away. It was really nice having somewhere to get out of the wind.



And lastly, there wasn't much for the kids to do and we got there kind of late so they took turns playing with the shovel. Lesson #4 - Letting your kids play with a shovel may not be as harmless as it seems. This first picture shows Paityn shoveling very close to the fire with a shovel that she had little to no control of...good job mom!



And this last picture pretty much explains itself. Just kidding, it looks a lot different than the actual situation. Jace was behind the camper shoveling by himself and he was taking the dirt and throwing it over his head backwards. I just happend to take the picture while Paityn was walking toward him so it looks like he is going to hit her with it. Still, probably not the safest activity. Next time we will have more for the kids to do.



With as many things as went wrong, we still had a great time and are all really looking forward to making it a regular family activity!