Into the Woods

These two little hooligans of ours are VERY enthusiastic about camping. So much so they’ve slept outside in a tent every night for about six weeks after school let out (seriously…every.single.night) We’ve been saying we’d take them camping but it just hadn’t happened between visitors, events, and appendicitis. This past weekend we finally made good. We wanted to update our family photos (it’s been 3 years) and the wonderful gal who has taken our last two family photos suggested doing a camping ‘lifestyle’ type session since she know we like the great outdoors. That said we figured if we were traipsing out the woods with a tent anyways we might as well make the most of it and stay overnight.

What a blast we had. The kids were little hams for the camera and I am excited to see what turns out. We took some ‘standard’ photos but also some fun stuff roasting hotdogs and marshmallows plus a pillow fight in the tent. Guessing it will be a tough decision on which images to make enlargements from.

Jack and Emilie played so hard that they actually put themselves to bed. We didn’t even have to remind them to stop giggling and sleep 50 gazillion times like we normally do. The put PJ’s on, brushed teeth, climbed into their sleeping bags and were out like lights. Wish I could say it was that easy for Kevin and I. We stayed up long enough to catch some of the Perseid Meteor Shower and went to bed around 11:30. Kevin erred and slept next to Emilie, who is a certified snuggle bug. At some point in the night she pretty much wrapped herself around his head, and once freed had to curl himself into a corner of the tent. Jack isn’t much of a snuggler at all so I did okay aside from the fact I was only granted about 10 inches of space between him and the tent wall only which half of was covered by my sleeping mat as Jack had passed out on the other half. It was a bit awkward, but I managed.

Next morning we were up with the sun and treated to a yummy camp breakfast and some less than stellar coffee. Seriously, it made convenience store coffee look high-end. Lesson learned: cheap, dollar store grounds are not worth the savings….. We mixed it with hot chocolate and survived but once again reminded ourselves that a French Press and better beans should go on the camping supply list next time. We also learned that Nutella should be packed with the dry goods next time. It took a warm waterbath to get it softened up enough to spread on pancakes after being in the cooler overnight

Once we broke camp we took our time heading home. Drove up to Pike Mtn overlook (Jack was very excited to say he was standing on top of a Mountain) and enjoyed what view we could see through the wildfire smoke haze (tis the season) then drove down and hiked in to Ross Falls. In a stroke of luck the falls were still flowing this late into the summer. Emilie looked for mermaids (All waterfalls have mermaids at the base right?) and Jack tried to take a shower in the flow.

A short trip in all, but I think their need to camp has been satisfied for the time being.