Bramell, Party of Five: The Great Outdoors, Part 2

Sunday, July 20, 2014

The Great Outdoors, Part 2

I'm not real sure why it has taken me a month to finish the posts about our camping trip. This summer has been particularly tough for me to keep up with my normal blogging routine, and I'm not sure why. I suppose just having the kiddos off of our normal routine is part of it, and partly because we've been on the go most weekends (which leads to more fun stuff to blog about/get behind on). 

Anyway, back in June we took the kids on their first camping trip. We loaded up most of everything we own and headed to Lake Fort Smith State Park, where we swam in the awesome pool, rode paddle boats, slept in tents, cooked outside and saw lots and lots of deer. We even took Fergie along with us, which was nice, since we usually have to leave her behind on most trips.


Overall we had a good experience for the first time. I learned a few things about a few things, as well. Let me just tell you what I learned about camping with kids.


1) Camping with kids = walking to the bathroom a lot. Seriously, more than a lot.
2) Camping with kids = taking a lot of toys with you. Kinda feels like moving...

3) Camping with kids = finding creative entertainment to keep them busy.

4) Camping with kids = using a whole box of Band-Aids.
5) Camping with kids = being noisy after the posted "quiet hours."

6) Camping with kids = answering a lot of questions.
7) Camping with kids = setting off the car alarm before 8:00am, which woke the whole campground.
8) Camping with kids = eating a lot. (But that part was kinda fun)
9) Camping with kids = making a lot of great memories and seeing the joy in their eyes!




I took the kids on a morning walk and we saw four deer! This was a baby who, seconds later, crossed the street to get to his mom.


Making their own fun at camp.




Curious about the butterfly.




Cruising the lake on a paddle boat. Or do you say "peddle boat?" I have great childhood memories of my parents renting them for us at Village Creek. Of course my kiddos loved it, but the big people did all the work.




Never a dull moment with Boy Twin around.




We had our first watermelon of the season!





I think someone loved camping. They left a note for the next occupants of our campsite to prove it.




Here's another photo of the fantastic pool area at the park. It got so hot on Saturday that it was the perfect relief for us, even if we had to pay to swim! FYI, at Lake Fort Smith there is no swimming allowed in the lake...so the pool was our only option! But nobody complained.

On Sunday, we barely had our things packed and loaded before a serious rain storm moved in. Whew. We made it back home in no time, where I was oh so happy to take a shower. 

2 comments:

  1. Yeah, something about detached, outdoor bathrooms are FASCINATING to the littles. Weirdos. We (or rather, I) were hoping to do some camping this summer, but it hasn't happened yet. Unorganized much?? :-P

    Also, I say "paddle boat".

    ReplyDelete
  2. Looks like fun! We're planning to buy our first tent and get out there when the weather cools off a bit.

    ReplyDelete

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