Ward Campout 2012

We had so much fun at our Ward Campout. We had no idea we could camp so well and so close to our house! We camped at a lake that is about 20 min. away.  There is a little "wild" area near the lake away from houses and stuff so you really feel like you are away from the giant Metroplex.  We had no idea that things like this existed here and didn't expect to do much camping while we lived in TX. The only thing missing were the stars (because of the big city lights!)  As you can see, our tent had a great view of the lake.

We learned that if you stick this boy in a camp chair and get kind ward members to feed him cheez-it's and marshmallows, he'll pretty much stay there all night (and away from the fire and ant mounds).

Probably the best surprise after finding a great camping place so close to our house was that the lake water was warm (ish)- like an unheated pool. This is VERY different from lakes in UT that are basically just barely-melted snow!

Bear took a break from eating to go visit the lake and throw some rocks in like his Daddy...

Pretty girls at twilight at the lake. EJ "accidentally" fell in after she was told not to get her clothes wet.  Our camping spot was close the the marina, so we had some boat traffic, but it wasn't too annoying.  As a bonus, they had a band playing so we had music for most of the night :)

Bear wished he could have stayed and slept on the cool camping beds. DMP and I decided that no one would benefit from him sleeping in a tent, so I took him home after the fireworks (did I mention the fireworks? A hotel across the lake shoots them off every weekend night).  It took him a long time to fight the sugar in his system and settle down to sleep, but he had a blast.

Daddy and the girls slept well and were up at dawn. DMP texted me to say he was already in the lake at 7:30 (one of the kids "accidentally" kicked a ball in) and the girls had a great time swimming, throwing things in the fire and generally running wild.  We will definitely go again- it was perfect for a single night trip (which is pretty much all we can handle with Bear) and really close to home and Chik-fil-a :)  We'll just have to wait for it to cool down again!

Our first family camping trip- sort of...

DMP spent a lot of his childhood camping with his family and he is very excited to continue the tradition with our kids. So this year we got (are getting?) geared up and went on our first camping overnight. We totally lucked out and camped on the only dry and warm day that we've had for about 2 weeks!

We are kind of wimps, so we just went to Wasatch Mountain St. Park, which is pretty close to my parent's house. We wanted to be able to bail if Birdy had sleep issues or whatever. It turned out to be a good choice. Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Jeff, Sam and Thomas joined us for dinner and s'mores. It also was good because Birdy was sick so we traded Grandma Sam for her. Grandma was SOOO nice to take care of her for us overnight and it was super-fun to have Sam camp with us!

Here are pics:

Snuggling with Grandma.

Grandpa and Jeff took the big kids fishing: EJ and Thomas loved roasting smushmellows:
Breakfast at Camp, Sweet Camp.., Nature walk with Chester

EJ and Sam found new friends- Rocky and Acorn:

And, just for the road, check out the box on this vintage Coleman stove Papper (DMP's Dad) gave us. The kid looks kind of threatening- dontcha think? Also, what IS that guy cooking? They are yellow, bumpy and long...