Although we have stayed in a cabin 3 times and loved it, we recently had our first real tent camping experience.  It was so much fun.  The weather was almost perfect just a little to warm with the high in the 90's.  This was a trip sponsored by the park service, so when we first arrived our great ranger Elizabeth helped us set up our tent.  Chuck could not come until later because of work.  I was very unsure of how to set up a tent, but it was surprisingly easy.  The girls enjoyed pitching in to help.  We were very excited when Elizabeth told us the 4 man tent provided for the camp out was ours to keep.






Next we went to explore the park.  They had demonstrations of camping activities, crafts, camp safety bingo, guided nature walks, fishing, kayaking,  and free paddle boating and canoeing.  The girls wanted to try paddle boating, so I braved it by myself with all 4 kids.  It was fun, but by the end we were hot and tired.   I was holding on to Luke while he laid on the front of the boat and put his hand in the water.




When Chuck arrived the girls voted for more water fun and went to try out the canoes and the kayak.  Luke fell asleep in my lap under a shade tree.  Olivia and Callie were very excited to paddle their own kayaks.  Chuck and Ella enjoyed the canoe.








Then it was time to head back to the campsite for our first lesson in camp fire cooking.  We made lemon chicken in foil packets and hobo stew.  The kids really enjoyed helping to fix it and eating it.  I feel that these are meals we could definitely cook on our own next time. If anyone has other suggestions for camp cooking  I would love to hear them.
 

   

After dinner they had smores, bananas sliced in two with marshmallows and chocolate inside wrapped in tinfoil and placed on the coals, and camp fire stories.  The kids loved every minute of it and of course did not want it to end.  This brings me to my biggest complaint about the weekend.  It took them forever to go to sleep!  If you have any tips on getting kids to sleep in a strange space when they are all crammed together please let me know.  They talked and fussed for an hour and a half  before they gave in.  I am thankful that once they went to sleep they did sleep well all night.  One of our neighbors was not so lucky.  We heard their son crying several times during the night.  We had one tent with the kids and we slept in a separate tent, but I think I would have felt better sleeping in the same tent.  I kept worrying about them.  We all survived though. 

The next morning we cooked egg omelets in ziplock bags which we put in boiling water.  They were really good.  Then we packed up all the gear and headed out.  The experience was a great introduction to camping and I can't wait to go again.  My only fear is that we won't get to again before it gets to be too hot.



 

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