Camping

We went camping, just the 3 of us, for the first time last weekend. Other times had always been with others (our friends the Eberlein's). I checked my lists more times than I can count, we had no one to "lean on" so I wanted to make sure we had it all.  Happily we did!

We went to Kayak Point County park in Stanwood, about 30 min from our house. It was great, we felt like we got away for the weekend yet barely left Marysville. :) Antonio had a blast. We had a great campsite, the campground was very family friendly and there was a short hike down to the beach. It was a pretty step hike down, maybe a quarter mile but as you know, if we go down we have to come back up! Antonio did great. He did the trip at least twice each day we were there. There were lots of families with kids. In fact, next to us was a group with a baby (ugh), maybe a year old, across from us was a family with a couple kids and down from us was another family with kids, all about early elementary age or younger. The ice cream man even made rounds both nights we were there!

Our campsite.

We had a lot of good family time. Albert and Antonio took a trip down to the beach Monday afternoon to playing in the water while I chose to stay back at the campsite where it was much cooler. The tree's kept the campground mostly shaded, which kept it cooler.  It was still pretty warm but I was glad to be camping, outside, and not at home stuck in a hot house. We played Alphabet Bingo, a game similar to Memory and Antonio learned to play Go Fish; which he loved. Albert made a great fires in the fire pit both nights, which was a feat since Albert was a first time campfire builder. The forest night took a couple tries but once he got it, he got it! :) We were luck to be able to have one since as were leaving we heard the the DNR was extending the burn ban to campfires as well!

Proud fire starter! 

The first night we were there we went down to the beach to try to take pics of the sunset, Super moon and stars. The moon was so big and so bright we could barely see the stars and in fact saw our shadows on the driftwood! When we got back to our site it was surprisingly quiet. We crawled into out tent and all fell asleep. Albert and I were awaken by our neighbor baby crying. I figured it was the middle of the night but it was only 11:30! Surprisingly the campground was silent, except for the baby crying. I was shocked. You would've thought it was more like 2 am it was so quiet. The next night not so much. We only heard some people for awhile but that wasn't the worry, it was more the thunder and lightning! It was so loud and seemed to stay right on top of us for forever. Antonio was so tired from the day he fell right to sleep as it was getting close. He slept through the whole thing, I was shocked. By the time the storm passed the campground was pretty quiet!

Eek!

We knew the storm was coming, so before we went to bed we put everything in our car in case it rained a lot. I was glad we did. It rained but you could barely tell the next morning since the trees protected us so much. The next morning, since it was on the chilly side, we got up, had breakfast and packed up. We were home before 11; it was great!

We seemed to have camped through the two (preferred) camping extreme's this year. When we went with The Eberlein's in June, it was cold and rainy the whole time. This time it was hot and had a thunder/lightning storm. Our tent held up really well for both. We are thinking about getting a bigger tent but I hate to get a different one since this one is so good. It would be so nice to have a bigger one so we could move around a little easier and weren't so cozy. We currently have a 4-person tent and would love a 5-6 person tent so not a lot bigger but bigger. If you have any suggestions on brands, I'd love to hear them.

Since our trip was so successful we plan on doing it again next year and probably to the same place.  We might even try out another one that is pretty close too. Antonio is such a great camper. He loves helping with the fire, having s'mores, sleeping outside and exploring the campground. He only "bit it" once, granted it was a good one. He scrapped the heck out of his elbow, knee, chest (yes, chest too) and ended up with a mouthful of dirt. Poor kid. After listening to so many kids around us, fussing/crying, and flat out talking very loudly, I counted my blessings that he is so well behaved, 90% of the time! ;)

Happy boy with a s'more!