Camping

On Friday we returned home after our week long camping adventure.  I had never been camping and really, this wasn't necessarily camping, more like RVing.  However, we were at a campground and had a campsite so I am calling it camping!

The Friday that our RV was delivered was a rough day.  I was running errands, trying to pack for a week long trip that required a lot of stuff and then we had some news about our house plans that sent me directly downhill.  I didn't end up getting to the campground until about 7 and within 2 minutes of checking in, the skies opened up and it downpoured for about 20 minutes.  I sat in the camper with my boys who were scared out of their mind with the thunder and lighting and the sound of the rain pounding the top of the camper and I wondered what I had gotten myself into!  Once the rain cleared out, the boys ventured outside and played in puddles while I unpacked the car and our spirits instantly lifted.

Saturday was our family day.  With such a busy summer, it was a rarity to have all of us together for an entire day.  It was so refreshing!  We took a walk through a nearby neighborhood to look at houses, the boys rode bikes around the campground, played on the playground, petted the goats and bunnies in the petting zoo and swam in the pool.  At night we made hobo pies (so.much.work!), went on a candy hayride and then went to the pool party hosted by the campground.  The boys had so much fun swimming with about 100 other kids.  Made me crazy as it became harder and harder to keep track of them as it got darker and darker!  At one point, Grant got out of the pool and declared he had kissed two girls!  They were both 8 and above!  Jason and I both decided that he is going to be the boy in school that has lots of girls for friends.  The girls were all over him and he is only 3!

this is as close as Ashton was willing to get after his goat biting incident last fall!

The next day we went to church then headed back into town to celebrate Jason's birthday with family on the boat and at the beach,

On Labor Day we headed back into town for the annual Truck Parade and then spent the rest of the chilly day with family at the campground.  I have never experienced such a dramatic end of summer as I did that day watching all of the campers check out at 1:00 to head home.  After that, we pretty much had the campground to ourselves.  We rode bikes to the beach, ate ice cream for lunch, stayed up late by the campfire and then did it all again every singe day of the week.  Jason and I even snuch into the hot tub after the kids were asleep and then walked around the campground then around again. 

I can't say enough good things about our camping adventure.  Obviously this was a special vacation because it was something we won so were indeed spoiled. The campground had flowers and a big basket of treats waiting for us upon arrival, they brought us wood for our campfire, they let us use the bikes and Burley at no cost and the best part-  they treated us to a date night out with babysitting included!  Our camper was also amazing!  I had my doubts how we would handle being in such a confined space, but it worked out just fine.  We were richly blessed by all of those gifts, but the best part about the trip in my opinion was just slowing down, hanging out with just the four of us, talking, playing, and making a lot of wonderful memories.  It seems like all summer we have been running around trying to get things picked out for our house, then waiting and waiting then getting some news that threw all of our hard work out the window, then re-doing the work then waiting and waiting....it has all taken a toll on us.  This week allowed us to forget all the house stuff and just have fun for once this summer.  I will be forever grateful to my husband for winning this trip for us and to Oak Grove Campground and American RV for spoiling us rotten! 

 Camping sure is exhausting!

 As well as the laundry afterwards!

I had to laugh when I looked up from my laundry pile to find the boys sitting in the boxes I used for packing.  They claimed they were boats- so cute!