Camping!

 I get a thrill even saying the word: CAMPING! It was always one of my favorite activities growing up, and I've been waiting for the day in my own family when the time is right for us to go on a family campout.....this was the dayyyy! We went to Curt Gowdy State Park 30 minutes away, and we've never been there so it was kind of a crap shoot. It ended up being completely beautiful and wild and welcoming. It was the 4th of July weekend so we booked the very last available campsite which was marked as "remote," which we figured just meant no bathrooms or something. 

Turns out, "remote" means that the campsite was a half mile hike into the woods! We were already game for the adventure so we kept our heads up and got the kids excited to go exploring, but we weren't sure how we were going to bring all of our gear to the campsite. 

This is the view from the parking lot....the hike starts on that dirt path and winds left into that copse of trees which turns into full-blown wilderness. 

Trying to organize our stuff to make the transport as efficient as possible...we had the kids carry two things each, loaded up the stroller with a hilarious amount of gear, and Austin carried our huge heavy food/supply bin. His arms were tired the next day from carrying the bin like that, and my legs were tired from pushing the heavy stroller (not meant to be an off-road vehicle haha). We didn't overpack but with 6 of us we do amass a lot of stuff! Sleeping bags, pillows, cooler, food, flashlights, firewood, pack n play, camp chairs, clothes...we had everything we needed and it was a fun game to try to see how much we could bring in one trip (it took us 3 trips to set up camp, 2 trips to take down camp the next day).

Our campsite was completely MARVELOUS. Tucked away up in the hills of the forest, surrounded by nothing and no one. It was a good 8 minutes to the next campsite (which was vacant), and 15 minutes to get to the bathroom/car. There was a table, firepit, and room for our tent, and then just trees and foliage. 

The view from up in our campsite looking down onto the path. Austin left Claire with me at the campsite for a last run for supplies so he could fill the stroller without her in it. 

The view looking up from the path. Totally remote, totally heavenly. 10/10 would stay here again - we loved the solitude and the coziness. The kids were good sports about the hike, and it really made it feel like we were truly soaking in the essence of CAMPING because it was just us and nature. 

Part of the hike led us past this awesome rock feature that the kids had to explore each time, of course.  Everything was so peaceful and beautiful!

Coming out of the forest to the path...the parking lot is up there in the top center to the right of that white RV.

Getting closer! This part of the hike was nice and flat, and there were prairie dogs running around in the field below. 

It was such a joy to see our children feeling that energy that can only come from being outdoors in nature. They were so content and happily flushed and helpful. I am so happy that they enjoyed their first real family campout! 

Heading back with another load...have to hike the rocks again, of course! 

Everyone had a great time, but Claire was in her ELEMENT. She was so thrilled to be filthy and playing in the dirt, eating whatever she was handed, enjoying her chair time, and she didn't even try to wander away or anything. She was amazing! We weren't sure how a 1-year-old would handle camping, but she was a champ and made it really fun for the rest of us. 

We had hotdogs for dinner, and the kids were really excited to help with the fire. The one downside to this campsite is that there wasn't really room to spread out, so if we had come with friends or other family there would definitely not have been room, and we were a little nervous about not having a lot of space around the fire. It worked out though and felt very intimate and cozy. 

Jack spotted a chipmunk and they went to investigate. He was also completely thrilled because he found old bleached animal bones right next to the campsite and he thought that was the coolest. 

Sun starting to go down!

We got jammies on, glowsticks out, and it was time for SMORES. We put Claire down around 9:30, a full 2.5 hours later than normal, and she babbled to herself for a while and then went to sleep without a problem. Good girl! The rest of us stayed up enjoying the fire and the moonlight til around 10:30 when we declared last call for bathroom and time to get in sleeping bags!

Overall I would give our night in the tent a B-. Not horrible, definitely not as bad as it could have been, but Claire woke up like every hour kind of confused and needing a bink, and we didn't let her cry it out like we usually would at home because we didn't want the other kids (namely Stockton) to be woken up and then have a hard time falling back to sleep. Also, Austin and I both needed another blanket to be warm enough, so we'll remember that for next time. Claire woke us all up just before 5 haha, but the view from the tent flap was so beautiful and restorative that we didn't mind. Jack slept longer (as usual) and looked so cute and cozy in the sleeping bag tent nest. 

We made corned beef hash (my Dad's and my favorite camping breakfast) and had orange juice, and sat around the morning fire enjoying our time together. 

Those TREES! We had such a beautiful "ceiling." The girls had fun playing in the crib while we cleaned up. 

Jack found a stick to throw, naturally. Can't believe it took him this long in the trip haha.

We casually cleaned up and got everything ready to go. Because we used the firewood and dumped the ice from the cooler, we were able to get everything back to the car in only 2 trips. Claire fell asleep on the way back to the campsite, and somehow stayed asleep on that rocky bumpy uneven terrain. Clearly she needed sleep! 

The car was so full haha. We stuffed everything in and were on our way! I think 3/4 kids fell asleep on the 30 minute drive home. We all smelled like campfire and had big grins on our faces. It was a wonderful, memorable camping trip! We can't wait to do it again. We actually had reserved the same campsite to go camping in August, but that ended up being the weekend that we went to Utah spontaneously when school was postponed. We might try to go the first weekend in October if it isn't too cold yet. 

It was so fun to share my love of camping with the kids! And this was our first trial with our new tent from my mom, and it went great!