Annual Parent Group Camping (8/13/11)

This year our annual camping trip with our parent group was a little environmentally challenging :) which made for some interesting experiences. The kids of course didn't mind and just had a great time running around with each other. There were 4 families again this year for a total of 10 kids, 4 and under.

Our spaces were wide open so Mario's first task was to provide a little shade. He always camps with extra tarps and rope and was able to construct us quite the shelter. Another family had brought the other shelter and we incorporated it into Mario's. This was our main area to hang out, from the sun the first night and the rain the next day.


The kids adopted this shelter and made it their own.

A tradition has become to make "nature bracelets." The kids had fun collecting different things to add to theirs.

I love the family time that camping provides. The boys love that they run around all day, get as dirty as they want, eat fun food, play with their friends and then sleep together in a tent.

During a small break in the rain Saturday, all the kids headed to the camp host for the kids' craft. It was making t-shirts. All the kids loved this and the adults liked the distraction. ;o)

A little rain didn't get the kids down. And another reason to love camping... you can play out in the rain.

While Aidan was playing at one point in the day, I looked down and he had a visitor crawling on him. He quickly made friends with the caterpillar and took it to show his friends. We convinced the kids it would be best to let the caterpillar go in the woods, back to his family.

The adults in the adult shelter...

Saturday evening a huge storm came through. It was actually a very damaging storm in other areas. Luckily our campground, literally threaded the needle and we didn't have any damage. We got warning it was coming because one of the mom's mother in laws called. We decided to all pack everything up except the tents basically and wait out the storm in our vehicles. The storm lasted about 30 minutes and left alot of water behind.

The boys could only stay in the truck so long. Us too. So out we went in the drizzle. The boys loved playing in the puddles until Aidan took quite the spill when he slipped in the mud. And the mosquitoes were even worse, if that was possible. Mario decided to make the most of it and he loves a good challenge.
As everyone else, ventured out after the storm.

And here is the challenge, getting a fire going with the soaking wood. We still needed to have smores after all. In our haste to get ready for the storm, we all had to hurry and eat our dinners.

Love these 2 pictures. They really do sum up the camping trip for the boys... sweat, mosquito bites, dirt, smiles with smores.

In the end, we had to go home that night. And good thing we made that call. When I went in to clean out the tent, it had leaked, over our beds and the boys.

What a memorable trip! The boys cannot wait to go back again and neither can I.