Our First Camping Trip as a Family

We went camping this last weekend with some people from our church. It definitely felt safer for me and it was nice having an place to use the restrooms. It was a walk to it so I had brought our own potty to it that I had bought for last year's camping trip for the boys. I knew when my little kids had to go in the middle of the night we didn't want to be out walking in the cold.

 I knew it was going to be a challenge taking my 2 year old. Originally, I had set up a babysitter. She had even got the two days off but then I didn't know the camping trip actually went for another day. Sooooo, we took her and she definitely kept me on my toes. Juliet is my only baby that hates the stroller and hates the playpen. She knows she has 8 other people in our family to rescue her so she's a bit spoiled in that way. PLUS, I had friends camping with us. The teen girls are so sweet and they would always rescue her too. Finally, on the last day I said she could stay a little bit in her playpen watching the activities. Once she realized she wasn't be rescued, she chilled out and actually took a nap. :)

We had the worst wind while we were camping!! I had bought this awesome propane grill since there was a no fire ban. It was so hard to cook having this crazy wind trying to blow our flame out. We managed to still make coffee in the mornings with my french press. I brought pancakes, bacon, eggs, and hashbrowns for the morning. It was sooooo yummy and even better we were eating it in the woods.

 At night our church friends would get together and have a potluck. Ohhhhh, that was super cool because one of the guys had caught some trout that day and was making a bunch to share. I gravitated toward that table like a bug to a light. Haha. Was so good.

 It was so hard packing for a family of 9 to go camping. My boys for years have been the only one camping. I've always, always wanted to go as a family and we finally got a chance. But our girls had no idea what was needed for sleeping outdoors. I mean, we filled UP our 12 passenger van with kids and gear. I felt like we were moving. Haha.

 We had a 12 person tent with two rooms. It was so big we could easily fit a playpen for Juliet to sleep in and you didn't even noticed the loss of space. It was AWESOME. I had to buy sleeping bags,camp chairs, and a grill. So now that I have everything for camping I'm so wanting to go again next month because that was an investment. I seriously don't want to wait another year. It's summer time but it was soooo freezing at night there is no way in heck we are camping during cooler temperatures.

In fact, I had forgotten one sleeping bag. Mine. There was no way I was gonna take warmth away from any of my babies. The first night I just slept with no blanket and was freezing my butt off. I didn't sleep that well that night. LOL.

The second night Juliet got woken up after she had been sleeping for an hour. Well, it was like a power nap for her because she wouldn't fall back asleep till almost 2am. I was so exhausted from being at the lake that day it was torture trying to put her to sleep. I was too afraid to let her lay down with me because I was afraid she'd escape out of the tent after I fell sleep. So I crawled into her playpen like a stuffed pastry. I mean, I filled that thing. Didn't work. And she peed on me. Somehow when she was shifting around her diapered opened just enough to pee straight onto me. So in the dark and in the freezing cold I had to shift look around and find her more warm pj's. I was doubling up on her outfits at night too.

Ivy is Juliet's buddy so she got the idea to climb in with her instead. Oh my gosh. Juliet instantly calmed down and went to sleep. They just have this special bong. I passed out like a dying animal. Charles was chucking because through all of that I had been mumbling that I was never going camping again for the rest of my life. At least with a toddler. The next day I'm like, "I love camping!" Haha.

We stayed for 3 days and 2 nights. In fact, we stayed till we had to be out and then just went back to the lake. We didn't get home till late Sunday night. Wow! I guess I love camping. Here is why I like camping so much. Yes, I had huge bursts of wind blowing dirt straight at us. I didn't sleep well. I learned to be smart like my friend and bring cushion to lay on rather than hard dirt. But I had nooooo obligations like I do at home. I didn't have to teach, do laundry, take care of the animals, clean. I felt great to know I could just sit around and talk or play with the kids. THAT IS AWESOME.